The gaming industry has experienced a surge in growth over the past few years, with high commissions and a dedicated audience. The rise of mobile gaming has dominated the global market, but desktop gaming still has a strong foothold in certain regions. Understanding the various classifications of gaming, including genre, platform, audience size, and budgeting, can help businesses tailor their marketing strategies. Additionally, creating a customer persona can provide insights into the varying potential customer segments. In this article, we’ll explore the different channels available for running gaming offers, including social media, influencer marketing, and email marketing.
Gaming industry is popular
Video games are popular, period. You don’t believe us? Check out the chart below, illustrating the rise of the gamers worldwide:
The world hosts well over 3 billion gamers worldwide, where more than a half are Asians. The gaming vertical is popular in affiliate marketing for a variety of reasons:
- Large and growing market: The gaming industry is a massive and ever-growing market, with millions of gamers worldwide.
- Diverse products and services: The gaming industry offers a wide range of products and services that affiliates can promote, including games, gaming consoles, gaming accessories, in-game currency, and more.
- High commissions: Gaming products and services often come with high commissions, making it a lucrative vertical for affiliates.
- Loyal audience: Gamers are typically very passionate and loyal to their favorite games and brands, which can lead to high conversion rates for affiliates.
- Innovative technology: The gaming industry is known for being at the forefront of technology, which means there are always new and innovative products and services for affiliates to promote.
There are 3 major players in the market: desktop, mobile, and console games. A decade ago, the desktop games would leave the other platforms bite the dust. But is this the case nowadays?
If you want to reach new GEOs and audiences, maybe it is all waiting for you on Telegram? We’ve prepared some material about Telegram audiences. What are the messenger’s users like this year? How old they are, what they do, and what they are interested in!
Current market condition
According to Newzoo, the mobile gaming market single-handedly smokes the competition, beating the market shares of other platforms combined.
We can explain this phenomenon by the fact, that the mobile games are relatively simple to be launched by anybody, non-gamers included. Nonetheless, even the most promoted mobile apps rarely drive the same level of profit as AAA projects for desktop do.
However, it’s always wise to study the target GEO in greater detail., Tier-3 countries like India have a strong preference toward mobile games. In case of India, this dedication amounts to 73%, which is more than the same statistic on a global scale. This leads us to our first conclusion that the market is full of niches that have to be examined separately, no matter what the global trend suggests.
Gaming classification
Gaming should not be confused with iGaming, for the latter refers to Betting and Gambling. Games can be classified by genre, platform, audience size, origins, budgeting, and more. We will classify it the way the affiliate marketers usually see the Gaming offers.
Desktop games: A former king of the traffic that was dethroned not long ago. The aforementioned AAA projects almost never consult the affiliate networks for promotion, so they are out of our scope. All the games that are to be installed on and launched from the desktop end up being in this group, even if they have a mobile version as an option.
Mobile games: All the rage as of now, filled with competition. Newcomers might find it difficult to squeeze into the niche, due to the experienced “sharketers” out there. On the other hand, the demand is as high as supply, if not higher.
Adult games: The most interesting and typical gaming niche for an affiliate. Adult gaming might make just a fraction of the whole market, but the 80% of its offers are promoted via the affiliate marketing. This results in mutual understanding between the advertisers and affiliates, making the entire work pleasant and smooth.
Indie games: Considering the outburst of independent developers in Steam, the sphere is gaining the momentum. Independent developers simply have no money to launch a full-scale marketing campaign, akin to AAA projects. Which is why the affiliate and influence marketing are also popular here.
eSports: A borderline between Gaming and Betting verticals. Surely, the affiliates will most likely never be entrusted to promote the major e-sports tournaments and championships, like The International of DOTA 2 and PGL Major of CS:GO. Yet sports booking is in full swing there, and eSports is treated just as any other sport in the market. Considering that the youth of up to 25 prefers e-sport events to the majority of other tournaments, the demand promises to be very high.
Gaming eCommerce: An obvious borderline between Gaming and eCommerce verticals. Gaming laptops, hardware, keyboards, mouses, chairs, and other stuff of this kind end up here. While the inclusion of the niche in Gaming might be questionable, it can be targeted with follow-up campaigns. Gamers can hardly resist the temptation of purchasing a new RGB accessory or a professional headset for streaming. Keep in mind, that gamers are attracted by special software too, e.g., Razer Cortex Game Booster or NVIDIA GeForce Experience.
Potential customer personas
Video games are different, and video gamers differ as well. We have already mentioned that the market is full of niches but there is more to that, for the players are far from being homogenous. Which is why it is crucial to create a customer persona for your campaigning. Fortunately, the Entertainment Software Association has already done all the dirty work for you. Here we have three age groups, two traditional segments of teens and young adults and a more unusual gaming cluster of 65+ players. For more age groups, check out the ESA report linked above.
Running gaming offers
As of May 2023 and according to Steam Download Stats, games are popular in all the tiers, most notably in China, the United States, and Europe. Which is why gaming offers can target virtually any GEO. Commonly, the developers of mobile apps are interested in WEB traffic for their products. Also, adult games are on the rise nowadays, especially with the advent of VR.
The type of the offer determines the traffic sources. So if you can’t switch the sources on the fly, consider the offers that meet the desirable media placements. When it comes to deciding between mobile or desktop offers, go for the latter if you just start your journey in the Gaming vertical. The competition there is lower, and learning the specifics is easier there.
Regarding the traffic sources, the following options are the most common ones:
- Social networks: Facebook (cloaked when dealing with adult traffic) — a highly universal platform. TikTok — the younger generation end up here, plus there are a lot of mobile game fans. Pinterest — useful for attracting the female audience, which prefers mobile apps and not PC games.
- Ad networks: If targeting settings are right, you can place your creatives on gaming forums, blogs, and news hubs. Game-oriented websites are suitable for mainstream gaming and esports betting only. Use niche-sites for adult offers, if you are running one.
- Influencers: One of the best sources for native traffic, since the influencers in this sphere are the gamers as well. Which is why garnering the trust will be much easier.
- Custom platforms: Use your thematic websites to promote an offer, yet make sure the offer is relevant to the website contents. Otherwise, your prospects may feel misled.
CPA is the most common payout model, but RevShare pops up sporadically, especially in case of adult niche, e.g., #1 and #2. Gaming offers, including the adult ones, can be found on many networks. To name just a few: Reflex Affiliates, MobItEasy, Adtogame, CrakRevenue, Zeydoo.
Gamers often invent new jargon, which can amass into a dictionary or just memes. If you are planning to get closer to the target audience and take advantage of this vocabulary, make sure you know the game well, for the same word, e.g., ‘nuke’ has different meaning in DOTA 2 and CS:GO.
When designing the creatives, make them consistent with the stylistics of the game, because the user may feel deceived otherwise. Keep the texts short and concise — the unique selling proposition must be delivered in visuals with occasional quick notes. Finally, divide your target audience into subcategories and make a couple of common and specific creatives.
Gamers can be very picky about the games played. They can tell right off the bat if the game worth their time or not by looking at the trailer or ad. If there is no gameplay but flashy and abstract images of angels and lofty calls to save yet another fantasy world, then the game is most likely to be… plain and uninspiring, to put it mildly.
Conclusion
The gaming industry is a large and growing market with high commissions and a loyal audience. Mobile games dominate the market globally, but desktop games are more popular in some specific regions. Gaming can be classified by genre, platform, audience size, and budgeting. Potential customer personas vary greatly, and it is essential to create a customer persona for your campaigning. Gaming offers can be run through various channels, including social media, influencer marketing, and email marketing. It is a highly lucrative niche, when you know how to treat the audience right.
