January 16th, 2023, Kineree Shah
Under a fifth of consumers say social media reviews have an impact on their video game-buying behavior, according to a YouGov poll (17%). This makes video games one of the products for which reviews are least likely to be checked before making a purchasing decision, ahead of only media streaming services (14%), airports (9%), and gambling companies (5%).
Three in 10 Chinese consumers consult social media for reviews before buying a video game – the most across 17 international markets (30%). In Hong Kong (27%) and Indonesia (24%), about a quarter of adults get on social media to look for reviews, while in India and the UAE about one-fifth are likely to do the same (19% each).
As we move towards Europe, the percentage falls nearly to half of what was in China. In Britain (17%), Poland (16%), Germany (15%), France (14%), Italy (13%), and Sweden (13%), more than one in 10 consumers scour social media reviews before making a video game purchase. When considering a video game purchase, Danes are least likely to check social media reviews (11%).
If we look at this data through a gender lens, there is stark difference between males and females. In the US, about a quarter of men look at social media reviews for video games before making a buying decision (24%), but when it comes to women, the percentage is cut by half (13%). It’s the same in Britain where a quarter of British males consult social media for video game reviews (24%) compared to less than a tenth of females (9%).
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Methodology
YouGov RealTime Omnibus provides quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18 and over in 17 markets with sample sizes varying between 514 and 2011 for each market. All surveys were conducted online in October 2022. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov RealTime Omnibus.