Gen Alpha’s digital world is built around YouTube, gaming, and creator-led content. This report examines how early immersion, platform controls, and shifting norms are reshaping engagement as the cohort approaches adolescence.

Nintendo reported blockbuster financial performance for its most recent quarterly earnings, with revenues surging over 90% YoY and profits rising more than 270%, per CNBC. This growth is largely driven by the successful launch of its Switch 2 flagship console, which debuted in June. As gaming consumption shifts to handheld and hybrid devices, brands should explore partnerships and placements that align with Nintendo’s highly curated experiences rather than disrupt it. Because Switch 2 and its games are ad-free, brands can engage players through co-branded campaigns, limited-edition content, and cross-platform tie-ins on Twitch, Discord, YouTube, and social media.

The news: Gaming is becoming a powerful vehicle for delivering ads to engaged audiences, with gamers spending significant time gaming across platforms, per a study from Activision Blizzard Media. Seventy percent of gamers play or watch video games daily, while 95% play or watch weekly. Seventy-seven percent of weekly gamers play on mobile devices, while 52% play on console and 34% play on PC. Our take: In-game advertising provides reach that few other channels can match, connecting with an engaged, highly attentive, and diverse audience, making it a critical touchpoint—but advertisers must understand what strategies work best.

The news: The gaming industry is doubling down on handheld consoles. Nintendo’s Switch 2 shattered single-day sales records with an estimated 3 million units sold at launch, outpacing the Sony PS4’s historic numbers. Meanwhile, Microsoft announced its first handhelds—the ROG Xbox Ally and the ROG Xbox Ally X—partnering with Asus to blend Xbox and PC gaming in a portable format. They’re expected to launch during the holidays. Our take: As cloud and console experiences merge into portable form, game design and ad models are set to evolve fast—opening up fresh real estate for marketers, game studios, and tech platforms alike.

Digital gaming has become one of the most popular activities in the world, thanks mainly to the proliferation of smartphones and free mobile games. Here is our worldwide forecast for total gamers, with breakouts by region and for 13 countries.

Gen Zers and millennials have normalized gaming into adulthood, but smartphones have opened the door for older generations.

In our newest forecast for time spent, mobile devices still attract more than half of all digital time, but CTV is catching up.

Things aren’t all that bad for Big Tech: Sustaining pandemic-era revenues was likely never realistic. But major tech companies are still raking in enormous profits, despite Wall Street investors’ outcry.

Roku was the top connected TV (CTV) platform in the US last year with 84.7 million users, according to our estimates. This year, that figure will grow 12.5% to 95.2 million.

Gaming has gone mainstream, with 86% of internet users worldwide noting they have gamed on at least one device within the past month, and that figure climbed to 92% among those ages 16 to 24, according to a March 2019 report from GlobalWebIndex.