Gamers on YouTube: Understanding Avid Gamers and Their Influence

Key insights

5 takeaways

01
About a third of U.S. mobile gamers are classed as avid gamers, who spend more than nine hours a week on average playing mobile games on smartphones.See it on page 1
02
Avid gamers are social influencers: 64% tell friends about games they love. They are also more likely to make in-app purchases.See it on page 1
03
Ninety percent of avid gamers turn to YouTube at least once a week for game advancement tips, gameplay, and game discovery.See it on page 1
04
The document reports that more time spent on YouTube goes with more time spent gaming among avid gamers.See it on page 1
05
For discovery, 71% of avid gamers downloaded a game after finding it on Google Search, and 64% did so after seeing an ad on YouTube.See it on page 1

Summary

This document, titled "Gamers on YouTube: Understanding Avid Gamers and Their Influence," examines avid mobile gamers in the U.S., drawing on new data from Greenberg Inc. The source is a Google/Greenberg Inc. "Mobile Gaming Research" study conducted in December 2015 with n=2003 online gamers aged 18-65. Online gamers were defined as those playing at least once a week for at least three hours or spending at least $5 per month on games. The research combined in-depth in-person interviews with gamers, an online survey of 2000 respondents, and behavioral tracking on mobile and desktop devices.

The document states that about a third of U.S. mobile gamers are "avid gamers," who spend more than nine hours a week on average playing mobile games on smartphones. It reports that 64% of avid gamers tell friends about games they love, 83% spend money on games, and 70% say mobile games can be intellectually stimulating.

On YouTube, the document reports that 90% of avid gamers turn to the platform at least once a week for game advancement tips, gameplay, and game discovery. It also says avid gamers access mobile games and YouTube at similar times of day, and that the more time they spend on YouTube, the more time they spend gaming.

For discovering new games, the document reports that 64% downloaded a game after seeing an ad on YouTube, while 71% downloaded a game after finding it on Google Search.