Exploring Leading Gaming Brands in the US: Q4 2024 Analysis

Introduction

In the dynamic world of gaming, understanding leading brands and their performance across platforms is crucial. Sensor Tower provides unparalleled insights into cross-platform user behavior through its comprehensive datasets. This article examines the performance of three major gaming brands in the US—Roblox, Steam, and Xbox—during Q4 2024, highlighting trends in audience engagement, app usage, and advertising strategies.

Roblox (Mobile)

Roblox is a global online platform that allows users to create and share games. It maintains a strong presence both on its website, roblox.com, and through the Roblox app.

• Audience Trends:

  • From Q3 to Q4 2024, roblox.com saw a fluctuation in visits, with a notable rise to over 4.7B in December.

  • The monthly deduplicated audience remained stable, hovering around 85M to 90M throughout the quarter.

  • The web audience consistently outnumbered app-only visitors, highlighting the platform's web dominance.

• App Engagement:

  • Monthly active users on the app varied, starting at around 52M in October and increasing to over 56M by December.

  • This indicates a resurgence in mobile engagement towards the year’s end.

• Ad Spend & Channels:

  • Roblox’s monthly advertising expenditure decreased significantly from July to October, with a slight increase in the latter months, peaking in December with over $1.1M.

  • TikTok was the dominant channel for impressions, consistently delivering impressive reach.

Steam

Steam, known for its expansive library of games and community features, has a notable digital footprint with its websites, steamcommunity.com and store.steampowered.com, complemented by the Steam app.

• Audience Trends:

  • Both websites experienced growth in unique visits, with store.steampowered.com reaching nearly 10M unique visits in December.

  • The monthly deduplicated audience across platforms grew steadily, surpassing 18M by the end of Q4.

• App Engagement:

  • The Steam app showed a positive trend in monthly active users, increasing from approximately 2.8M to over 3.4M by December, highlighting a growing mobile user base.

• Ad Spend & Channels:

  • Steam's advertising efforts were minimal but saw a notable increase in December, with monthly spending reaching around $37K, primarily via desktop video channels.

Xbox

Xbox, a leader in the gaming console market, boasts a strong online presence with xbox.com and xboxlive.com, along with the Xbox app.

• Audience Trends:

  • Xbox.com visits surged in Q4, peaking at nearly 140M in December.

  • The true monthly audience size consistently exceeded 17M, indicating strong cross-platform engagement.

• App Engagement:

  • The Xbox app saw a recovery in monthly active users, climbing back to 24M by December, after a dip in the fall months.

• Ad Spend & Channels:

  • Xbox significantly increased its monthly advertising budget in Q4, with December's spend surpassing $11M.

  • Instagram and Snapchat were key channels, delivering extensive impressions throughout the quarter.

Conclusion

In Q4 2024, Roblox, Steam, and Xbox demonstrated robust performance across digital platforms, each leveraging unique strategies to engage their audiences. Sensor Tower’s comprehensive data insights have been instrumental in understanding these trends, offering a detailed view of user behavior and advertising effectiveness across web and app platforms. For more in-depth insights, Sensor Tower’s Web Insights and Pathmatics products provide unparalleled access to cross-platform analytics.