Gaming surge persisting after lockdowns, Samsung Ads finds
A surge in people playing video games during Covid-19 lockdowns appears to be having a lasting impact even after social distancing restrictions have eased in the UK this year.
A new report from Samsung Ads Europe, ‘Behind the Screens: Gaming on Samsung TVs in 2021’, reveals time spent gaming on UK Samsung TVs has increased 15% since January 2020 to the period ending June 2021.
Samsung Ads also reported a 28% increase in the number of Samsung TVs with active monthly gaming activity in the UK between January and June 2021, which is 59 million hours a month spent on gaming.
The report also found that UK gamers on Samsung TVs spend 28% more time on streaming video, when compared to all Samsung TVs users in the UK. These gamers also spend 80% of their total TV time either gaming or in streaming environments.
The Economist reported last month that gaming is “the single biggest new media habit to be formed during the pandemic” and described this activity as “sticky”.
While the majority of gaming hours are spent by users on older generation consoles, UK Samsung TV users that are connected to a new console, like the Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X, spend more time gaming.
Those with new consoles spent an average of three hours and 24 minutes gaming each day between January and June 2021. This is compared to those gamers with the previous generation consoles spending 2 hours 28 minutes on average each day gaming, and those with old consoles spending 51 minutes on average each day gaming during the same period.
UK gamers also spent the most time gaming on Samsung TVs compared to their European counterparts in Italy, France, Germany and Spain, with an average daily gaming time of 1 hour and 24 minutes.
Samsung Ads saw the biggest spike in activity for UK gamers in April 2020 during the first national lockdown reaching 2 hours 30 minutes on average per day, and again in January 2021 with 2 hours 9 minutes per day on average.
Alex Hole, Vice President of Samsung Ads Europe, said: “ What’s interesting to note is the strong overlap between dedicated gamers and heavy streamers on our Samsung TVs, creating pockets of opportunities for advertisers.
“Advertisers seeking to reach audiences in today’s fragmented TV landscape will benefit from carefully balancing their media plans across both linear and streaming.”
Nearly a third (31%) of TVs used in Great Britain are made by Samsung, making it by far the market leader according to Kantar ComTech figures from the first quarter of 2021.
Samsung gathers data about how its customers spend time on gaming, streaming and broadcast TV viewing by assigning “de-identifiable device IDs” about their usage behaviour. A Samsung Ads spokeswoman confirmed that these device IDS can be reset by the user and no data is collected at a personal level.