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State of the Screens

The video game subscription wars are on

By April 11, 2019No Comments
Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Apple are in a race to be the “Netflix of video games.”

How this works: The physical purchase of games on a console (Xbox, etc.) currently accounts for 11% of video game revenue as the dominant business model has shifted to mobile (in-app purchases, etc.). This next trend shifts this further toward a subscription service that provides access to a library of games on demand.

Wow: 200M people watched 50B+ hours of video game content on YouTube last year. That is 250 hours per person!

Flashback: Fortnite tops SuperData’s 2018 chart with $2.4 billion digital revenue

Global video game revenue by year (% growth):
1) 2017 — $99B
2) 2018 — $110B (↑ 11%)

Global video game revenue by platform (% of total):
1) Mobile — $61B (56%)
2) PC — $36B (33%)
3) Console — $13B (11%)

Global video game revenue by purchase type (% of total):
1) Free-to-play — $88B (80%)
2) Premium — $22B (20%)

eSports revenue per year according to eMarketer (YoY growth):
1)
2017 — $103M
2)
2018 — $143M (↑ 39%)
3) 2019P — $178M (↑ 25%)
4) 2020P — $214M (↑ 20%)

The big time: The Simpson recently parodied eSports, so you know this is going to be huge!

More #1: Streaming to subscriptions: Video games enter new frontiers

More #2: Video game stores are the new record stores

More #3: How the NBA Is Using Esports to Grow Its Audience

Michael Beach

Michael Beach is the Chief Executive Officer of Cross Screen Media, a media analytics and software company that enables marketers to plan, activate, and measure CTV and linear TV at the local level. Michael is also the founder and editor of State of the Screens, a weekly newsletter focused on video advertising that is a must-read for thought leaders in the advertising industry. He has appeared in such publications as PBS Frontline, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Axios, CNBC and Bloomberg, and on NPR’s Planet Money podcast.