Gaming is one of the world's most popular pastimes, but play remains limited on one of consumers' most important screens, the TV. This analyst insight explains how and why that is set to change.

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Summary

Video games have emerged as one of the most widespread forms of entertainment in the 21st century. The combination of smart TVs, cloud, bundling, advertising, and analytics promise to take video games’ popularity to the next level in more ways than one.

Despite games’ huge popularity, big-screen play is limited

In the US, 67% of adult internet users say they regularly play games. Among the coveted 18–34-year-old demographic that grew up with technology, 81% identify as gamers, eclipsing regular users of music streaming, online messaging, and even social media, as Figure 1 highlights. Only TV and online video are more popular.