The hottest new advertising trend involves influencers who lead their followers to make purchases of goods and services. Many different industries are using influencers to peddle their product from the fashion and cosmetics industries to Vegas online casino gaming, travel and lifestyle, sports, health and fitness, family/parenting/home and more.
The gaming industry is the perfect sector to benefit from influencer marketing. People are online and can easily access the websites that are referred to them through the influencers’ broadcasts. Through social proofs and word-of-mouth promotions, influencers in the gaming world are successful at promoting a wide range of goods and services, both gaming-related and otherwise.
How do Influencers Influence Buying Patterns?
Almost every industry has its own favorite social media platform for promoting its wares. Twitter is considered the best platform to market technology companies, airlines, food chains/brands and financial organizations. YouTube is the preferred platform for video advertising. Instagram is the place for advertisers promoting anything that’s highly visual from crypto and auto to fashion, food and travel.
LinkedIn ads do best with vertical videos but the subject isn’t limited to professional development, which is what the LinkedIn Platform specializes. TikTok focuses on content that fits into short video clips and people tune into Twitch to see gaming content.
Now that gaming spearheads the cultural sector (ahead of music and cinema), gaming influencers are more in-demand than ever. In 2021 gaming was reported to be a $175 billion industry, the biggest media category by revenue. Today, gaming is larger than film, streaming and music sectors combined. Advertisers are busy trying to find gaming influencers who can influence their viewers in the direction that the advertisers want.
Not everyone can be an influencer. A good influencer has to not only be known in the gaming world as a successful player but must have the personality and communication skills to engage an audience and nurture the audience into loyal fans in a way that will influence them to buy his/her product. S/he must understand his/her audience and their needs and expectations, have the online presence needed to entertain the viewers and be able to build a community of viewers through online chats and the delivery of relevant content.
2022 Top Gaming Influencers
Some of the Top Gaming Influencers of 2022 include:
Markiplier
With almost 30 million subscribers, Markiplier has earned his place as a top gaming influencer. Markiplier’s platform-of-choice is YouTube where he plays mostly survival- horror games, He also specializes in Let’s Play games where he pairs walkthroughs of video games with comedic and informative commentaries.
Markiplier has been sponsored by EA to promote the Apex Legends game. He focuses on promotion of the CLOCK apparel brand which is his own company (along with fellow gaming YouTuber and friend, Jacksepticeye).
Jelly
The comedy and emojis of the energetic Jelly have earned him the reputation of being one of the most child-friendly YouTubers online. In the gaming world he’s best known for his Fortnite and his GTA gameplay but what really grabs his audience’s attention are the Among Us content though now he’s gaining an even bigger fanbase from new Minecraft videos. He’s known for creating funny scenarios while he’s in the middle of a game so that each situation comes to life. Jelly – Jelle Van Vucht – has his own merchandise line that he sells from the “Jelly Store.”
Ali-A
Ali-A is Alastir Aiken from Great Britain who streams on YouTube. He is known for Minecraft, Pokemon Go and Call of Duty games. Ali-A believes in CONSTANT CONTACT and he uploads a Call of Duty every day. His launches of new CoD games are eagerly awaited – according to Guinness World Records, Ali-A has the most viewed and subscribed CoD channels.
Viewers find Ali-A’s style to be endearing. His videos are uniform which means that viewers always know what to expect. The main focus of his content revolves around live reactions to video games and his own content but the vblog which he uses to introduce segments to his community are much enjoyed as a personal touch that lends authenticity to the viewing experience.
Ali-A has one of the largest audiences of any battle royale shooter gamers. Aside from his gaming video introductions his vblog includes updates, gameplay, tips and vlogs.
MatPat and The Game Theorists
MatPat is the creator and narrator of The Game Theorists/Game Theory), a YouTube webseries where viewers can find commentary on topics ranging from the lore or various video games to logic and scientific accuracy. He is also a host of Food Theory which has similar content on the Internet, cinema, food and filmography.
MatPat is best known for having created one of the first live gaming channels on YouTube – GT Live. He also hosts MatPat's Game Lab and has appeared on a number of different shows and channels. His favorite subject, however, seems to be trying to figure out what lies behind the most popular video games with subjects ranging from science and technology to history and stories that inspired the games.
DamTDM
British-born Daniel Middleton got his start by posting Minecraft review videos which drew attention to his style and his content. Today Middleton is one of the highest-paid YouTube content creators. He is still best-known for his game reviews which focus on Minecraft, Roblox and Pokemon. He set a 2017 Guinness World Record for “Most Views for a Dedicated Minecraft Video Channel.
