With less access to physical events and entertainment, 2020 saw a mammoth rise in online gaming, with the industry attracting 12 million new players, up 7% in EMEA compared to 2019. As a result, the industry is now worth $155 billion worldwide – offering a huge opportunity for brands to reach an engaged, gaming audience across consoles, PC and mobile.
To help brands tap into the growing gaming community, Verizon Media will be hosting its Level Up Your Brand webinar on 25 February 2020 at 10am UK/11AM CET. Experts from across Verizon Media will provide insight on how online gaming and esports has grown and developed over recent years and how brands can reach this growing audience.
The webinar will also feature an exclusive interview with Esteban Ocon, Renault DP World F1 Team Driver, who will discuss how the team had to pivot to esports to continue racing when the Formula One competition was cancelled as a result of Covid-19 restrictions – citing that e-racing is “mentally probably even tougher”.
As demonstrated by this growing community of gamers, it’s an activity that has become more accessible than ever, with cross-platform gaming enabling users to play together regardless of platform and device, whilst cloud gaming offers the choice to play wherever, with console quality experiences on a mobile device. And as 5G connectivity grows, online gaming will continue to explode as new devices are launched and people play together from wherever they happen to be and from whatever device. Cloud gaming and constant connectivity, as well as new extended reality production capabilities will transform the gaming experience, creating enhanced immersive experiences that will revolutionise the industry. These evolving capabilities present brands with a unique opportunity now to create meaningful content and experiences at scale, using in-gaming advertising solutions, gamification within ad formats, esports and interactive experiences on consoles like Xbox as just some examples.
Verizon Media reaches over 92 million gamers through its publishers and platforms, which is almost 60% of the gaming audiences across EMEA.[3] Through its unique set of first-party data, the business is able to help brands develop a deeper understanding of the gaming audience: who they are, where they can be reached and importantly, how brands can create meaningful connections with them.
Monica Majumdar, Head of Strategy for Verizon Media says:
“Gaming has been on the rise for several years now, but the pandemic has accelerated its growth to never-before-seen levels. We reach a significant portion of gamers across EMEA through our portfolio and understand how to engage with them in meaningful ways.”
“With this insight and knowledge at our fingertips, we can help drive more effective solutions for brands – creating next-level content and ad experiences at scale. From partnering with brands on AR quests, exploring cutting-edge virtual production techniques to connect with esport audiences and helping our customers to reach gamers at scale via our DSP inventory, we’re helping brands tap into the world of gaming in new and exciting ways – and look forward to sharing some winning tips and insights during the webinar.”
Register here now to join Level Up Your Brand. Speakers will include:
- Monica Majumdar, Head of Strategy at Verizon Media
- Luke Harrison, Creative Technology Manager Gaming Specialist in the Verizon Media RYOT team
- Jana Hladikova, Sales Lead Xbox International at Verizon Media
- Esteban Ocon, Renault DP World F1 Team Driver
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