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Electronic Arts begins the push for in-game advertising: The conglomerate said it hopes to debut ads in its big-budget games as the industry seeks revenue growth.

Time spent on media and consumer spending are plateauing, making one company's gain another's loss. Diving into these market dynamics, we explore innovative strategies for advertisers and retailers to win consumers in the new digital era.

Gaming is up, but marketers must pick their spots: Most casual gamers ignore ads, but players in story-driven and open-world titles are more likely to engage.

US Gamers by Generation 2025 (蘑菇AV subscription required). US In-Game Ad Revenues Forecast 2024 (蘑菇AV subscription required). Methodology: Data is from the February 2025 Attest report titled "Gaming in 2025: What Brands Need to Know." 1,363 US adults ages 18+ were surveyed on January 6, 2025. Of these respondents, 1,000 play video games at least a few times per month.

Here's how people in South Korea spend their time and money online, represented in 10 charts.

Not every trend gets the headline it deserves. Our analysts spotted three undervalued ad mediums (in games, shoppable media, and ride-share companies), each holding an opportunity for advertisers to diversify their spend, explore formats, and identify untapped audiences. Here are the ad forecast trends you need to know.

Following nearly 25% growth in 2023, US game ad revenues will total $8.59 billion this year, a growth of 6.7% over 2023, per our March 2024 forecast.

Apple, whose digital services and advertising business brings in more than $5 billion a year, is well positioned to grab VR advertising and subscription revenue. While Apple鈥檚 metaverse could be two or three years away, it could still come sooner than Meta鈥檚 expected five- to 10-year roadmap.

A quarter of US adults recently cut their spending on video streaming subscriptions due to inflation, per a Morning Consult survey. Slightly less cut back on music streaming subscriptions (24%) and cable or satellite TV (23%). Across all entertainment categories studied, more adults either didn鈥檛 pull back or didn鈥檛 pay for the product or service in the first place.

It hosted Amazon Gaming Week from April 30 through May 5, and Amazon Pet Day begins on May 7. Amazon is increasingly using seasonal or category-specific events to drive sales and build awareness of its growing selection of name brands. The events also boost retail media spending as brands aim to ensure they are front and center during the sale.

Over a third (35%) of desktop gamers said ads negatively affect their experience, compared with 55% of gamers who said that product placements in games make the experience 鈥渕ore real,鈥� per a Comscore survey as reported by Digiday. These kinds of activations (which promote the Barbie brand but don鈥檛 overwhelm players) may be the sweet spot for brands looking to reach gamers. 4.

Total game US ad revenues will hit $8.76 billion this year, an increase of 7.7%, per our November 2024 forecast. We forecast gaming video content ad revenues to reach $3.2 billion. Nintendo said it would offer more information on the Switch 2, potentially including a release date, on April 2. This was originally featured in the 蘑菇AV Daily newsletter.

Xbox didn鈥檛 necessarily need these newfound profits to compete in the gaming industry, but being free from Google鈥檚 revenue cuts on in-app purchases could enable smaller game developers to thrive.

Almost three-fourths (74.8%) of Gen Zers will be digital game players by 2027, according to our December 2024 forecast.

Social media (41%) and traditional media (43%) are expected to take the largest spending cuts, while linear TV, gaming (24%), digital display (20%), and podcasts (16%) will also see declines. When will it happen? The biggest spending pullbacks are likely to occur in Q2 (34%) and Q3 (37%), as advertisers react to mid-year economic shifts. Tariffs are accelerating ad budget cuts.

The news: 88% of mobile app ad spend is concentrated on Google and Meta, per Moloco鈥檚 Performance Through Independence report, despite high user engagement with independent apps. Advertisers who diversified their ad mix beyond the two Big Tech giants saw return on ad spend (ROAS) improve by up to 214%. Our take: Independent mobile apps offer untapped ROI. Reducing reliance on Google and Meta by diversifying mobile app spend could boost reach, hedge against platform risks, and better align with user behavior, especially as privacy challenges threaten to reshape targeting and measurement.

AppLovin is setting its sights on ecommerce: Executives plan to attract spenders and grow revenues with a slew of ad product launches.

Needleman and Tom Dotan of the Wall Street Journal round the numbers, and adding Activision would've made gaming overall about what percent of Microsoft's revenue in its latest fixed fiscal year? So Microsoft added Activision, and so how much would that have swelled its gaming revenues to if you take its last fiscal year? So basically, what share of Microsoft is gaming as a result of this deal? Okay.