Getting Into the Game

It is still not clear how successful content publishers will be in their recent efforts to cash in on the popularity of casual gaming. The monstrous success of sites like Pogo.com and PopCap titles everywhere suggests that opening a game center at a women or men’s service site somehow will keep them on the site longer. SoapOperaDigest.com just opened such a wing, and we have seen the model floated at iVillage and MaximOnline in the past. This genere remains an enticing lure for publishers. New research from Interpret shows a stunning reach for casual gaming, up to 145 million users in 2007, and 71 million of those play for 1 to 2 hours per week. The seriously sticky medium increased its average play time per week last year by 28%, to 5.1 hours. Best news for publishers is that 85% of users prefer ad-supported free gaming. Interpret found that casual gamers are 22% more likely to seek out new product information and 36% more likely than the average user to switch brands for the sake of change. In other words, gaming environments on third party publishing sites could be ideal platforms for branding messages…if publishers really can push their visitors into these areas.