Worldwide Online Gaming Community Reaches 217 Million People
LONDON, July 10, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ -- comScore (Nasdaq: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released the results of a global study into online gaming, showing the number of unique visitors to these sites to have reached almost 217 million worldwide -- a year-on-year growth of 17 percent.
The comScore World Metrix study took into account all sites that provide online or downloadable games, excluding gambling sites. The sector attracted 28 percent of the total worldwide online population in May and recorded an average of 9 visits per visitor. Said Bob Ivins, EVP and managing director of comScore Europe:
"With one in four Internet users visiting a gaming site, playing games online is extremely popular. The fact that these websites are pulling in over a quarter of the total worldwide Internet population shows what a global phenomenon gaming has become. The potential of the online gaming arena should be especially appealing for advertisers, as the average online gamer visits a gaming site 9 times a month."
Yahoo! Games was the largest property, attracting 53 million unique visitors. MSN Games followed in second place, having grown by 16 percent since May 2006 to reach 40 million unique visitors in May 2007. Both properties provide a mixture of strategy, trivia, arcade, and board games, with puzzle and card games proving to be the most popular choices for gamers in both cases.
The fastest-growing Top 10 gaming property was WildTangent Network, a US company that makes online and downloadable games, which grew by 398 percent year-on-year to attract 11.5 million unique visitors in May 2007. The site also attracted an average 12.2 visits per visitor, notably higher than any of the other top 10 gaming properties.
Regional Breakdown of Top 10 Worldwide Gaming Properties
Ranked by Worldwide Unique Visitors
May 2007 vs. May 2006
Total Worldwide, Age 15+ - Home and Work Locations*
Source: comScore World Metrix
Total Unique Visitors (000) May 2007
Property
Average
% % Visits per
May-06 May-07 Change Reach Visitor
Total
Internet :
Total Audience 705,644 771,997 9.4 100.0 54.8
Online Gaming 185,992 216,715 16.5 28.1 8.9
1 Yahoo! Games 52,969 52,796 -0.3 6.8 4.2
2 MSN Games 34,915 40,335 15.5 5.2 2.5
3 MINICLIP.COM 25,554 30,249 18.4 3.9 3.8
4 EA Online 30,525 21,220 -30.5 2.7 9.3
5 Shockwave.com Sites N/A 15,689 N/A 2.0 2.5
6 FREEONLINEGAMES.COM 10,050 13,660 35.9 1.8 2.3
7 ADDICTINGGAMES.COM N/A 13,161 N/A 1.7 4.7
8 RealArcade Sites 15,950 12,520 -21.5 1.6 2.7
9 Zylom 7,271 12,471 71.5 1.6 5.7
10 WildTangent Network 2,329 11,584 397.5 1.5 12.2
* Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access
from mobile phones or PDAs.
The popularity of individual properties varied significantly between geographical locations. Yahoo! Games dominated the North American and Asia-Pacific continents, registering 18.7 million and 20.9 million unique visitors respectively. In Europe however, the Yahoo! property proved to be the fourth-most popular gaming site with 8.6 million unique visitors. MSN Games, the second-most popular gaming site in the world, was more consistent in geographical take-up, proving to be either the most or the second-most popular site in every geographical location.
Regional Breakdown of Top 10 Worldwide Gaming Properties
Ranked by Worldwide Unique Visitors
May 2007
Total Worldwide, Age 15+ - Home and Work Locations*
Source: comScore World Metrix
Property Total Unique Visitors (000)
Middle
North Latin Asia- East -
Worldwide Europe America America Pacific Africa
Total
Internet :
Total Audience 771,997 222,924 177,455 53,042 283,519 35,058
Online Gaming 216,715 66,371 61,498 13,539 65,230 10,077
1 Yahoo! Games 52,796 8,607 18,680 2,598 20,920 1,990
2 MSN Games 40,335 13,833 12,304 4,853 6,822 2,522
3 MINICLIP.COM 30,249 13,430 7,150 2,554 5,332 1,782
4 EA Online 21,220 5,663 11,533 773 2,683 568
5 Shockwave.com Sites 15,689 4,818 5,353 1,514 3,267 738
6 FREEONLINEGAMES.COM 13,660 6,111 2,568 996 2,972 1,013
7 ADDICTINGGAMES.COM 13,161 2,873 8,663 167 1,185 273
8 RealArcade Sites 12,520 2,934 6,174 515 2,361 537
9 Zylom 12,471 10,398 819 552 484 218
10 WildTangent
Network 11,584 3,615 5,940 384 1,457 188
* Excludes traffic from public computers such as Internet cafes or access
from mobile phones or PDAs.
About comScore
comScore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world. This capability is based on a massive, global cross-section of more than 2 million consumers who have given comScore permission to confidentially capture their browsing and transaction behavior, including online and offline purchasing. comScore panelists also participate in survey research that captures and integrates their attitudes and intentions. Through its proprietary technology, comScore measures what matters across a broad spectrum of behavior and attitudes. comScore analysts apply this deep knowledge of customers and competitors to help clients design powerful marketing strategies and tactics that deliver superior ROI. comScore services are used by more than 700 clients, including global leaders such as AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo!, BBC, Carat, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, ESPN, Fox Sports, NestlA(C), Starcom, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, Verizon, ViaMichelin, Merck and Expedia. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com.
SOURCE comScore
Bob Ivins of comScore, +44 (0) 207 099 1761, bivins@comscore.com
http://www.comscore.com
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