80% of Gaming Firms Value Instant Market Data, but Few Have It

In the high-stakes arena of digital entertainment, gaming platforms are demonstrating an advantage: a robust appetite for data that’s translating directly into revenue growth.

A new report from PYMNTS Intelligence, produced in collaboration with Carat from Fiserv, titled “Data-Driven Advantage: How Gaming Platforms Can Accelerate Growth,” explores the data readiness of businesses primarily operating in the gaming sector, revealing a strong correlation between effective data use and financial success. The study surveyed 54 executives at gaming platforms between June and August 2024, exploring the impact of dedicated analytics teams, access to real-time data, and data-driven decision-making processes.

The findings underscore that gaming platforms exhibit a higher degree of data readiness compared to other consumer-facing platform businesses, including retailers, grocery merchants, and streaming and gig economy platforms.

This data readiness, characterized by dedicated analytics teams, real-time data access, and reliance on data for decision making, is proving to be a key differentiator in a competitive market. Platforms with dedicated analytics teams saw an average revenue increase of 9.6% between 2022 and 2023, a stark contrast to the mere 0.9% growth reported by platforms lacking companywide data-sharing policies. Moreover, gaming businesses that heavily rely on data for most of their decision-making were 50% more likely to report revenue increases.

Here are three key data points highlighted in the report:

95% of analytics-led gaming platforms report revenue growth, significantly higher than other consumer-facing sectors.

Gaming platforms with dedicated analytics teams analyzing companywide data experienced a 9.6% average revenue increase between 2022 and 2023.

An impressive 95% of gaming platforms with high reliance on data for business decisions report revenue increases, compared to only 63% with low data reliance.

Despite the strong emphasis on data, the report identifies a critical gap: access to real-time data. While 80% of gaming platforms consider real-time market data access critical, only 18% currently have this capability.

This disparity extends to other crucial data types, with only 4% having real-time sales data and just 2.2% accessing real-time business performance data. This lack of timely data is cited by 80% of gaming platforms as a cause of inaccurate decision-making and a loss of competitive advantage.

Also, 74% of gaming platforms reported missing out on business opportunities due to the lack of complete and timely data. These findings underscore the imperative for gaming platforms to invest in infrastructure and analytics capabilities that provide up-to-the-minute insights, transforming data readiness from a potential advantage to a fundamental necessity for sustained growth and market leadership.