Topics Covered

• The video game industry is a bright star during the recession. According to Chart #1, the US Video Game Industry posted revenues of $38.9 billion in 2008 with expectations to reach $63.2 billion in revenues by 2013.
• Hispanic Internet Users are key consumers within the gaming industry and as such, an ideal target for advertisers.
• Opportunities for marketers abound by executing In-Game Advertising solutions.

Chart 1

Hispanic Internet Users can represent double-digit ownership of game consoles, thus representing a desirable audience target for their manufacturers. Chart #2 indicates that 19% of all Sony PSP console owners are Hispanic. Meanwhile, among Next Generation game consoles highlighted below in orange, Hispanics own: 15.1% of all Sony Playstation 3, 12.7% of all Microsoft X-Box 360, and 8.1% of all Nintendo Wii game consoles.

Chart 2

Furthermore, 47.7% of US Hispanic Internet Users interact with online gaming, vs. 47.2% of US Total Internet Users during July ‘09. Since almost half of all Hispanic Internet Users partake in online gaming monthly (60.3% of Terra’s audience does so,) publishers with a gaming presence along with game manufacturers leverage digital advertising to grow their reach.

Advertisers within the Online Games category spent $8,228,000 on 4.076 billion impressions across US Total Internet. Gamevance.com led the ranking with 32.6% Share within Category.

Chart 4

Due to the popularity of gaming overall, marketers are employing In-Game Advertising, predicted to reach $681 million by 2013 lead by web-based implementation. Examples of In-Game Advertising include product placement within the game itself, or sponsored advertising. Finally, employing the app model, many gamers are willing to trade off receiving advertising on their gaming app to receive the game itself free.

The combination of mobile and gaming works well for Hispanics, as they over index in both mobile gaming (16%) and accessing the Internet (23%), as represented in Chart #5.

Chart 5

Be a Smart Marketer. Hispanic Internet Users are avid gamers and gravitate towards Next Generation game console ownership.

Ensure that your advertising is equally suitable for Terra’s “now era” visitors and consider In-Game Advertising across multiple screens. Terra has a Juegos (Games) channel which is very popular: http://www.us.terra.com/shared/webgames/ as well as game reviews and community with partner 1UP.com within Terra English (http://www.1up.com/do/pubs?did=59).

Terra will be watching the latest developments within online gaming both in and of itself as well as its advertising genre. We applaud all developers, advertisers, and marketers within this exciting field and look forward enjoying to future ground breaking progress.

Here are links to Terra’s recent coverage of video games enjoyed by our visitors.

http://autos.terra.com/noticias/Los_10_mejores_videos_juegos_de_autos/aut43584/

http://terratv.terra.com/Sports/Futbol/4924-79126/Video-game-FIFA-09.htm

http://www.terra.com/deportes/articulo/html/fox1039633.htm

By Natasha Funk

Published:  September 09