From gaming and streaming to scrolling endlessly on social media, Americans are more online than before. Over 90% of the United States’ 300+ million population use the internet almost every day.

One of this shift is the massive growth in digital gaming, whether it’s multiplayer video games or casino-style platforms like Chumba online casino, which offer an easy, engaging way to play online.

Let’s take a look at the biggest online trends in the media industry that shape how and why so many Americans use the internet.

Gaming Continues to Dominate in New Ways

We don’t need to tell you how popular video games have become in the 21st century. However, 2025 is primed to be an even bigger year than usual, especially for multiplayer games.

The rise of multiplayer story games and platforms like WePlay dominated the 2024 gaming market. Overall, story games grew by 16%, while WePlay’s popularity increased by a stunning 35%.

Rise of Cloud Gaming Technology

One of the reasons multiplayer gaming grew so much in 2024 is the growth of cloud gaming. This refers to any games that you can play without downloading software directly to your computer. Many players obviously still download games, but millions of others play directly online using cloud gaming platforms.

For example, platforms like the Epic Games Store and Xbox Game Pass have become the go-to way for millions of Americans to game online. According to Meet Glimpse, cloud gaming grew by 15% from 2024 to 2025. This makes it one of the fastest growing trends in the entertainment industry.

Cloud gaming is a low-cost way to game online for both players and the gaming platforms themselves, so we expect to see this trend of growth continue in 2025.

Esports Dominate

Increased cloud gaming capabilities and the growth of multiplayer games has also led to a massive growth in esports among Americans.

Esports are not as popular in the US as they are in some Asian markets yet, but games like Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) and Valorant are now some of the most popular trends in the media industry among Gen-Z and Gen-Alpha Americans.

CS2 specifically grew by an astonishing 110% in 2024 and is still increasing in popularity in 2025. The Esports Olympics was also a huge boost to esports gaming in the US. Searches for the competition grew 270% in 2024.

Casino Gaming Grows in Popularity

Gen-Z and Gen-Alpha are not the only ones contributing to the growth in online gaming. iGaming (i.e., online casinos and sports betting) has become a massive part of the online gaming industry as more and more states legalize sportsbooks and online casinos.

Social casinos and sweepstakes sites also saw massive growth in 2024 and have continued to be big players in the market in 2025. These sites are not regulated in the same way as online casinos and sportsbooks, meaning they are available in almost all 50 states. They are also really easy to sign up for.

Like with cloud gaming, if something is easy and fun to do online, it will become very popular. Barring changes in regulations, sweepstakes sites and online casinos will be a huge part of the online media industry for the next few years.