Source: SocialTimes
Adobe Digital Insights released its 2016 Gaming Report, which analyzed more than 20 million social engagements between June 2015 and July 2016 and revealed how users are discussing things like virtual reality and esports on social media. ADI analyzed engagements from multiple sources including Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
The report showed that there has been a 548 percent increase in Twitter mentions about augmented reality and virtual reality since January 2015. In addition, the report found social mentions for four names in VR (HTC Vive, Oculus, HoloLens and PlayStation VR) increased 14 percent quarter-over-quarter, from the first quarter of 2016 to the second quarter.
Breaking down mentions by individual terms, the report showed that the HTC Vive saw a 115 percent increase in mentions from Q1 to Q2 2016, while the Oculus experienced a 3 percent decrease in mentions during that same time period. Finally, from Q1 to Q2 2016, the HoloLens and PlayStation VR saw 20 percent and 63 percent decreases in social mentions, respectively.
Elsewhere, the report showed that esports has a larger social following than the National Football League, National Hockey League and Major League Baseball, with esports seeing a 57 percent increase in its global social following from 2015 to 2016. Europe represented the most growth in global social media mentions related to esports from June 2015 to July 2016, followed by South America, North America and Asia.
In a blog post, Becky Tasker, managing analyst at ADI, commented: „While we are seeing an uptick in social mentions of VR/AR devices related to gaming, we’re not yet seeing the same uptick from marketers. That’s why now’s the time to test and learn—there are many marketing-applicable VR/AR use cases that can be borrowed from the gaming community—while it isn’t yet a crowded space.“
ADI’s full report, which also analyzed PC and console video game sales, is available here.
