According to a recent report from global strategy consultants Roland Berger, one in four of the world’s population regularly accesses games on the Internet; in the US alone there are 145 million casual gamers (which equates to around 50% of the population). And this already massive figure looks set to explode over the coming years, with analysts estimating that the global online and mobile gaming market will show an increase in value of almost 60% by 2016 reaching $46 billion, from $29 billion in 2012.

And the big growth is going to come from markets outside the US and Western Europe, which will see a projected growth of 8% and 10% respectively. In Central Europe growth expected to average 15% a year from $1.2 billion in 2012 to $1.9 billion in 2016. Asia will see growth of 14% a year from $18 billion in 2012 to $29.9 billion in 2016. In Latin America, market growth will still be strong, and will average 12% a year until 2016.

In recent years, gaming has undergone something of a transition. No longer is it associated with lone teenagers hunched over their consoles while locked in their bedrooms. Instead, today’s gaming is a much more mainstream activity. The wide reaching popularity of games such as Angry Birds or Candy Crush, alongside the rapid growth of tablets and smartphones have ensured that gaming is everywhere and very much part of our everyday lives. On top of this the quality of online games is getting better and people are spending more time playing them.

Today, the gaming audience is far from restricted to teenagers, with almost all possible demographics well represented in the gaming universe. Furthermore, the solitary nature of gaming has gone as well; today people like to share their gaming experiences or their scores, either face to face or on social networks.

So, is it any wonder then that brands that have traditionally never wanted to be associated with gaming are looking for ways to exploit their new-found power? Building their own games can offer brands a great way to engage with their target audiences. For example, even Dutch national air carrier KLM recently launched its own game, Aviation Empire.

Also online games are getting more intelligent and better looking, furthermore the speed and ease with which a lot of games can be created today means game designers can even react to current news issues. Whether it’s the Edward Snowden leaks game or the Berlusconi Bunga Bunga party game, there’s a real opportunity to do something different and stand out from the crowd. With content marketing playing such a big part in companies’ overall marketing and customer engagement strategies, games can be a crucial part of this.

The rising popularity of online gaming also points to huge opportunities for advertisers, especially with the massive shift of advertising budgets to online and in particular to online video. Gaming offers mass-market appeal and an opportunity to find illusive premium advertising real estate, which many advertisers are struggling with as a result of the fragmentation of traditional channels.

Research from Pew Research Center’s State of the News Media 2013 report underlines the size of this opportunity; with advertisers spending $2.9 billion on video advertising in the US in 2012. This represents a 47% increase over the previous year, which was the highest growth rate of all digital ad segments. Within video advertising, spend on mobile devices went from about $83 million in 2011 to $1.19 billion last year, a huge increase of 1,388%.

So online advertising is growing and online gaming is growing even faster. With everything from in-game video to pre-roll video ads available, gaming holds a powerful proposition for advertisers for the future. This is enhanced further by the amount of time people spend playing games and interacting with game sites; our own stats from our 180 million active monthly users show average session times of around 30 – 40 minutes, with some regions even as high as 50 minutes. Compare this with the average news site where around 80% of visitors are on site for less than five minutes, or even YouTube, which claims an average visit time of around 15-16 minutes, and it’s clear why gaming sites have the edge.

As I mentioned above, the fragmentation of other media makes it harder for brands to plan a mass-market buy. With gaming sites you can buy a lot of attention with one single budget and these audiences can also be segmented and targeted more and more accurately, meaning it’s a very good area to spend money on advertising. Plus gamers are generally more open to advertising as it is an accepted part of free online gaming and users come to the site because they enjoy the games, and so are in a positive state of mind. This is a very different mindset to someone visiting a news site, for example.

In short, the growing appetite for online games and the explosion in tablet usage across the globe points to a perfect storm for the online gaming world. And this will fuel growth in the sector for many years to come, and ultimately transform online gaming platforms into the most powerful entertainment media.

*Age Sluis is director of advertising, Europe, for Spil Games

Originally Posted August 26 Netimperative