Brands are missing out as gaming rivals social media in reach but far surpasses it in user attention. Marketers continue to invest heavily in social platforms, but new data shows gaming delivers deeper engagement.
For media and publishing professionals focused on audience engagement and monetization, the latest data on gaming versus social media should prompt a rethink of media planning strategies. While gaming now reaches nearly as many people as social media in several markets, it commands only a small share of advertising budgets. The real differentiator is not reach, but the depth of user attention-an increasingly scarce resource for brands seeking meaningful impact.
In South Africa, gaming now reaches about 44% of the population, slightly ahead of social media’s 41.5%. Despite this, social platforms still attract around 95% of media spend, leaving gaming with just 5%. This allocation is difficult to justify when considering attention metrics. Research indicates the average social media user spends just eight seconds on a single post, down from over 12 seconds a decade ago. Meanwhile, in-game brand experiences typically hold a player’s focus for more than two minutes per session. Statista projects daily social media usage will drop from 143 minutes in 2024 to 141 minutes in 2025, signaling a plateau and growing fragmentation.
The structural differences between the two channels are key. Social media is built for passive consumption-users scroll between tasks and rarely give full attention. Gaming, on the other hand, requires active participation. Players make decisions, solve problems, and interact with others, investing their attention in the experience. Brands that integrate into gaming environments become part of the user’s activity, rather than an interruption. This is especially true for Gen Z and Gen Alpha, who spend significant leisure time socializing and expressing themselves within games. Media plans that ignore this shift risk relying on outdated assumptions about audience behavior.
Campaign results reflect this engagement gap. Brands such as Samsung and CeraVe have seen average in-game engagement times of five to nine minutes per player in campaigns delivered by ReachPlayers. These efforts have produced measurable increases in brand awareness, purchase intent, and top-of-mind recall among 13-to-18-year-olds. In some cases, players have created their own content on platforms like TikTok and Discord, organically extending campaign reach without extra media spend. This level of authentic interaction is difficult to replicate with traditional feed placements.
The industry is beginning to adapt. Previously, gaming campaigns were often treated as one-off events, relying on influencer traffic and hoping for viral success. The main challenge was scalability, not creativity. Now, in-game advertising can be purchased with guaranteed CPMs, defined reach, and measurable delivery. Brands can access audiences inside games with millions of active users, using the same planning and accountability standards as other media channels. This evolution is narrowing the gap between gaming and more established digital channels, as discussed in recent analysis of open internet ad spend trends.
With Gen Z and Gen Alpha already spending hours each week in gaming environments, the opportunity for brands is clear. Gaming remains an underpriced and underutilized attention channel. As the gap in engagement between gaming and social media persists, media budgets are likely to follow audience attention. The question for brands is whether they will act before the market catches up.
