PayPal Stories Archive

We’re excited to share the results from our 2018 global gaming research amongst paying gamers, in collaboration with SuperData Research, which uncovers incredible insights and opportunities for publishers, developers, content creators and customers in 25 markets.

 

At PayPal, we’re part of the solution for both merchants and consumers in the gaming world – in fact, gaming accounts for more than $12 billion in our total payment volume globally, an increase of more than 23% year over year in 2017. Across the world, survey respondents selected PayPal as their preferred way to pay for gaming content, with ease of use and speed driving their payment method choice.

 

Unsurprisingly, eSports and livestream video content represent the two fastest-growing forms of gaming video content in terms of viewership. Viewers are willing to spend massive sums of money supporting streamers – especially in the U.S., where more than a third (34%) of livestream viewers reported spending $50 or more over the last 3 months.

 

However, despite the explosion of viewership and customers’ willingness to spend, almost half of women content creators (43% globally, 47% in the U.S.) don’t get paid for what they create. The U.S. had the largest gender pay gap of the countries surveyed: almost half as many men (24%) do not get paid for content they create.

 

Globally, active paying gamers polled shop across 14 different gaming platforms and nearly 30 different storefronts over the last three months, an incredible variety.

 

In the U.S., respondents surveyed purchase from 26 different gaming storefronts – the third most in the world, behind Russia (27), Australia and Canada (28 each). While Steam is highly popular among Millennials globally (31%), GameStop was resoundingly popular, with 45% of U.S. Millennial respondents reporting shopping there for gaming content, meaning despite the move to digital purchasing, established retailers are still revered by a significant portion of the gaming industry.

 

Respondents are selective about their checkout options: half of customers globally (and 44% in the U.S.) noted they would walk away from the online sale if their preferred payment method is not offered.

 

In most countries, in-game spending is within a few dollars of average spend on full games[1]. Surprisingly, in-game spending is skewing higher among older U.S. players: those aged 35-and-over have spent $50 on average, compared to $40 for those aged 18 to 34. Meanwhile, younger gamers are spending more in full game downloads: $63, versus $48 for gamers 35-and-over.

 

With monetization models changing, developers and publishers need to have a great in-game checkout experience to better serve customers.

 

While eSports has seen an incredible explosion over the last year, only 15% of gaming video viewers (13% in the U.S.) have watched eSports content. According to SuperData’s 2017 estimated eSports revenue of $756 million, there is an incredible untapped potential for paid monetization of eSports content. This is particularly true among U.S. women, as only 6% reported engagement – compared to men, who had more than three times as many (19%).[2]

 

Monetizing on video and eSports is a huge opportunity that can be seized if customers are offered quick and easy ways to pay for content.

 

In the U.S., livestreamers on sites like Twitch are roughly as influential as journalists when it comes to influencing purchase intent (15% vs 16%, respectively). However, YouTubers (27%) already far exceed journalists.

 

Players in both age groups (18-34 and 35+) have roughly the same trust in journalists, but younger gamers are far more likely to trust YouTubers (36% vs. 21%).

 

If you’re interested in learning more about our gaming research, you can check out survey results here.

 

Methodology: This study was conducted by SuperData on behalf of PayPal, between February and March 2018, across 25 markets and approx. 25,000 active paying gamers globally.