Anyone who has kids, or is familiar with Gen Z, will attest that gaming excels at audience engagement with its interactive storytelling, mechanics, and strong community involvement. Is there a lesson here for publishers? You bet. UIC’s Sam Drury explains more…
In an era where the publishing sector faces unprecedented challenges, one key to survival may lie in an unexpected source: the gaming industry. The gaming sector is leading world growth. Video gaming platforms were home to 3.2 billion gamers around the world in 2022, and the number is projected to reach 3.5 billion by 2025.
With the gaming industry in growth (it is now the second largest media sector that is about to reach $200 billion), there are opportunities for publishers to be inspired by this sector’s innovation and its fearlessness to push the boundaries of what’s possible.
From paper to pixels
One of the most significant lessons the publishing sector can learn from gaming is the power of interactivity and engagement through user experience.
In today’s digital landscape, consumers crave immersive experiences that go beyond passive consumption. Gaming has mastered the art of capturing and retaining audience attention through interactive storytelling, compelling gameplay mechanics and community engagement.
There are multiple opportunities for publishers to experiment with these principles too. Focus on ways you can gamify the experience for audiences while they are browsing on your site or in-app. This doesn’t necessarily mean embedding games into the content (unless it’s relevant), you can boost interaction through small ways too. Reddit, is an example of an online forum that does this well, its upvote/downvote system and Karma scores encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing across its platform.
Moreover, sports publishers have been embedding gamification techniques alongside their online content for years. This includes incorporating ‘fantasy football’ games alongside match summaries, and interactive polls such as ‘pick your player of the match’ which drives engagement. Publishers can draw valuable lessons from this by infusing their content with interactive elements that captivate audiences and foster deeper connections with their material.
BuzzFeed is another example of a publisher who has harnessed gamified experiences such as quizzes to keep audiences engaged and remain on its site. It is now also experimenting with elevating this experience through AI – so that it can create even more personalised content for audiences.
Embedding gaming into your offering
The gaming industry has excelled in embracing technologies to create innovative and transformative experiences, and this can inspire publishers to do the same too.
The South China Morning Post was one of the very first media organisations to launch its inaugural metaverse experience on its online website, connecting to a new generation of readers.
While the metaverse may not be accessible to everyone – this was an example of a publisher that was willing to step outside of its comfort zone and experiment with new and cutting-edge technologies at the time. And with the development of the metaverse in China gaining significant momentum, this was a strategic decision by the publication that was right for its Chinese readership.
There’s a reason why puzzles and word searches have been a staple in many newspapers for decades. It provides readers with a mental break from reading, and satisfies readers’ needs for amusement and diversion. This should be adopted too for the digital age – completing a puzzle builds positive emotions into a reading experience as it allows readers to feel a sense of achievement. It can also help create communities as people work together to solve the puzzles and discuss the clues and challenges.
The success of Wordle was revolutionary for The New York Times. In effect, it changed the publication’s demographic as more young adults became engaged in playing the game, who were challenged by the prospect of completing a word a day.
Ultimately, a key to saving the publishing sector lies in embracing innovation, diversifying offerings and reimagining how you engage with audiences and keep them wanting more. By learning from the gaming industry’s success in interactivity and technological adoption, publishers can position themselves for long-term growth and relevance in an ever-changing digital landscape.
The future of publishing is not just about words on a page; it’s about creating immersive, interactive and engaging experiences that captivate audiences and inspire imagination.
Sam Drury
UX Director, UIC Digital
UIC Digital is a team of Digital Product Experts who build market-leading cross-platform digital products for some of the world’s most renowned companies such as BBC, UEFA, Paramount and NBC. Our mission is to create digital products that have a clear purpose and achieve great results by being well built and easy to use. Our 100+ team of digital product experts are based at our London, New York, and Budapest offices.
