LAS VEGAS — Gaming purchases differ from typical consumer electronics transactions because they’re driven by passion and escape rather than necessity, creating emotional connections that retailers can leverage for brand partnerships.
“A lot of consumer electronics is based on necessity. When we think about gaming, it’s all about the one,” Derek Bodurka, partner and category marketing director at Best Buy Ads, told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at CES. “There’s a passion there. There’s an excitement there. There’s an escape that customers feel and they really start to get that emotional attachment to it. That’s what we’re able to tap into.”
Best Buy sits at the center of gaming across casual mobile players, PC enthusiasts with custom rigs, and console gamers, selling hardware, software, and enhancement products including televisions.
Stores unlock immersive experiences
Gaming extends beyond the category itself into tech culture and pop culture, positioning Best Buy at the intersection of these communities through both digital and physical retail touchpoints.
“What I love about gaming is it really goes beyond just what gaming is. It really opens up tech culture,” Bodurka said. “It extends into pop culture.”
Best Buy leverages stores for visual storytelling through displays, events, and first-to-play opportunities that create immersive experiences. The strategy connects in-store and digital elements into cohesive journeys.
First-party data powers targeting
Best Buy’s database of over 200 million customers enables pattern analysis and purchase history insights that create meaningful audience segments for brand partners.
“This is our superpower,” Bodurka said. “As a specialty retailer, we can get after those customers that are excited about consumer electronics. We can look at past patterns. We can look at what they purchased in the past.”
The company layers partner data onto Best Buy insights to sharpen customer targeting precision.
CTV and demo experiences perform
Connected TV advertising and in-store product demonstrations resonate particularly well with gaming audiences, though success requires ecosystem integration across touchpoints.
“What you see online or what you see on the app carries through to the experience that you have when you actually go to the store to get your hands on these products,” Bodurka said.
2026 innovations ahead
Best Buy is expanding enterprise selling platform partnerships to provide brands greater access to valuable data, plus rolling out self-service tools that give partners real-time optimization control.
“We’re unlocking a lot of self-serve opportunities where it’s literally the partners getting data in real time, hands-on keyboard, being able to optimize to what is needed and what they want,” Bodurka said.
In-store innovation continues through billboard messaging on exterior television displays. Clean room capabilities will enable data matching between Best Buy’s first-party assets and partner information.
“You’re taking all of the richness of our first party data, but then marrying it with the data that our partners have, and it just makes it so strong and so powerful,” Bodurka said.
You’re watching “Where Play Meets Purchase: Gaming as the Next Frontier of Retail Media, a Beet.TV Leadership Series at CES 2026, presented by Best Buy Ads” For more videos from this series, please visit this page.
