Unravelling Marketing Trends In Online Gaming For 2023

Varun Ganjoo Dec 23, 2022

Online Gaming in India is currently the highest tide in the ocean of opportunities. As a sunrise sector, the industry has been surprising everyone with some interesting projections in terms of growth and exposure. As per a recent report by Lumikai, India’s gaming market already stands at USD 2.6 Billion in FY22 and is projected to reach USD 8.6 Bn in FY27. India crossed the mark of half a billion gamers in FY22 up from 450 Mn in 2021.

With the options for entertainment going up gaming today stands as one of the major competitors to pure-play sources of entertainment like OTT and television.

From a marketing perspective since the advent of the pandemic, we have seen an increase in business diversification for user acquisition. We have also seen increased leverage of live broadcast opportunities by online gaming companies that kept the home-arrested minds entertained. In fact, if you look closely, you will find OTTs have emerged as one of the major promoters and drivers for marketing online gaming in India. For example, Fantasy sports have been closer to live sports, indulging large-scale activations in terms of sponsorships across sports, particularly cricket. While other RMG games such as poker and rummy have largely depended on spurt campaigns that involve television advertisements, supplemented by brand ambassadors and IPs (tournaments) for engaging with the end consumer.

In a nutshell, the pandemic saw an outburst in advertising and marketing online games that were otherwise negligible or could not revive the recall value in the pre-pandemic era. Interestingly, 6 out of 10 advertisers have started leveraging mobile gaming advertising only in the last two years – leading to a two-fold increase in ad spending since before the pandemic. This is a result of having witnessed engaged audiences, measurable solutions and hence, an increased ROI.

Content being the king will continue to act as the game changer. We are witnessing a unique likeability towards India-based content growing in popularity. In a way everyone has to be a creator and be visible in both short form and long form content formats.

Trends to ride the marketing wave in 2023:

· Hyper-personalisation: Online gaming applications are working on using AI/ML to give a personalised experience to their users across touchpoints.

· Leveraging game tech to make a difference: Gaming surpasses age boundaries and is one of the most effective methods in getting the brand message across without just being in the face of the customer.

· Paying Users: There were 120 Mn paying users in FY22, which represents a 24 per cent conversion rate. The number of in-app purchases will only grow and will serve as one of the key sources of revenue. The average revenue per paying user grew 11 per cent to USD 20/year in FY22. There were 2 Mn new paying users (NPUs) being added monthly in FY22.

· Gaming Influencers: Influencer marketing just like any other sector has left the esports industry with high gaming adoption and engagement. However, with so much content output, brands will have to be cautious of the content being created with influencers to be able to create a meaningful impact.

· Mobile Gaming will continue to lead: India being a mobile-first market the concentration of the marketers will still be towards capturing the attention of the users on the go.

· 5G network: The fifth-generation mobile network, or 5G, is the most sophisticated cellular technology now. The 5G network connects almost everyone and everything. As a result, high-speed internet and substantially decreased latency will result in numerous new advances in the gaming business. 5G internet has the potential to disrupt a wide range of sectors, beginning with cloud gaming.