| posted by

More women playing video games than men according to IAB report

The myth of video games being the sole preserve of male teenagers has been shattered by a new report compiled by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), which found that more women than men now indulge in video gaming.

Gaming Revolution found that seven in 10 Britons have picked up a joy pad at some point over the past six months with more people aged over 45 doing so than children and teenagers. This has seen the total UK video game market grow to encompass 33.5 million Britons.

Usurping traditional games consoles however are smartphones where the majority of people now head for their gaming fix, although consoles remain the platform which soaks up the greatest amount of hours overall.

Surprisingly women now account for the majority of gamers, driven by an older demographic favouring trivia and word puzzles, taking them up to 52 per cent of all gamers over the last six months – a 3 per cent rise in a year.

These demographic shifts haven’t been adversely affected by a rise in in-game advertising however, with six in ten of over 4,000 respondents stating that they were happy to be exposed to commercial content if it ensured that the games themselves were free.

Steve Chester, director of data & industry programmes at the IAB said: “The internet and mobile devices have changed the gaming landscape forever. They’ve brought down the barriers to entry, making gaming far more accessible and opened it up to a whole new audience. In the past you needed to go out and buy an expensive console and the discs on top to get a decent experience, now you can just download a free app.”

Featured by The Drum