GAMING OVERTAKES OTT AND SOCIAL MEDIA

The disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic left many businesses crippled across sectors. The Indian Gaming industry on the contrary grew multifold in that period, gaining widespread acceptance after gradually emerging from the shadows. Heavy digital penetration in India contributed in a big way to its transformation. Not surprisingly, the KPMG report has pegged the value of India’s online gaming segment at Rs 13,600 crore, it is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 21% to Rs 29,000 crore, in the next five years.
The urge to spend time online during the pandemic gave a natural push to gaming platforms. According to the Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC) report, the average time spent by gamers per week in India increased by 44% during the pandemic, while the time spent by an individual gamer increased to 3 hours 38 minutes per week during the same time from 2 hours 31 minutes before the pandemic.

A natural consequence of the rising popularity of gaming in India was advertisers shifting their focus on gaming to tap the widening userbase. Vikram Sakhuja, Group CEO, Madison Media & OOH says, “Gaming industry today is a definite opportunity. Youth (below 25) have rapidly adopted gaming, and are increasingly spending more time on it. Gaming has massive following and the space is growing very fast. As a medium if reach and ATS (Average Time Spent) is high then it is an obvious opportunity for brands.”
Rohit Agarwal, founder and director of Alpha Zegus - an exclusive marketing agency for gaming industry says, “We conducted an audit and found that pre COVID-19, the age of gamers in India was 14-24. But the trend changed during COVID-19, the age group increased to 34 across all platforms. We also noticed that 80% of the new gamers are continuously engaged in gaming post-COVID 19 too.” He adds, “Earlier gaming was considered to be built for only male users but now 40% of users are female who play at least one mobile game in a day. Today, there is a healthy mix of gender as gaming audience.”