Affiliate Leaders attended IAB’s Gaming Upfronts 2026 to get an inside perspective on the industry landscape.
Gaming is one of the most lucrative industries within entertainment, but a mischaracterisation of ‘gamers’ means brands are under-investing in the sector, leading to an abundance of untapped advertising potential.
This was the main message from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)’s Gaming Upfronts 2026 in central London, which Affiliate Leaders attended.
The gaming industry is much bigger than most realise, and IAB research suggested advertisers aren’t taking advantage of it to its full potential.
James Chandler, chief strategy officer at IAB told attendees that in the first half of 2026 (HY 2026), its digital adspend report revealed the gaming industry was worth £1.3bn, and enjoyed an 11% growth year-on-year from the same period last year.
He went on to explain that gaming is predicted to grow a further 67% by 2030, bringing the industry to an eye-watering £2.6bn – and presenting an opportunity for advertisers who are currently under-investing in the sector.
There is a misconception that gamers are young men with a predictable behaviour – but gaming has evolved far past that.
As it stands, 3.2% of global adspend goes into gaming, according to IAB’s report. On average, the public spends 8.7% of its day playing video games, with 60% of adults gaming every single day, Chandler continued.
“By 2030, gaming is going to be to generation alpha what social media is to gen Z,” he explained. “We know this is a place younger generations are gravitating towards to do shopping for entertainment, for socialising… the entertainment is all starting to blur into one.”
The key to understanding the IAB’s unbridled optimism for gaming advertising is to understand not just the diversity of gamers, but also the level of active engagement in gaming content.
Gamers aren’t confined to just playing the game themselves, they watch gaming content, attend gaming events, buy gaming merchandise, and engage with gaming communities – and this extends past casual games and includes esports, which brings its own lucrative audience and dynamics.
“Gaming is participatory,” said Veronica Stevenson, advertising sales lead, at ESL FACEIT Group. “Esports brings those moments to millions, live. For brands, the opportunity is to find the right role for you in that journey.”
As much as 90% of gamers say brands can add value to gaming platforms, Chandler pointed out, with 70% of gen Z audiences saying they prefer brands which create shared experiences for them.
Success stories, like Naked Smoothie’s 78-minute Gamer Break campaign leveraged 113 million of the 1.86 billion PC gamers through Overwolf, and enjoyed a significant lift in purchase intent, awareness, and brand favourability.
There are opportunities for brands to use gaming breaks, loading pages, product launches, in-game upgrades, and a whole host of data points to make sure they find the right audiences, and build meaningful connections with them through shared experience.
The gaming vertical is booming, and brands that are taking advantage of the extensive and broad audiences that gaming can offer are seeing impressive payoffs, and this is amplified among those which effectively identify their target audience and create authentic experiences.
