Online Social Gaming - It’s Game On!
You know when Google, Facebook and other major internet players are throwing their money around that it must mean that a hot new trend is emerging and that trend is online social gaming. Whilst it is too early to tell what the big boys have in store – as one of the hottest trends in digital there is no doubt the space will evolve rapidly over the coming 12 months – particularly with the level of investment occurring in the space. In the last 6 weeks alone the online gaming segment has seen the following;
• Google have completed a series of acquisitions which include buying SocialDeck (an org which makes gaming apps for Facebook, iPhone and Blackberry), as well as purchasing social games developer Slide (who have developed some of the most popular games on Facebook).
• A more unlikely competitor has entered the arena with Disney acquiring Playdom – showing their intent to become a serious player in this market.
• Whilst Facebook has hired their first Head of Gaming Partnerships – which shows how serious the social networking giant is about exploiting the opportunity.
The usage trends – why is social gaming in the spotlight?
As we know finding local statistics is not easy at the best of times, thus we must turn to the US to judge just how big this trend is and could be down under. According to Facebook, more than 200 million Facebook members play games like FarmVille on a regular basis. But if that doesn’t convince you that online gaming is big, according to The NPD Group in the US, one fifth of the U.S. population has played a social game over the past three months.
As we know finding local statistics is not easy at the best of times, thus we must turn to the US to judge just how big this trend is and could be down under. According to Facebook, more than 200 million Facebook members play games like FarmVille on a regular basis. But if that doesn’t convince you that online gaming is big, according to The NPD Group in the US, one fifth of the U.S. population has played a social game over the past three months.
This increasing level of consumer consumption in the online gaming space is providing brands with new avenues to engage with and market to consumers.
Honda is one example of a global brand leveraging social gaming to advertise its product. Honda purchased a virtual billboard in the newly released Facebook game – Car Town. Honda America’s Marketing VP said - “We felt connecting with gamers at their point of passion — which, in the case of Car Town, is all about cars – it provides a good way to reach the target CR-Z buyer, who is a 25-30-year-old male”.
Honda is one example of a global brand leveraging social gaming to advertise its product. Honda purchased a virtual billboard in the newly released Facebook game – Car Town. Honda America’s Marketing VP said - “We felt connecting with gamers at their point of passion — which, in the case of Car Town, is all about cars – it provides a good way to reach the target CR-Z buyer, who is a 25-30-year-old male”.
It however seems not just Honda are cottoning onto the opportunity with the global in-game advertising market set to hit the $1bn mark by next year.
I have no doubt that this phenomenon is already taking hold in Australia and will continue to grow as innovation accelerates – but just like everything digital in Oz I think many organisations will be slow on the uptake but those that do may gain a distinct advantage over their competitors.
I have no doubt that this phenomenon is already taking hold in Australia and will continue to grow as innovation accelerates – but just like everything digital in Oz I think many organisations will be slow on the uptake but those that do may gain a distinct advantage over their competitors.
References
http://econsultancy.com/blog/6420-in-game-advertising-are-we-being-played?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/296835
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mashable/20100829/tc_mashable/honda_takes_social_gaming_for_a_test_drive
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/disney-pays-633m-to-expand-into-social-gaming/story-e6frg996-1225908564020
http://econsultancy.com/blog/6420-in-game-advertising-are-we-being-played?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/296835
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mashable/20100829/tc_mashable/honda_takes_social_gaming_for_a_test_drive
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/disney-pays-633m-to-expand-into-social-gaming/story-e6frg996-1225908564020
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