Gaming isn’t just another audience segment. It’s one of the largest cultural ecosystems on the internet, and social media is where its influence compounds.
In the recent Video Games State of Social Webinar, ListenFirst’s Gaming Lead Brooke Argentum shared exclusive insights on how video game publishers are performing on social, audience trends, and best practices for posting going forward.
The video game industry is significantly larger, with a far more diverse audience than many people realize. As of 2025, video games make $60.7 billion a year in overall revenue in the United States. Overall, 212.3 million Americans between the ages of 5 and 90 play video games for at least an hour a week. Among adults, 53% of men and 46% of women actively play video games, while the average age of a gamer has risen to 37.
Video games are also driving popular culture more than ever before. According to ListenFirst data, over 100 game titles either sold future adaptation rights, have begun production or have confirmed upcoming release dates, generating over 11M social media mentions during the first six months of 2026.
For marketers, understanding gamers is understanding a huge passion point for the majority of Americans and their online behavior better. Here are some of the key findings Argentum shared.
Gamers Fall Into Four Distinct Buckets
While there’s historically been an unflattering, stereotyped perception of gamers (that they’re middle aged men living in their parents’ basement), the community’s reality can be split into four unique personas.
Professionals – This group of gamers play to generate income. The group includes influencers, eSports players, and Twitch streamers. They focus on games that are most aligned with audience trends and most likely to increase their following. Professional gamers are more likely to be found in the Los Angeles area. They are 2.2X more likely to be on YouTube, and 2X more likely to be on TikTok compared to gamers on average.
Former Gamers – These are hobbyists who abandoned gaming regularly, but still keep passive tabs on their favorite titles or studios. They’re more likely to be found on YouTube, Reddit, or Twitter, and potentially can be lured back into playing with the right updates or improvements.
Casual Gamers – This group is often intensely loyal to a handful of favorite titles or studios, maintain an awareness of industry knowledge, and may or may not expand their gaming interests into personal creative pursuits.
Newbies – They have never played video games before, but took an interest in TV or film adaptations and have hunted down source material as a result. They have minimal or no industry knowledge, are 4X more likely than gamers in general to be on TikTok, and tend to be a target for frustration from more dedicated audiences due to their ignorance.
Where To Find Gamers And What They’re Posting
Overall, gamers are 27.4X more likely to be on Discord, 13X more likely to be on Reddit, and 8.5X more likely to be on Twitch compared to the average U.S. social media user, during H1 of 2026. Meanwhile, 44.3% of user-generated gaming content is posted on YouTube, 31.7% on TikTok, and 9.2% on X/Twitter. In terms of brands, gamers are talking about Nintendo 28.3% of the time, XBOX 23% of the time, and about Playstation 20.2% of the time.
Brands looking to connect with gamers should consider creating an official subreddit or Discord server, or partner with relevant streamers popular on Twitch and TikTok.
The Best Day And Time To Post
ListenFirst has found a significant amount of optimization is still possible for video game brands on social media. Although the majority of posts by video game brands were shared between 6am-10am PT in H1 2026, content posted at that time saw some of the lowest response rates. Instead, the average response rate is 4X higher between 2-5pm PT. Video game brands will often see better engagement posting in late afternoon, when people are getting off work on the west coast and starting to have dinner on the east coast.
Additionally most posts by video game brands are shared on weekdays, even though weekends, especially Saturday is when video game posts get the most engagement. Video game brands can improve post performance by better aligning with when the relevant audience is engaged on social media.
TikTok And Video Should Be Prioritized Even More
In the first half of 2026, video game brands averaged over 11,127 engagements per post TikTok, an increase of 66% compared to engagements per post in 2025. This was 42% higher than brands were seeing on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram or YouTube in the same time period, despite posting on TikTok 53% less than these other platforms.
Also during H1 2026, video remains the most effective content for video game brands. averaging a 4.10% response rate cross-platform. That’s 28% higher than the response rate for galleries and 142% higher than the response rate for single images.
By focusing even more on video and increasing the frequency of posts on TikTok, video game brands can improve the performance of their social media content.
Final Thought
Regardless of if you’re a video game brand looking to improve performance on social media, or if you’re a marketer potentially trying to reach gamers as an audience segment, social media insights are an invaluable way to better target a particular online audience. Adults playing video games are actually more likely to have a full time job and kids than the general population, and are a valuable audience segment for advertisers. Please reach out to your ListenFirst account manager at ListenFirst or contact us at hi@listenfirstmedia.com, if you’d like to learn more about gamers or see the recording of the Video Games State of Social Webinar.