Turns out there might actually be something more fun for gamers than actually playing video games. A recent study has shown that videos involving games and video game player streams tend to hog gamer time more so than actual game time. Either some of you are watching Twitch too much or are leaving it running while you’re asleep.
The aforementioned study was from a research company called Midia Research. Their report has concluded– based on their methods that gamers now spend 8.5 hours per week watching gaming-related videos. Meanwhile, they only spend 7.4 hours per week actually playing games.
These are average numbers, by the way, and some might have been skewed by lots of factors. The research also doesn’t state whether these videos about gaming are being played alongside the actual gaming activity (especially for gamers with two monitors or televisions).
The sample came from gamers all over the U.S., UK, Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Sweden, South Korea, and Brazil. It’s quite a large number of participants. The research not only looked at the gamers’ watching habits but also how they correlated to their spending habits for video games, especially for live-service titles or those with microtransactions.
Streamers In Your Video Game, Not the Other Way Around?
Regardless, Midia Research’s aim in publishing its findings is to raise awareness of the huge and untapped potential for video game publishers and developers. Perhaps they might want to bring ‘video content inside their own ecosystems’. If publishers take notice, they might just integrate streaming and streamers as official advertising for their games. However, one can argue that that’s already happening to a certain degree.
For additional numbers, Midia Research has also found among its research participants that 24 percent of PC/console players. 48 percent of people who purchase the game watch game-related content monthly. Those who watch are also considered high-spending gamers.
Midia is basically further suggesting that game publishers ought to add streamers and streaming as ads within their games. Imagine seeing Dr. Disrespect pop up during a death screen after your head gets popped off in Fortnite. Good thing it’s just a suggestion.
