For nearly two decades, I've been a professional marketer. For just as long, I've also been an avid Gamer. With a lens on both worlds, I've learned one thing: Gamers are an incredibly influential—and untapped—segment of consumers. And they aren't just budget-challenged young males. (I'm living proof of that.)

Gaming isn't just a thing you can do anymore. It's also a thing you can watch. Increasingly, gaming content on YouTube is becoming a major destination for Gamers' I-want-to-watch-what-I'm-into moments. Believe it or not, watching someone play Call of Duty (one of my personal favorites) can be just as exhilarating as actually playing it.

To understand more about exactly how influential Gamers can be for marketers, Google recently partnered with Ipsos MediaCT to survey a total of 4,803 participants in the U.S., ages 18-54, out of whom 2,802 go online at least monthly (aka "General Online Population") and 2,001 go online at least monthly and stated that they watch gaming videos on YouTube at least monthly (aka "YouTube Gamers" or "Gamers").1 What the survey found shed new light on YouTube Gamer demographics, 30% of whom are female.2 (See? I'm not the only female watching.)

The same study also found that while Gamers certainly skew younger, over a third of them are actually above the 34-year-old millennial threshold. And some of these people, who were raised blowing into game cartridges, are now raising little Gamers of their own–47% of the YouTube Gamers surveyed are now parents.3