MI6: Nielsen Reveals Gamer Love For FPS, The Daily Show

Author: by Staff

Exclusively for the MI6 audience, Gerardo Guzman, Nielsen Games director, presented results and analysis of a major Nielsen media study, revealing cross-platform video game usage across consoles, PC, handheld and mobile platforms, cross-platform consumption, shopping behavior, consumer insights as well as online, TV and print media consumption by video gamers. Guzman revealed the mobile games industry makes up 19 percent of mobile download revenue, with a 15 percent year over year growth, but, echoing other mobile games industry commentators, “after years of growth, we're seeing some leveling off, especially on the mobile games side. That really is symptomatic of all media on the mobile side." However, as a result of the status of the mobile games industry, Neilson has created new terminology and two new demographics: the “three screen gamer” (consoles, PC, mobile) and the “extended gamer” (console, PC, handhelds) -- all defined as gamers who play an hour or more a week on their platform. Nielson have found that more gamers overlap with console, PC, handheld than with mobile, PC, handheld, and that 13.3% of gamers are extended gamers, around twice as much as those who can be identified as 3 screen gamers. Most Popular Genres By Platform Guzman presented a slide which represented the most popular genre on consoles -- with each percentage representing the percentage of gamers surveyed who declared an enjoyment of the genre. FPS - 35% Classic arcade - 29% Casual online - 28% Roleplaying - 28% Traditional sports - 28% Racing - 27% Action - 25% RTS - 22% Platform - 22% The total most popular genre across all platforms was casual online (ie. board/word/puzzle/card games) at 24%. Gamers’ Media Habits Guzman also revealed that Nielsen had found that gamers watch less tv, listen to more music, and in general read less, with some interesting platform specific results: PC gamers use gaming as a leisure activity even more than other platforms and mobile gamers spend more time on outside activities, while all platform gamers watch more films, and tend to use instant messaging when using mobile phones. While gamers tend to read less, they do read more Time, Maxim and National Geographic than the general population by “a lot,” and similarly watch more Fox, Discovery Channel, ESPN and Comedy Central – with the intriguing platform specific results that PC gamers “substantially” watch less ESPN but more Sci-Fi channel, while console gamers watch more sports in general. One specific show, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, is watched far more by all gamers segments than the general population. When it came to film, with three screen gamers, “the numbers are off the chart when it comes to home screening of movies. Whether it's video on demand or download, you're talking six times more likely to do that.” Similarly, with other online activities, gamers on all platforms take part a lot more than the general population on music, viewing videos, social networking, being four times more likely to use Skype and blog, with three screen gamers three times more likely to date online. When it came to non-specialty shopping, all gamers tend to shop at Target. “These guys are going to Target,” Guzman said. “Why? One of them might be that they're a younger audience. Target tends to be more family oriented and have a large electronics department.” Similarly, gamers also tend to visit Barnes & Noble and Ikea more than the average American. "What can the industry do to help advertising in games and around games?” Guzman concluded. “I can tell you emphatically that Neilsen is involved and will present to the industry what we can. We're trying to bring clarity across platforms and across media types."