Internet trends: marketing research & predictions

Target Audiences for Online Games Advertising: US Research Review

November 30th, 2008 by

While Google enters In-Game Advertising market (launching adsense for games), it is interesting to follow potential target audiences.

We will present two recent research: The first presenting evidence from a survey focusing on young males, the second capturing the gamers themselves.

The first survey was conducted by Hall and Partners (sponsored by Break Media), who pulled a nationally representative sample of more 500 males aged 18-34 who access the Internet at least once per month.

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Males aged 18-34 spend upwards of 22 hours on the Internet per week, like to use the Internet for entertainment, and prefer to spend their time on the Internet over television.
  • Online advertising works: The majority of men surveyed state that they often recall online advertising after their online experience has concluded. In fact, nearly half of respondents have purchased a product or service as a result of an online advertisement.
  • Games and contests are potentially good stage for advertising: Men tolerate ads with a game or contest, and more than a third report they actually enjoy the experience. Online games and computer games in general were found among the most favorable online activities.

HOW MEN RESPOND TO ONLINE ADVERTISING?

  • 59% notice online ads
  • 47% have purchased as a result of an online ad
  • 35% like ads that allow them to play a game
  • 34% like online ads that allow them to participate in a contest

MOST POPULAR ONLINE ACTIVITIES

  • Text messaging (66%)
  • Visiting social networking sites (63%)
  • Playing video games (60%)
  • Playing computer games (51%)
  • Forwarding links to online video (31%)
  • Reading blogs (31%)
  • Shopping (30%)
  • Commenting on online content (28%)
  • Uploading photos to the Web (23%).

THE INTERNET AS A DOMINANT FACTOR IN YOUNG MEN’S LIFE:

  • 69% say they can’t live without the Internet, versus just 31% for television
  • 40% use the Internet for more than 22 hours a week
  • 36% say they can’t live without the Internet for socializing
  • 33% say they can’t live without online entertainment
  • 63% have a smart phone and one in four use their mobile device to connect to the Web

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The second study we wish to present was conducted by Ipsos (in behalf of IGN Entertainment) and was named “Are You Game?”. Results from this research suggest that gamers have reached mainstream today, and that they are in fact more social, active and valuable as consumers than non-gamers:

“While videogaming has in the past been stereotyped as a solitary activity, results from this research point to the fact that videogamers are now more likely than non-gamers to play sports, attend a concert or even go out on a date. In addition, the studys results point to videogame players evolving into a surprisingly diverse crowd, with the average age of gamers now topping 30 and more than half of gamers married with kids”.

55% of gamers polled were married, 48% have kids, and new gamers those who have started playing videogames in the past two years are 32 years old on average.

GAMERS ARE SOCIALLY INVOLVED:

Throughout the study, both quantitative and qualitative evidence points to the increasingly social nature of videogames:

  • more than 75% of video-gamers play games with other people either online or in person.
  • more than 47% of people living in gaming households report that video games were a fun way to interact with other family members.
  • gamers were twice as likely to go out on dates as non-gamers in a given month.
  • gamers were 13% more likely to go out to a movie, 11% more likely to play sports and 9% more likely to go out with friends than non-gamers.

GAMERS AS INFLUENCERS

  • 37% of gamers said friends and family relied upon them to stay up-to-date about movies, TV shows and the latest entertainment news, compared to only 22% for non-gamers.
  • gamers are early adopters of technology and gadgets: 39% were indicating that friends and family rely upon them to stay up-to-date about the latest technology.

GAMERS AS CONSUMERS

  • The average gaming household income ($79,000) is notably higher than that of non-gaming households ($54,000).
  • Gamers are willing to pay extra for the latest and greatest: they are twice as likely as non-gamers to buy a product featuring new technology even if they are aware that there are still bugs.
  • Gamers are also twice as likely as non-gamers to pay a premium for the newest technology on the market.
  • Gamers also consume media in different ways than non-gamers, with hard-core gamers spending per week 5 more hours on the Internet, 2 more hours watching television and 2 more hours listening to music than non-gamers.

STUDY METHODOLOGY

Research was conducted in two phases, a quantitative overview of gaming households among the U.S. online population (June 2008, 3,000 online respondents, qualified based on whether they owned a modern gaming console, handheld system, or a PC/Mac that is used to play games), and a follow-up qualitative deep dive among the key segments in the gaming market.

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3 Responses

  1. 20081202 - Adam Crowe Says:

    […] TrendsSpotting — Target Audiences for Online Games Advertising: US Research Review "The average gaming household income ($79,000) is notably higher than that of non-gaming households ($54,000)." psychographics research gaming […]

  2. Ipsos Says:

    You can find out more on Ipsos’ video game research at –

    http://www.ipsos-na.com/research/media-content-technology/video-games/

  3. Symbom Plush and Cloth Toys Says:

    This idea is really innovative. I hope it can be actualized.

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