Social gaming market could reach $14.4 billion by 2019

A new study on the potential for online and mobile social gaming is not specifically gambling-oriented, but nevertheless gives a useful indication of the potential for the sector as a whole.

Conducted by the independent firm Transparency Market Research and titled “Social Gaming Market – Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2013-2019,” the report portrays a sector where revenues could reach $17.4 billion a year by 2019, with CAGR of 16.1 percent from 2013 to 2019.

TMR says that growth has been spurred by the diversity of games and websites available and the continuing development, affordability and use of mobile gaming devices

Asia Pacific was the largest contributor to revenues in the social gaming market, commanding a 45 percent market share in 2012. The region is expected to reach $7.59 billion by 2019 thanks to a massive overall population and growing ownership of mobile devices.

Among different types of revenue generation methods, the sale of virtual goods helped generate 60 percent, followed by advertisements.

Negative factors dragging on the market are restrictions on social networking sites in China and the Middle East.

Looking at the demographics, TMR reports that the main group responsible for the surge in growth in social gaming is the 19-25 year old demographic, which is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 17 percent through to 2019. A major reason for the growing popularity of the social games among this age group is readily available internet services in schools, colleges or homes.

Females constitute the greatest number of social networkers and gamers at 54 percent, according to TMR.