Traditional Marketing Budgets Lose to Interactive

According to Forrester Research, 60% of marketers surveyed will increase their interactive marketing budgets by shifting funds from traditional media. Direct mail was cited by 40% of marketers as being one being cut, outranking newspapers (35%), magazines (28%) and television (12%).

Among the interactive channels, the study finds social media and mobile marketing spending expanding between 2009 and 2014, with social media jumping by 34% on a compounded annual basis and mobile marketing increasing by 27%. Social media starts at $716 million in 2009, increasing to $3.11 billion by 2014. Mobile marketing expenditures stand at 319 million this year, and goes to $1.27 billion by 2014.

47% of CMOs whose budgets have been cut are increasing their spending on social media, while another 44% are increasing spending on Web site development. 40% will spend more on online advertising, and nearly that amount will increase financial resources in e-mail, considering these functions critical to their businesses, or needed to maintain competitive advantages.

Online Gaming Continues Strong Growth in U.S.

The number of U.S. citizens visiting online gaming websites rose 22 percent in May 2009 from May 2008 to 87 million, as people search for cheaper entertainment in a tough economy, research firm comScore said Friday.

Online gaming continues to be one of the top gaining categories over the past year growing at ten times the rate of the total U.S. Internet population and reaching nearly one out of every two Internet users.

Yahoo Games led comScore's list of most popular online gaming websites during May 2009, rising 6 percent from May 2008 to 19.4 million. EA Online followed, attracting 18 million users during the month, a 34 percent year-on-year increase. Nickelodeon Casual Games, which didn't exist in May 2008, attracted 14.8 million visitors. WildTangent was up 16 percent year-on-year with 13.8 million users.

comScore said Mochi Media, an online game distrubution company, attracted 17 million unique users, or about 8.7 percent of the total internet audience (193.8 million in total). Games2Win attracted 1.8 million, or 0.9 percent of the total internet population, while Tetris Online attracted 165,000 unique visitors during May, or 0.1 percent of the total internet population.

Top Online Gaming Sites May 2009 vs. May 2008 Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations Source: comScore Media Metrix
	Total Unique Visitors (000)
	May-2008	May-2009	% Change
Total Internet : Total Audience	190,858	193,825	2
Online Gaming	71,624	87,102	22
Yahoo! Games	18,340	19,391	6
EA Online	13,374	17,988	34
Nickelodeon Casual Games	N/A	14,836	N/A
WildTangent Network	11,896	13,844	16
Disney Games	12,137	11,717	-3
MSN Games	10,017	8,986	-10
AOL Games	8,318	8,711	5
MINICLIP.COM	7,551	8,432	12
Betawave Partners - Partial List	3,894	7,406	90
Spil Games	4,345	7,163	65
GSN Games Network	910	6,034	563
Big Fish Games Sites	4,392	5,592	27
ARMORGAMES.COM	2,684	3,860	44
Y8.COM	1,243	3,537	185
GAMEVANCE.COM	3,982	3,466	-13
RealArcade Sites	6,143	3,427	-44
IWIN.COM	2,112	3,356	59
Midasplayer.com Ltd.	1,601	2,872	79
GAMENINJA.COM	1,172	2,434	108
Stardoll Sites	N/A	2,294	N/A

Games Keep Growing

The following study was released yesterday by Nielsen. As you read below it's worth noting which months consumers play, purchase and subscribe to the most games.

The economic recession could be pushing up gaming hours, and accelerating the used games and video game rent-by-mail businesses, according to a new report from research firm Nielsen. As seen in the chart below from Nielsen's report, average gaming hours per week in 2009 have been ahead of the comparable months in 2008. But hardcore gamers, he said, are not likely driving factors in the rise of hours played. Nielsen recorded that gamers logged nearly 19 hours per week in January 2009, compared to less than 16.5 hours per week in January 2008. In May 2009, the most recent month in Nielsen's report, gamers played just over 16.5 hours per week, compared to under 16 hours per week in May 2008. The full graph explaining this reads as follows:



Also on the rise from last year are used game sales purchases. In May 2009, the ratio of used games purchased by Nielsen survey subjects was 0.36. "Used game purchasing is at all-time highs in 2009, looking back since 2006," Nielsen said.



GameStop is the leading used video game retailer, and in May reported used software sales were up 31.9% for its first fiscal quarter, as consumers have become more value-conscious. Another way that gamers are seeking out more bang for their gaming buck is through rent-by-mail services such as GameFly and Blockbuster's Total Access. The average subscription rate for using such services is trending ahead of prior years so far in 2009.



The rising popularity of used game sales and rentals is at the expense of new game sales, Nielsen suggests. But new game sales are also softer this year because of a lack of huge hits in the first have of 2009. By comparison, 2008 saw massive releases such as Grand Theft Auto IV and Mario Kart Wii. While gamers may be more value-conscious, many of those surveyed also said that the recession will not impact the amount that they spend on games in the year ahead, even though 50 percent said they have been negatively affected by the economy. 35% of gamers claim they are spending more money or plan to spend more on gaming this year than last year and 39% claim they are spending the same amount Nielsen's report said.