It’s no surprise, at this stage, that Youtube has had a heavy impact on gaming. With Youtubers like Markiplier and Pewdiepie leading the charge, you’re now more likely to see your kids watching someone play a game rather than play it themselves. Developers have certainly taken notice of this trend with many scrambling to get popular channels to play their games. As was the case for Minecraft, the games popularity can skyrocket because of Youtube views. So, with Youtube holding so much influence over the games we play, it’s interesting to ask the question “Who influences us the most?”
Well, according to Forbes, it’s Mark ‘Markiplier’ Fischbach.
Using data analytics from Traackr and Captiv8, Forbes weight things like audience size, reach, resonance and potential earnings. Things such as endorsements were also taken into account. Forbes said, “These social media power players have managed to monetize not just existing platforms, like Instagram and YouTube, but in many cases emerging apps and sites like Musical.ly and Twitch,”
Interestingly, despite Pewdiepie boasting more viewers than Markiplier, (55 Million and 17 Million respectively), Mark still comes out on top. Forbes also explained this, saying ““He took a massive hit. You can see trends. If [an influencer] has said slurs in the past, they will likely say slurs again in the future.”, referring to the recent controversy sparked by a Wall Street Journal article.The controversy caused Pewdiepie to lose advertising revenue and business deals with many companies, likely skewing things in Mark’s favour.
It’s interesting to think that Youtube could be so influential on games. Speaking personally, I’ve certainly bought games after seeing someone else play them. It’s an odd switch from playing games with your friends to watching people you’ve never met play them. However, I’d say it’s a welcome change. In my opinion, this is just entertainment adapting to a more technology focused world. Plus, it helps if you can figure out what a game plays like before buying it.
So, congrats to Markiplier on his incredible influence! Let us know what you think about this in the comments below. Have you ever bought a game because a Youtuber you like played it?
