Sports brands didn’t miss the gaming revolution, but many are still misplaying it.

Over the past decade, leagues, sponsors and marketers have poured increasing budgets into esports, creator partnerships and in‑game placements. On paper, these strategies appear progressive. In practice, however, the same mistake keeps repeating itself: treating gaming as just another media channel instead of a place where people actually spend time.

This misunderstanding is easy to spot, and once you do, you can’t unsee it.

Sports brands discovered gaming as a marketing channel a long time ago. There are now many ways to get involved. In esports tournaments, leagues from the NBA to Formula 1 have run parallel digital competitions. In-game advertising, with stadium-style placements inside titles such as EA Sports FC and NBA 2K, reaches hundreds of millions of players. With influencer and creator campaigns on Twitch or YouTube, even a single streamer’s authentic endorsement is far more effective than a broadcast advertisement. And last but not least, there is social media, which increasingly merges the feeds of gaming and sports.

The most significant shift has been the move toward integration. Today’s gamers don’t just want to see a brand logo; they want to experience the brand within the game or event itself. Today’s audiences also expect brands to provide real value. If there’s no added benefit or meaningful engagement, they simply won’t pay attention.

Each of these channels has matured into a legitimate discipline. However, there’s a new layer underneath all of them, and most brands still don’t know what to do with it: virtual worlds.

Roblox, Fortnite and........

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