Most Americans Game. So Why Won't Ad Dollars Follow?
Two-thirds of Americans game every week, yet gaming captures only a sliver of ad budgets — an 'unstable equilibrium' that industry leaders at IAB PlayFronts say mirrors connected TV's slow early years.
The gap
Roughly two-thirds of Americans, from ages 5 to 90, play games for at least an hour a week, part of a global player base of some 3.6 billion. Yet gaming still draws only a fraction of advertising spend. As one speaker at IAB PlayFronts put it, that is 'about 2.4% of spend against 67% of the country playing every week.'
IAB's Cintia Gabilan summed up the frustration: 'For the past several years, gaming has been singing this very familiar song. The audience is enormous... the advertising dollars are not following.'
We've seen this movie before
The pattern rhymes with connected TV. Americans spend around 20% of their media time on CTV but only about 7.7% of media budgets go there — a lag that eventually closed as measurement and buying matured. Gaming looks early on the same curve.
The audience quality is not the issue. Among mobile gamers, 62% are Gen Z or millennials, 82% are heads of household and 54% are parents — exactly the decision-makers most advertisers say they want to reach.
Why the money lags — and what to do
The barriers are practical, not about value: marketers struggle to explain gaming to senior executives, to slot it into existing media plans, and to standardise measurement across wildly different formats. Our read at Marketing Minute: the brands that solve the 'how do I buy and measure this' problem first will get in cheap before the price catches up to the attention.
The playbook is to run structured tests now, insist on consistent measurement, and build internal fluency so gaming isn't the line item nobody can defend in the boardroom. Early movers in undervalued channels tend to be rewarded twice — in efficiency today and in expertise tomorrow.
Quick FAQ
How many Americans play games?
About two-thirds play at least an hour a week, part of a global base of roughly 3.6 billion players, according to figures shared at IAB PlayFronts.
How much ad spend goes to gaming?
Only around 2.4% of ad spend, despite about 67% of the country playing every week.
Why don't ad dollars match the audience?
The barriers are practical — explaining gaming to executives, fitting it into media plans and standardising measurement — not a lack of audience value.
Gaming today looks a lot like connected TV a few years ago: a massive, high-value audience that budgets haven't caught up to yet. That gap is an opportunity. The marketers who crack the buying and measurement problem now will lock in efficiency before everyone else piles in and bids the price up. — Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing
The channels where attention outruns ad dollars are exactly where early, disciplined testing pays off twice.
Where is your audience already spending time that your media plan still ignores?
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Sources: Marketing Dive, IAB PlayFronts.
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Written by Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing Ltd and Marketing Minute
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