蘑菇AV

Most consumers divide their time across gaming, music, podcasts, and social, but streaming remains on top鈥攅ven as mobile becomes the default for short- and long-form video.

The news: Despite global cuts in ad budgets, several companies are diving head-first into their own ad offerings to diversify revenues. HP is reportedly pitching HP Media Network, an ad network highlighting laptop and desktop ads. The move includes ads on HP computers and apps, offsite ads, placements in social and email campaigns, and a free ad-supported TV service. Our take: Introducing ad offerings isn鈥檛 necessarily a lost cause鈥攂ut knowing how to position new ad products is key to succeeding in a time when advertisers are increasingly hesitant to invest without measurable results.

It is influential among other communities as well, such as video gamers. We expect YouTube鈥檚 run to continue and estimate double-digit annual increases to its CTV ad revenues through the end of our forecast period in 2027. The best way to measure Hulu and Disney+ comes down to judgement calls.

Gen Z spends the most time on social media. Gen Zers ages 18 to 24 spend more time on Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat than any other age group, according to our forecast. These platforms become community spaces where they interact beyond simple messaging: They share memes and new interests, video chat, and collaborate on content.

As genAI expands beyond chatbots, app categories like banking and messaging could see AI-driven disruption, reshaping mobile habits and spending trends

The news: Dentsu recently launched Robmix, a new business embedding itself in Roblox鈥檚 culture and users, per a Dentsu press release. Robmix is a platform created with the goal of 鈥渄iscovering and developing the next generation of creators鈥� on Roblox and focuses on entertainment opportunities related to Roblox users. Our take: Dentsu鈥檚 latest move gets ahead of the in-game wave, capitalizing on the future of marketing where creators and advertisers are increasingly turning to gaming as a critical opportunity to reach audiences when they鈥檙e most engaged.

Meta's WhatsApp brought in over $1 billion in business revenue in 2024, per our December 2024 forecast. For Discord, their association with video game players has proven to be both a strength and a challenge when approaching how to fold in advertising. 44% of US teens who self-identify as gamers use Discord, according to Pew Research.

Saudi Arabia spends nearly as much time gaming as it does streaming. The country continues to take the top spot for both activities, as time spent with gaming reached 1:50 this year and time spent with online TV/streaming reached 1:53. However, only the former is a result of an increase in time, as time spent with streaming has taken a dip in most of the region.

High audio listenership and time spent this year means limited growth. Subscription revenues will be healthy, as most listeners pay to limit ads. And Spotify will lead in nearly every metric, though several platforms are doing well.

Key stat: 53% of US consumers love or like playing video games, according to April 2024 data from Collage Group. Among Gen Z, that figure increased to 72%.

For mobile gaming in particular, US adults will spend 10.6% of their mobile time playing games this year, per our forecast. But we expect just 3.9% of US mobile ad spend will go to the category in 2023. The hesitation: Gamers are savvy internet users, so in-game ads need to target the specific game and platform where they鈥檙e featured.

Our debut worldwide digital gamer forecast reveals that growth has slowed considerably, mainly because gaming is already a common and popular activity for internet users in almost every country. But some markets are more enthusiastic than others.

Content spending will tighten. With billions committed to live sports rights, media companies may further deprioritize scripted programming in favor of lower-cost unscripted content, putting creative innovation at risk. Licensing deals could stall.

More gamers actively ignore in-game advertisements than find them helpful. False. Actually, US and UK gamers are just as likely to find in-game ads helpful (32%) as they are to actively ignore them (32%), according to May 2025 data from Attest. June 26, 2025. YouTube has increased the minimum age required to live stream to 鈥�. A) 12 years B) 14 years C) 16 years D) 18 years.

This month alone, Amazon is running its (misnamed) Summer Beauty Event, Pet Day sale, and Gaming Week promotions. It also plans to double the length of Prime Day, which will give consumers more opportunities to find deals as well as generate more ad revenues. It鈥檚 squeezing as much revenue as it can from its ad business.

Nearly 71% of Gen Zers are digital gamers, per our forecast, and they鈥檙e likely to spend 3 to 6 hours gaming every week, according to a February 2023 poll conducted by Morning Consult. This is one of the few digital arenas where Gen Z beats millennials not only in penetration but in size鈥攂y nearly a million users, according to our forecast.

Worldwide mobile AR revenues will more than double from $18.67 billion this year to $39.81 billion in 2027, per ARtillery Intelligence. These figures encompass revenues from both consumer and enterprise applications, such as productivity software, advertising/marketing applications, consumer spending on in-app purchases and premium apps, entertainment and games development, and retail/ecommerce enablement software.

Sony clearly expects VR to stay mainly a gaming platform for at least the next few years. VR software revenues mostly come from games. Global software sales will reach $1.79 billion in 2023, mainly in game purchases and subscriptions, according to a 2022 report by ARtillery Intelligence. But very little of those revenues are ad revenues.

Travel brands and issuers are pushing premium cards to attract affluent consumers and boost revenues

Gen Z and Gen Alpha are learning what it means to earn and spend money through gaming and watching creators, according to Catherine D. Henry, senior vice president of Web3 and metaverse strategy at Media.Monks. Brands can use those channels to familiarize younger audiences with their products and make loyalty more likely. Creator-owned businesses are taking off.

With AI revenues soaring and Azure scaling, Microsoft is doubling down on infrastructure to lead tech鈥檚 next wave, even as regulators circle.

CES 2025 emphasized a shift to platform-agnostic ecosystems as cloud gaming, e-sports, and cross-platform play redefine the industry