There are certain things in this world that seem to go together perfectly… crackers and cheese, gin and tonic, and of course, chat mags and bingo sites. For a number of years, women’s magazines have provided a huge amount of inspiration for online bingo platforms, and this basis has led to a lot of success.
Chat Mags & Bingo sites
But what makes chat mags such a good base of inspiration for bingo sites?
Do Women prefer Bingo?
Bingo attracts players of all kinds, whether that be men, women, even the elderly. The diverse demographic that this game possesses is what makes it so popular.
Although bingo is often associated mainly with women of all ages, it is still played widely by men too. However, this presumption comes from the fact that women usually prefer to play bingo over other games.
Bingo has been around for hundreds of years, with the first games played thought to be in the 16th century. While both men and women attend bingo halls and play on online bingo sites regularly in the modern world, it was far more popular amongst women in the 60s and 70s.
It is likely that these trends of women being keener on the game of bingo have successfully passed from generation to generation creating bingo’s female-oriented demographic.
Now, we see various bingo sites taking inspiration from other female-orientated activities and culture, including chat mags, to create these platforms that are attractive to this gender.
The Similarities Between Chat Mags and Bingo Sites
While bingo sites have traditionally been female-centric, the same goes for chat magazines and other formats of women’s weeklies. Although these are both slight assumptions, they are backed up by the day-to-day trends that show women use and purchase chat magazines far more than men. But why do we see the same trends at bingo sites?
Whether you play bingo in land-based halls or on online sites, they both offer their relative ways of chatting with other players. For example, at bingo halls, you are often sat at large tables with multiple people, and in the online format, many bingo rooms offer social features like chat rooms to converse in.
The social aspects of bingo typically allow players to chat and gossip about anything they like while they play, which both bingo and chat mags have in common.
Celebrity endorsements often play a huge role in the promotion of online bingo sites, providing the basis for our second link between chat mags and bingo sites.
Celebrities that we are all familiar with are regularly hired to feature as the face of a bingo brand as it's advertised on TV and across social media. But what's more validating is the choice of celebrities we see promoting bingo sites.
The likes of Barbara Windsor, Kerry Katona, Paddy McGuinness and Paris Hilton have all had their deals promoting various bingo sites. Likewise, they have had their fair share of stories printed across chat magazines. The celebrity culture we see in both chat magazines and bingo sites is another aspect of why chat mags have provided a successful source of inspiration for bingo sites.
Media Companies and their Success in Online Bingo World
Media companies have had great success in the world of online bingo, whether that is through providing a source of inspiration or via direct brand tie-ins. For example, massive multi-media companies like Future plc and Bauer Media, who both have incredibly popular chat magazines, have used these forms of media as a way into the online gambling industry.
Bauer Media used their popular Take a Break chat magazine as the foundation for their bingo brand, which goes by the same name. Future plc’s bingo brands include Women’s Own, Women, Chat Mag and Pick Me Up! Bingo.
The success that these media companies have experienced is partly due to the quality of platforms used to power their bingo sites. Take a Break Bingo is powered by Virtue Fusion and the Future brands are powered by Dragonfish, now operated by Broadway Gaming.
Although success is never certain, we will likely continue to see media companies and chat magazines continue to have success and provide inspiration in the online bingo world.
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