Role of Videogames in Advertising to 18-34 YO Males
08-11-04, 06:11 PM
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Role of Videogames in Advertising to 18-34 YO Males
There's an interesting article in this month's Wired by Frank Rose titled The Lost Boys. The piece is about how the advertising industry is realizing that ad time on the 4 networks isn't reaching the 18-34 year old male market (*the* target audience). Videogames are a big part of how they are changing and I thought this part about the expected reaction by the networks was interesting.
The entire article is available here.
Of course, some media are more immersive than others. As young males drift away from the tube, advertisers are trying to focus on entertainment that grabs their attention and holds it. Tops on that list is videogames. A decade ago, games were considered so geeky that Electronic Arts had to pay real-world companies to reproduce their logos in its sports titles. Now, with Nielsen reporting that young men are spending more time than ever with their TV sets tuned to the game console, big brands like Honda and McDonald's are paying EA to get in on the action.
"We're eating the networks' lunch!" crows Jeff Brown, EA's vice president of corporate communications, mentally computing the bite EA might someday take out of the television ad market. "Now, this doesn't happen for 6, 12, 18 months - but when television executives take full measure of how their advertising dollars are moving to videogames, you should prepare yourself for a lot of news stories about how bad videogames are for kids. In fact, I would recommend that Morley Safer get started right now on how videogames are warping the minds of young people. Perhaps" - he grins wickedly at the thought - "they should run it right after all the gore on CSI."
"We're eating the networks' lunch!" crows Jeff Brown, EA's vice president of corporate communications, mentally computing the bite EA might someday take out of the television ad market. "Now, this doesn't happen for 6, 12, 18 months - but when television executives take full measure of how their advertising dollars are moving to videogames, you should prepare yourself for a lot of news stories about how bad videogames are for kids. In fact, I would recommend that Morley Safer get started right now on how videogames are warping the minds of young people. Perhaps" - he grins wickedly at the thought - "they should run it right after all the gore on CSI."
08-11-04, 06:33 PM
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Smart companies have been advertising in games for a while now. I remember being stoked to see a real Adidas ad in FIFA soccer for the Sega CD. It only makes sense that companies would use the medium to reach the demographic.
08-11-04, 08:00 PM
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When it comes to media, men 18 to 34 like things fresh, unpredictable, and uncensored. They're more than twice as likely as other adults to have TiVo or some other DVR. Reality TV is a guilty pleasure, but sitcoms, formulaic and tired, aren't even tempting. When they do watch TV, guys usually prefer cable channels - Comedy Central, ESPN, HBO, MTV. On the Web, they tend to cluster at porn, gaming, and sports sites. And just because they're online doesn't mean they aren't watching TV and listening to their iPods, too. One of the guys in the focus group even had a mirror on top of his computer screen so he could watch TV without turning around.
Comedy Central --
Reality TV --
ESPN --
HBO --
MTV --
Porn --
Gaming --
Sports Sites --
TV & Computing at the same time --
08-12-04, 02:22 AM
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Originally posted by keyed
Tivo --
Comedy Central -- except for South Park
Reality TV -- except for a few shows
ESPN --
HBO --
MTV --
Porn --
Gaming --
Sports Sites --
TV & Computing at the same time --
Tivo --
Comedy Central --
except for South ParkReality TV --
except for a few showsESPN --
HBO --
MTV --
Porn --
Gaming --
Sports Sites --
TV & Computing at the same time --
08-12-04, 06:09 AM
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DVD Talk Legend
I don't care about sports... *shrug* Well, I like Soccer and a few other things that appear on sports channels, but I hate golf, baseball, football, basketball, and all the other american spors. As for porn (before someone asks) - I'm just not into it, I have no problem with it existing and I have no moral issues with watching it. It's just not my thing... I've seen enough porn in my life and it's quite boring.
08-12-04, 07:41 AM
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doesn't like sports or porn? 
Originally posted by Trigger
I don't care about sports... *shrug* Well, I like Soccer and a few other things that appear on sports channels, but I hate golf, baseball, football, basketball, and all the other american spors. As for porn (before someone asks) - I'm just not into it, I have no problem with it existing and I have no moral issues with watching it. It's just not my thing... I've seen enough porn in my life and it's quite boring.
I don't care about sports... *shrug* Well, I like Soccer and a few other things that appear on sports channels, but I hate golf, baseball, football, basketball, and all the other american spors. As for porn (before someone asks) - I'm just not into it, I have no problem with it existing and I have no moral issues with watching it. It's just not my thing... I've seen enough porn in my life and it's quite boring.
