How Gaming Influencers Change the Game

Written by Emma Natasha

July 12, 2022

Technology has reached the point of advancement that people rely on it not only for work, but also for leisure activities like gaming. Game or gaming influencers play an important part in making this happen. In fact, many brands are very keen on using gamers influencers as their brand ambassador to promote their products and/or services. So, how do gaming influencers change the game?

What is a Gaming Influencer?

Gaming influencer is an online content creator who actively plays and talks about games to their loyal audience through social media channels, such as YouTube, Twitch, NimoTV, and many more. Similar to other influencers of other fields, a gaming influencer has a notable reputation among gamers, making them a valuable figure as a trend maker and thought leader in the passionate and fast-moving gaming industry.

Gaming and internet culture have transformed, if not totally disrupted, how people interact and conduct business now that people who initially enjoy mobile gaming start to also play games from their PC. New data from market research company YouGov shows that over four in ten of the entire global adult population now follow an influencer, and almost one in ten follow a gaming influencer.

The rise of the gaming influencer is unquestionable; there were 4.3 million Twitch channels that produced content in the third quarter of 2019 and nearly 12 million in the second quarter of 2021. Twitch is a video streaming platform which many gamers use to showcase their live gameplay. The number of hours spent in Twitch has steadily increased from 3.8 billion in 2019 to more than 9 billion in 2020.

Why You May Want to Consider Collaborating with Gaming Influencers

Gaming influencer marketing provides a variety of rich directions and creative platforms that are often overlooked in the larger world of influencer marketing. While common influencers may not have a specific niche to create content about or have not established a loyal fan base, gaming influencers take the lead. Gamers-based influencer marketing allows for the most direct, energized, and passionate product demonstration any brand could hope for.

Gaming influencers’ audience group has developed a solid trust to what the influencers say, do, and choose to promote. They have devoted followers who rely on their advice. Gaming influencers are useful because 81% of your targeted customers need to trust a brand before choosing to buy. You can use customer loyalty strategies to keep users coming back after they try your product/service. It is also worth it to consider long-term partnership with these influencers. According to a report by Onalytica and Smart Insights, 40% of influencers are in long-term partnerships. Influencers appear to understand how easy and profitable it is to form relationships with brands. Many online gaming influencers have long-term relationships with brands.

Collaborating with Gaming Influencers through Product Placement

If you worry that your product or service is not in any way related to gaming, there is still a way to leverage this type of influencer marketing, which is through product placement. Product placement, also known as “embedded marketing” or “embedded advertising,” is a type of advertising in which marketed goods and services are featured in a production aimed at a large audience. This marketing strategy is proven effective because they blend seamlessly into a show and market to consumers in less obvious ways.

To integrate product placement in the content of gaming influencers, you can make it very obscure or a bit obvious. For example, your brand is a fashion clothing, and the way you can place your product is to collaborate with a gaming influencer and ask him or her to wear items from your brand. Since gaming influencers usually have a regular schedule for daily streaming and some weekly video contents, you can send them multiple products which they can wear in every of their streaming sessions and video content. Their audience will slowly, but surely, recognize your brand logo. Once you have placed enough products, you can proceed to asking the gaming influencer of your choice to verbally advertise it during their streaming session or their video.

Brands that are associated with appealing characters or settings tend to be more appealing to people. Product placement audiences are more likely to recognize a brand after seeing something like that in the video. It tricks their subconscious to ‘remember’ brand logos that are always displayed in the content of these gaming influencers. This strategy can also shape and cultivate various attitudes toward brands, as well as increase purchase intent.

It is important to do your research on which gaming influencers you consider partnering up with. Different countries have different role models when it comes to gaming, so you need to map out your marketing strategy by compiling a list of active gamers in YouTube and Twitch that will suit your targeted customers. With careful planning and market research, you may just be one step closer to getting your products and services known by a very unique group of online customers; gamers. Good luck!