Online Games vs. YouTube and MySpace
I may have mentioned this before: I’m a fan of video games, from casual to hardcore, and I have been since I was struggling to write my own games on little Commodore computers back in the early 1980’s. So I delight in bringing you marketing stories that pertain to gaming.
According to this article from GamesIndustry.biz, online games continue to be more popular than video sharing sites like YouTube and social networks like MySpace. The new Parks Associates study referenced in the article can be found here.
The study only included people 18 and over, so it’s a little misleading. I would expect the statistics to be very different in the teen demographic. Regardless, this should give marketers something to think about before investing in YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, or even that desolate metaverse called Second Life.
Spending money on YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook is certainly easier than spending money on casual games. There is no shortage of video production companies and college kids who know how to pimp out MySpace pages to exhausting degrees. Making games is a little tougher.
Alf Nucifora, noted marketing consultant, points out that games are relatively inexpensive to make, and they work. He sites a couple of powerful examples including M&M who enjoyed 14 million plays of a casual game in a 12-month time span. That’s a lot of brand interaction and a good amount of traffic to their website.
Of course, these seemingly competitive forms of entertainment don’t have to be mutually exclusive. A good MySpace or Facebook page, for example, can contain a great YouTube video, or a great viral game.
Now you want to play…. I can tell. Here you go:
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