Gaming has long ceased to be a niche and has become a permanent hobby for many people that spans all ages and genders. An international study by the market research agency Alter Agents on behalf of Activision Blizzard Media has now dealt with a very special gaming target group – namely mothers.
And of all the mothers surveyed, almost 71 percent play video games. We have summarized the results of the study for you.
What do mothers gamble and consume?
Although 71 percent of all mothers surveyed play video games, only would 48 percent also call themselves gamers. Video game-loving mothers also tend to spend more time on social media and use other forms of entertainment than mothers who are not gaming. Specifically, the study worked out the following parts:
- 57 percent of all gamer moms have spent money on a streaming or entertainment service in the past twelve months.
- 33 percent of all gamer moms regularly watch content in one go (“binge watching”).
- 76 percent of all gamer moms use social media every day.
- 30 percent of all gamer moms believe that entertainment technology brings people together.
- Gamer moms consume about 30 percent more content on social media than non-gamer moms.
If you would like to immerse yourself in the gaming world with your child, you can find our Plus Report here on how to introduce children to video games. Together with two media educators, we answered the most common parents' questions:
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Plus report: how to properly introduce children to video games
Mothers play for relaxation & with the cell phone
Mobile gaming is not only very popular with teenagers, too Mothers prefer to use a smartphone or tabletwhen they play video games. A total of 74 percent of all playing mothers said they played on their mobile device, 68 percent of them even play mobile games in Germany every day. Around a third of all gamer moms surveyed also play on a PC or notebook (38 percent) and on a console (33 percent).
On the question, why they prefer to play, the participants answer as follows:
- 59 percent of all gamer moms play to relax.
- 45 percent of all gamer moms play when they have some time for themselves.
- 37 percent of all gamer moms play with friends, children, their partner or to maintain social contacts.
- 19 percent of all gamer moms play to improve their mood.
Who was included in the study?
All women who are between 25 and 54 years old and have at least one child under the age of 18 are considered mothers. The study was conducted online in equal parts in the USA, England, Germany and France and comprises a total of 7,202 mothers – 4,002 of whom are defined as "gamer moms", 3,200 of them as "non-gamer moms".
Almost half of all video game parents are women.
If you are interested in what children's buying and playing behavior looks like, check out our article on the USK survey. There the German entertainment software self-control found that more than three quarters of all children make clear arrangements with their children for in-game purchases:
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Survey: Every 3rd child spends money on games every month
What the study also reveals: Parents don't have much time to gamble, because they play in the four countries surveyed less than 30 percent of all mothers do more than ten hours a week. With the exception of Germany, almost half of the mothers surveyed have been playing video games for more than ten years; in Germany it is only 31 percent who have only started playing in the past ten years.
However, it is striking that especially those mothers who have been playing video games for a long time often tend to be on different platforms (53 percent). Meanwhile, mothers who only play mobile games have mostly only discovered gaming in the past ten years (66 percent).
