When YouTube saw its first video reach a million views in 2005, it became clear that online video could become a favorite way for people to learn, connect, and be entertained. Today, this activity has become ubiquitous among gamers, as 95% of them turn to online video on YouTube for entertainment and information in the moments that matter to them.*

Given the prevalence of YouTube usage among gamers, we wondered what billions of views could tell us about their video consumption patterns. We analyzed anonymized views of gaming content on YouTube in the U.S. from 2011 and 2012 to learn how gamers behave, what they value, and what this means to game marketers moving forward.

We’ve shared our findings in YouTube’s first whitepaper, Gamers on YouTube: Evolving Video Consumption.

Here are the key findings from the study:

• Video is an increasingly important medium to gamers. In 2012, the amount of time people spent watching gaming videos on YouTube more than doubled over the year before. The growth rate of time spent viewing gaming videos was greater than YouTube's overall growth in the U.S.
• Multi-screen consumption. 1 in 3 views of gaming-related videos occurred on a tablet or smartphone in 2012, nearly double that of 2011.
• Viewing peaks during weekends, summer, and prime time. In 2012, game views grew 18% day-over-day on weekends and 17% month-over-month in June. Further, 32% of game views occurred during prime time TV hours.
• Subscribers are engaged. Game views from game channel subscribers increased 9X year-over-year in 2012. Those who were subscribers watched game content on YouTube for twice as long as non-subscribers.
• Videos from brands and the community matter to console gamers. Gamers watched brand-released and community-created videos in 2012, but relied on them at different times and for different reasons. Before a game launched, fans mostly viewed content released by the brand, such as trailers, gameplay demos and launch videos, to help them decide whether to purchase a title. In fact, people typically consult more sources when deciding what game to buy than what car to purchase.** After release, gamers primarily consumed community-created content, such as tutorials, walkthroughs, and parodies (specific to the game).
• Brand-released and third-party videos are more likely to be commented on and shared. Announce, gameplay demo, and review videos for console games are associated with highly anticipated moments in the game community, and earned the most comments and shares per view in 2012.
• Community-created videos are more likely to be “liked” or “disliked.” Voting enables gamers to assess the value of content for the game community. Game powered entertainment, walkthrough, and tutorial videos for console games received the most “likes” and “dislikes” per view in 2012.
• Console game video views are an indicator of gamer interest.  Pre-launch video views and post-launch game sales were strongly correlated in 2012.

Online video is an increasingly valuable medium to gamers throughout the entire game experience, helping them research titles, advance through games, and interact with the gaming community. Savvy brands have developed a clear video strategy on how to engage with gamers during every stage of this journey.

For example, Activision Publishing has used YouTube to connect with gaming fans around the launch of new titles such as Call of Duty: Black Ops II. In fact, Activision’s videos have been so popular that they comprised the #1 and #2 spots on our leaderboard of the top trailers on YouTube in 2012.

“It’s incredibly important for us to deeply engage our incredibly large Call of Duty community on YouTube, where we can have a direct relationship with our most passionate fans and reach our target audience where they increasingly go to consume content,” said Jonathan Anastas, Vice President of Digital Marketing for Activision Publishing. “Whether it’s revealing a blockbuster live-action trailer, taking gamers behind the scenes with developers, or empowering our fans to share their brand expertise with the community, digital video is central to our marketing strategy.”

Learn more
To learn more about the video consumption trends of gamers, download the full whitepaper from Think with Google.

Posted by Michael Okimoto, Industry Analyst

*Compete, YouTube Audience Analysis, Q3 2012. U.S.
**Shopper Sciences, Google, 2012, Q2.