Gamers Club organizes and promotes an exclusive championship for women, the Women’s Masters. With two versions this year, one in July and another in November, one of the sponsors was Itaú, which, in addition to the master quota, was the presenter of the competition. The bank has been promoting electronic games for some time, with an eye on the size of the sector. Vinicius Zuniga, commercial vice president of Gamers Club, surveys data from SuperData research — Nielsen Games’ research and analysis department — which observed a 12% growth between 2020 and 2021, which resulted in US$ revenue 126.6 billion in total.
Vinicius Zuniga (Disclosure)
The study, according to him, also showed a 14% increase in gaming industry profits from March 2021, due to the reflection of the increase in the consumption of games, which was caused by the pandemic, according to the Game Brazil 2021 Survey, because the greater amount of time at home required a greater load of interactivity and entertainment. “In this context, of the 12,498 people interviewed at PGB 2021, 42.2% said they spent more money on games,” he says.
Zuniga also comments that advertising in games and eSports specifically, by 2024, intends to move around US$ 10 billion globally. This volume was raised in a study carried out by Wunderman Thompson.
For him, the best way for brands to communicate with gamers is to always “speak their language, no matter the medium”. “At Gamers Club, the path is shorter, as we use our platform to talk to the public that is already on it. We were able to use different paths, such as sponsorship of championships and leagues, team sponsorship, development of customized projects involving Gamers Club products, and even media, which in our case can be within the game”, he details. He also highlights that today the market is seeing the importance of the sector to communicate with younger generations. “So much so that segments considered more ‘conservative’ such as banking, retail, luxury fashion and even the government are seeing the potential of games and investing in it.”
Rodrigo Tigre, country manager at Cisneros Interactive, agrees with Zuniga and adds that the gigantism of games has passed the movie industry. “There are several forms of games and for all audiences, but the great opportunity for brands are mobile gamers, who speak to a very broad audience”, he says. It also reveals data from a recent survey that Cisneros Interactive did through its JustMob business unit on mobile gaming, which shows that 87% of respondents consider themselves mobile gamers and 63% of that audience plays daily.
“Most of these mobile games are free and remunerated through the purchase of in-game items and also with advertising, mainly ‘video reward’, whose ad starts with the user in exchange for a benefit within the game”. According to the executive, this format has a super positive rating and about 88% of users watch videos to get extra life/content in the game, while 80% prefer to watch an ad than pay for in-game content. “With more than 95 million users playing on cell phones in Brazil, this is a great opportunity for advertisers to talk to their audiences in a safe environment, which brings results and catches the user in a moment of relaxation and fun”, he argues.
