Gamer Girls Give Consoles a Go. eMarketer projects $443 million will go toward in-game advertising spending this year in the US. But marketers should take note that women make up a substantial portion of the audience for that advertising. In particular, video game consoles, interactive electronic devices that transmit games to TVs or projectors, aren’t just for the boys anymore.
The “Gamer Segmentation 2009” report, from The NPD Group, found that women will make up 28% of console gamers in 2009, up from 23% last year. NPD attributes much of the increased participation by women to the popularity of the Nintendo Wii, the fastest-growing console in the US, up 19 percentage points from 2008. “The console market is waking up to the fact that it’s not just teenage boys who play games,” said Jessica Rovello, president of advergame creator Arkadium. Although consoles such as the Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 have Internet playing capability, most game play (62%) is still offline. Many of those new participants are women. Now I Can Drink Me - 12 Future Youth Marketing Trends Here Today. The Battle For Teens Attention - TV vs. Online. Njovem. Business: Press - Rapleaf Study of Social Network Users vs. Age. Are Young Adults Really Brand-Resistant? The 18-to-24-year-old set is famously media-drenched, with high Internet and mobile phone usage. However, these young adults are not solidly opposed to brands themselves, and are willing to spread the word about the ones they like.
That is one of the findings Synovate made in June and July of 2008 in its “Young Adults Revealed” study, released this month. When asked about their online brand engagement in the past month, 28% of respondents had talked about a brand on a discussion forum, 23% had put brand-related content on their instant messaging (IM) profile, and 19% had added branded content to their homepage or social networking site.
Nearly one-half said they had clicked on online ads, and 18% had accessed brand and product information through a portal. Nearly one-quarter had uploaded ads to social networks and online video sites in the past month. “They are more than just ‘comfortable’ with brands,” said Julian Rolfe, global manager at Synovate, in a statement.