The perception of the average gamer as sedentary or disconnected from a healthy lifestyle is fundamentally misleading. Data from Anzu’s recent US audience insights report shows that today’s gamers are highly engaged with fitness, actively investing in tracking technology, gear, and nutrition to support demanding, career-focused lives.
For media planners and buyers across health, fitness, and wellness categories, this audience represents a uniquely engaged and economically potent opportunity — particularly when activated through intrinsic in-game advertising (IIGA).
Below are the key behavioral attributes and actionable media opportunities within the fitness and wellness space, highlighting why game environments are crucial for reaching high-intent consumers.
The Health-Conscious, High-Value Gaming Consumer
Modern gamers defy outdated stereotypes; they are financially empowered, career-driven individuals who value health and physical activity.
The core gaming audience is concentrated in middle-to-high-income brackets, demonstrating a strong willingness to spend on lifestyle and entertainment rather than save or build major assets. This discretionary spending is directly reflected in their engagement with the health vertical. Gamers view themselves as "Career-focused" (Index 133.0) and often live in larger, family-oriented households, suggesting they seek efficiency and value in their wellness choices.
Physical activity is integrated into gamers’ routines and is often prioritized around convenience and accessibility. Gamers are generally more likely to visit gyms than the average online user, with a clear preference for large, budget-friendly, and convenient chains such as Planet Fitness and LA Fitness. This suggests that fitting fitness around busy lives is more important than seeking luxury facilities.
They also contradict the “inactive” stereotype by significantly over-indexing in visits to outdoor and sports retailers such as Cabela’s and Dick’s Sporting Goods. Their interests include activities like camping and hiking, reinforcing the reality of an active, outdoor-focused lifestyle.
In addition, gamers actively seek new ways to maintain physical well-being. They confirm that they like to learn about new physical fitness products (Index 104.0) and consume podcasts focused on health and fitness (Index 112.0), signaling openness to discovery and education within the category.
The Wellness Wallet: Where Gamers Spend
The gaming audience is highly engaged with quantifying and tracking their health, making them a prime target for wearable technology and related services. Gamers show a strong concentration in smartwatch ownership (Index 116.0), with brand choices skewing toward leaders in the category. Ownership of Garmin devices indexes extremely high (Index 278.0), while Apple ownership also indexes strongly at 126.0.
This ownership translates directly into active usage. Gamers consistently use smartwatches for fitness tracking, indexing at 137.0 for tracking workouts and 128.0 for tracking health details such as heart rate or sleep. They also track movement and navigation, indexing at 114.0 for using a smartwatch for walking or driving directions.
This active lifestyle translates into retail spending, particularly across athletic wear and fitness equipment. Spending $500 or more on sports clothing and shoes indexes at a strong 164.0, signaling a high-value consumer base for premium athletic brands.
Gamers also over-index for spending on mid-range large sporting equipment, such as home or fitness equipment in the $50–$99 range (Index 140.0). They additionally demonstrate intent for home improvement projects that may include creating home gyms, over-indexing at 123.0 for personally owning a home improvement loan.
Gamers demonstrate a clear focus on managed nutrition and convenient food sources that support their health goals. They show a strong concentration in spending $100–$199 on health foods in the last 30 days (Index 140.0), reinforcing their willingness to invest in wellness-related products.
Although they frequently visit casual and fast-food dining options, they are more likely than average to make healthier menu choices when doing so. This is reflected in an index of 113.0 for sometimes selecting healthy menu options at quick-serve restaurants.
The IIGA Advantage: Reach, Timing, and Efficiency
Intrinsic In-Game Advertising (IIGA) offers a powerful, non-intrusive avenue to reach this highly engaged health-focused audience at optimal times, particularly at the beginning of the year when motivation to purchase wellness products is highest.
The first quarter represents a critical window for fitness and wellness brands due to unique market dynamics. Q1 typically records the lowest Cost Per Thousand (CPM) impressions of the year. Simultaneously, North American player engagement remains consistently high, often registering higher than in Q2 or Q3. This combination creates the "Efficiency Focus" period, aligning perfectly with consumer behaviors driven by New Year goals and health planning cycles, making it the ideal moment for wellness and fitness brands to maximize reach at minimal cost.
Media placements should align with the context and audience psychology of specific game genres. Simulation games, which often skew female and attract more affluent audiences, are particularly efficient during Q1. Lower CPMs during this period make them well suited for wellness products, diet and nutrition services, and health apps during the planning season.
Sports and racing games maintain continuous relevance due to their natural alignment with physical activity. These genres are well suited for advertising physical sporting equipment, performance supplements, and high-end athletic apparel throughout the year, extending real-world athletic sponsorships directly into the digital arena.
Action and puzzle games offer additional opportunities for high-impact formats. Action games benefit from high engagement and extended playtime, while puzzle games typically deliver the lowest CPMs. Their pacing makes them effective channels for non-disruptive video ads that demonstrate more complex fitness products or tracking app features.
What This Means for Wellness Media Buyers
To effectively capture the affluent, health-conscious gaming audience, media planners and buyers in the fitness and wellness category should execute the following strategies:
Reach out to the Anzu team to activate intrinsic in-game advertising during the key planning periods.