The lines between where gaming audiences start and end are getting blurry, so brands that “bet on gaming are betting on the future” according to speakers at IAB’s 2024 Game Advertising Summit. Speaking at the event, Google’s Rebecca Holmes and Rebecca Conrad , who manage strategy and insights, said there’s really no end to how gaming permeates all other types of culture, including traditional media. On the basis of time spent on apps, The New York Times is now a gaming company.
People are spending more time in the NYT gaming app than they do their news app or any of their other owned properties. This is thanks to the company acquiring the word game Wordle in January 2022. It reportedly paid its creator, software engineer Josh Wardle “in the low seven figures” for the game and now has a player base of “ tens of millions .
” The New York Times is now a gaming company on the basis of customer time spent (From ValueAct, Data estimated by Yipit, Source: https://t.co/hdSkS5oF25 ) pic.twitter.
com/vEfickAyup — Matthew Ball (@ballmatthew) March 31, 2024 Holmes and Conrad’s research at Google found that different genres of games attract different audiences. For example, people interested in the lifestyle simulator, The Sims , are more likely to be in the market for makeup, while people interested in the racing series Gran Turismo are more likely to be in the market for a luxury vehicle. See also: ‘Perfectly set up for success’: Video game adaptations surge, but.