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Gaming has long reached a mass audience, yet in media plans it still carries far less weight than its usage would suggest. At the IAB PlayFronts 2026, this gap became the central topic: according to the Entertainment Software Association, 67 percent of the US population plays for at least one hour per week. Overwolf, on the other hand, puts gaming's share of media spending at 2,4 percent.
The figures come from different sources. The 67 percent comes from the representatively weighted ESA/YouGov study 2026. The 2,4 percent comes from Overwolf's own research and is not a standardised IAB market value. As a signal, the difference is still relevant: gaming has reach and attention, but in many places it is still treated like a niche channel.
Gaming is no longer a niche medium
The ESA counts roughly 2026 million weekly players in the US for 212,3. The average age is 37 years.
Gaming is also firmly established in Germany. The game – Association of the German Games Industry counts 41,2 million players. The average age is 38,3 years, and 79 percent of players are adults.
Gaming video expands reach further. According to game, around 32 percent of Germans aged 16 and over watch Let's Plays or gaming livestreams on platforms such as Twitch and YouTube.
Part of the budget sits in other channels
Following the PlayFronts, Marketing Dive describes a practical problem: not every gaming activation is booked as gaming budget at all. Twitch campaigns can end up under social, creator partnerships under influencer marketing, and programmatic in-game ads in classic display budgets.
The comparison with Connected TV is therefore interesting. CTV also first had to develop from an experimental niche channel into a fixed part of media planning. How strongly video is shifting towards platforms and smart TVs, we have already covered in our piece on YouTube as a TV channel.
Measurement remains the open issue
Gaming advertising covers very different formats: classic video ads, rewarded ads, native integrations, in-game placements, creator campaigns or branded experiences. Accordingly, a single success benchmark is hard to define.
At the PlayFronts, it was therefore repeatedly called for to measure not only clicks during play, but the effect afterwards. The question is: does an activation change brand perception, purchase intent or actual behaviour?
This fits a broader trend in the advertising industry. In agentic media buying, too, the discussion is shifting from technical feasibility towards reliable results.
Mobile gaming remains an important entry point
In Germany, mobile is especially relevant: around 28,1 million people play on smartphones or tablets. Rewarded and interactive video formats are considered comparatively established, because users receive a concrete in-game benefit in return.
At the same time, providers themselves warn against too much ad pressure. A highly engaged audience is not automatically tolerant of more ads.
Creators blur the line with social
Gaming advertising has long stopped at the game itself. Creators, livestreams and communities pull the medium into social, video and influencer budgets. That is precisely why the IAB now thinks gaming more closely together with creator and podcast markets.
That ad deals around creators are becoming more professional and plannable is also shown by the trend towards creator upfronts and longer-term booking models.
For media planners, then, the decisive question will be less whether gaming is a channel of its own. More important is what role gaming plays in the overall media mix and which effects can be reliably measured.
What marketers can take away
Gaming has 2026 no reach problem. The open issue is translating reach into a plannable, comparable and measurable advertising product.
The often-cited gap between 67 percent weekly usage and 2,4 percent media spend should not be read as an exact market benchmark. As a directional signal, it is nonetheless clear: gaming is mainstream when it comes to attention, but in many media plans it still is not.