Omdia: Gaming IP and its rise across the entertainment industry

During IBC2023 in Amsterdam, Maria Rua Aguete, Media Research Director at Omdia, unveiled the research company’s latest report on gaming IP, drawing the audience’s attention to a series of factors that are combining to super-charge the market. HBO’s breakout hit "The Last Of Us", plus record-breaking box office figures for "The Super Mario Bros. Movie", have greatly increased the prominence of game adaptations into film and TV. This has been a surprise to those who have not traced games’ meteoric rise in recent years as both a source of revenue and a cultural medium.

The ways in which the closer bonds between games, movies, and TV can be scrutinized are almost endless. Rua Aguete said that games advertising already generates $70bn, while total gaming revenues reached $250bn at the end of 2022 - more than all the global SVOD combined.

In recent years, the arrival of streaming services—competing against cinema and traditional TV—has seen demand soar for familiar and marketable IP. This context has produced its own challenging dynamics. In essence, streaming services and studios need ever more content to monetize their services and guarantee profitability.

With two-thirds of US consumers identifying as gamers, the dedicated fan bases and existing IP in games are thus becoming more valuable as adaptation material. According to Rua Aguete, these also bring opportunities for telcos aggregation, games, video, music all in one place. Overlapping ecosystems are to dominate entertainment service strategy in 2024.

Service providers that provide hard-line services are under more pressure to increase margins, reduce churn, and offset declines in legacy services such as telephony. Platform, service, and content owners are under the same pressures to aggregate. They must consider integrated partnerships to continue growing.

•Service providers, especially those that rely on sports, need to consider adding additional services to their bundles. Services considered should include those resilient to pressures on video media.

•Telcos will gain the most. Pay TV inherently relies on content to drive high-value bundles, but telcos function best when they can agnostically aggregate a range of content and services.

•Service providers should build convenience into channel bundles. They should allow all providers to access the platform, while providing single access billing solutions. In the past SVOD services were strategic assets, but now SVOD services behave more like additional channels for consumers.

•Services outside the traditional media bundle will become a focus. Providers partner with atypical services, including music, games, and home automation. Again, securing single billing for customers across new services will be crucial to creating bundles that incentivize consumers to remain loyal.