Financial service takes to Twitch to reach young gamers
The Media Plan
Pay.UK’s Current Account Switch Service, which helps people move their banking accounts to a different brand, has added Twitch to its media plan for the first time to target “hard-to-reach young adults”.
The campaign, with media planning by the7stars, used branded Twitch live streams from gamers ItSunpi and Sideshow to “further tap into the 18-24 audience”.
Ben Edwards, strategy director at the7stars, said: “Engaging young adults in financial decision-making is a tough call, so we sought an idea rooted in the right environment and, most importantly, one delivered with authenticity. Twitch provided that platform.
“The synergy between gameplay and messaging allows Pay.UK to reach audiences in a natural and entertaining way — it’s about delivering content that complements, rather than disrupts, gameplay.”
In the past, Edwards said Pay.UK’s traditional broadcast media campaign “had not been able to shift consideration” to switch bank accounts as much as it would have liked for this younger age group, so it was seeking a platform that could more meaningfully “engage” this audience.
He added: “Twitch has gained significant popularity, driven primarily by this age group, with more than 70% of viewers being 18-34, so we knew it’s a platform where you can reach our younger audience.”
Gameplay integration
The7stars’ own Gaming Mythbuster research found that 43% of gamers “welcome advertising with brands collaborating with streamers”. Meanwhile, three-quarters of 18-24s want to “focus on their financial health”, according to YouGov, and other studies had found that 60% of 18-24s say financial matters “confuse them”.
Edwards said: “We knew that if we could authentically deliver an idea that integrated the Current Account Switch Service into a game mechanic, we would be able to deliver content that this audience enjoyed, whilst also delivering our campaign message.”
The two gamers were selected based on four criteria: they were members of the Twitch Partnership Program to ensure they were trusted streamers; they fitted the brand by over-indexing on an 18-24 audience; they were vetted for brand safety alongside Pay.UK brand guidelines; and clients were involved in choosing a shortlist curated by Twitch.
Both streamers demonstrate and discuss the benefits of switching bank accounts and show how it is “as easy as swapping an avatar skin”.
The first “Learn to Switch on Twitch” live stream aired on 19 January with Sideshow and another livestream featuring ItSunpi on 24 January.
Initial results
Sideshow’s live stream attracted 74,405 unique viewers, beating the brand’s target of 60,000. A high number of viewers watch streams on catch-up, so the final figure has already “significantly increased” to 101,935.
The average concurrent viewers (people watching at once) totalled 2,597 and the live stream exceeded targets for chat engagement with 6,510 total chat messages.
Meanwhile, the campaign also used a retargeting strategy on Spotify, delivering audio ads to 18-24 year-old gamers through console audio (for example, listening to Spotify on PlayStation or Xbox), gaming playlists and to Twitch users.
This was based on findings that show 72% of gamers are more likely to engage with Spotify than other platforms, 47% of Spotify free users identify as regular gamers and 82% of Spotify gamers stream music on the platform while they game.
These gaming and audio activations complemented TV ads targeting this age demographic featuring a character called Spike the Fish, while OOH, social media and press executions targeted mass consumer and SME audiences.
Creative for the campaign was by House 337.