Nielsen's people meters show game console growth

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 06 March 2007 02:03

Your IT - Entertainment

A "staggering" 75.8 percent of 2-11 males used a home game console during the survey period (4Q06), and clocked up an average of two and a half hours per day.

18-34 males are also heavy users, with 48.2 percent using a console at least once for an average of two and three-quarters of an hour.

Although there's not much difference in male and female access to consoles (except in the 18-34 demographic), males account for approximately three-quarters of console use.

Heavy users spend an amazing amount of time on their consoles. The top 20 percent averaged five and three-quarter hours per day, accounting for almost 75 percent of total console usage.

Part of the significance of these findings is that they actually record usage rather than relying on people in the sample to recall or write down their gaming sessions. However, 'console usage' is not the same as 'game play' as Nielsen's meters treat all console use - playing games, watching a DVD or web browsing - the same.

The company expects to introduce metering by game and platform later this year.

A finding that may have special significance for the in-game advertising market is that the "average console minute" is more likely to be played by an 18-34 male than anyone else - and that's a market advertisers are keen to reach.

But these figures may not tell the whole story.