Why More Gamers Should Plan Media

With more than 212 million digital gamers in the U.S. alone, gaming isn’t just entertainment, it’s a thriving, expansive media and commerce channel that connects brands with diverse and engaged audiences at scale.

Not long ago, advertisers saw gaming as a niche space. But as the technology, diversification of content, and the ease of accessibility of these immersive products including – virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), cloud gaming, mobile gaming, and 5G networks – the market has forged new spaces for gamers to connect, share their experiences, and build communities. The emergence of growing markets, like esports, has successfully captured the attention and excitement of an untapped audience.

Brands attempting to enter the gaming space face a critical challenge: how to engage with gaming audiences without coming across as outsiders. The answer lies not just in allocating media dollars to gaming platforms, but in who’s making those decisions. At Havas Play, we’ve discovered that putting actual gamers at the helm of gaming media planning transforms brand integration from mere advertising to meaningful engagement.

Changing the Traditional Route of Planning

Imagine a world where ads don’t just sit on a screen but become part of the action, where a brand weaves seamlessly into a player’s journey, creating interactive experiences that feel natural within the gaming environment, drawing players in rather than pulling them away.

The gaming landscape can be defined as a complex ecosystem with distinctive communities and expectations. When brands approach gaming as just another media channel, they miss integrated connections that makes gaming unique. Only those who have lived within these communities can truly understand how to navigate them authentically.

At Havas Play, we work differently. We don’t have media planners who occasionally plan gaming campaigns, we have gamers who plan media. Our gaming media planners bring thousands of hours of gameplay experience, platform knowledge, and understanding of gaming communities that can’t be learned from research alone.

Creating Meaningful Moments in Gaming’s Most Meaningful Media

We believe in bringing meaningful moments to the most meaningful media. Gaming represents one of the most engaged media channels available to marketers today, with players giving their undivided attention for hours at a time, attention that’s increasingly difficult to capture elsewhere.

Take our work with JBL, rather than simply placing ads for gaming headsets, we created an in-store activation that drew in young gamers for an immersive product experience. The result wasn’t just brand awareness, but genuine enthusiasm as participants flooded the store, creating authentic content that spread organically through gaming communities. Our approach translated into higher engagement rates, and conversion rates that outperformed standard digital advertising benchmarks.

Traditional media planning often focuses on impressions and reach. Gaming media planning, however, prioritizes attention, relevance and value-add. Our gaming specialists ask different questions: How can a brand contribute to this gaming environment? What value is being brought to the gamer experience? How can we achieve marketing objectives while staying true to the game?

This approach has led us to develop custom gaming experiences that incorporate brand messaging with gameplay.

The Future is Gamer-Led

As gaming continues to evolve as both a cultural force and media channel, the need for authentic expertise will only grow. The gap between brands that genuinely understand gaming and those that merely view it as another advertising venue will widen.

At Havas, we’re investing in gaming talent, building partnerships with leading gaming platforms, and developing tools that help brands navigate the complex gaming ecosystem.

If you want to connect with gaming audiences, let gamers lead the way.