E3 Live: VMLY&R COMMERCE's Gaming Trends and Recap
We all know the pandemic has disrupted the world of commerce, accelerating shifts in the way brands partner with platforms to unlock growth. Across the dizzying landscape of activations, experiences, and virtual events, where should brands be focusing their investments?
Based on 2020’s global revenue, the gaming industry comes out on top! Far outranking the movie box office (by 14x the revenue), recorded music (8x the revenue), and home/mobile entertainment (2x), the gaming industry - from console, mobile, to private computers (PC) - is valued at over $175 billion, experiencing double digit growth last year and that’s excluding in-game ad revenue. A huge part of this growth can be attributed to the 2020 pandemic driving at-home entertainment to new heights as well upward trends within gaming platforms (ex. Twitch), esports sponsorships, and gaming partnerships.
While the gaming industry has never been more successful, most marketers are still focused on creating one-dimensional sponsorships that generate vanity metrics, such as brand awareness, with no direct link to sales. As you consider your own gaming budget, does the bulk of your funding go toward esports sponsorships, naming rights, logo placements, teams, leagues, streamer endorsements, licensing, and Twitch ads? If so, you might be lacking that holistic gaming strategy that ladders up to your overall business objectives.
For 'entertainment commerce' to be effective, you need to put people, brand and customer experience at the center of everything you do, with a bias towards action plus measurement to keep iterating success. Some recommended KPIs include retail specific sales year-over-year, incremental display, market share, media engagement (CTR), and build the basket/growth category. Ideally you can use this data to negotiate your future gaming partnership deals to ensure that it is designed for maximum short-term and long-term growth.
We virtually attended E3 (June 12-15), gaming’s biggest annual trade event, to curate the latest updates and trends to help take your commerce partnerships to the next level.
