4/08/2005
Men Spend More On Video Games Than Music
Toyz for the boyz
By Wil Harris: Friday 08 April 2005, 09:43
NIELSEN, famed for its method of measuring TV audiences, have said that men spend more money on video games than music.
With games costing up to four times the cost of a CD, it's perhaps not surprising, but some of the statistics the firm puts forward make for interesting reading.
Gamers are getting older, with 25% now over the age of 40. 40% of all US households have some kind of gaming system. Gamers spend an average of 5 hours a week playing alone and 3 hours a week playing online. That trend is modified by age: over the age of 45, 79% of a gamer's time is spent playing alone, where as gamers in their teens play more socially.
The industry now has $10 billion a year in revenue, on par with the US box office takings each year. Games have been carrying film-style ratings systems for a while now: perhaps these latest financial figures will convince parents of the importance of not giving their kids games unsuitable for them, just as they wouldn't take their 10-year-old to an NC-17 movie.
By Wil Harris: Friday 08 April 2005, 09:43
NIELSEN, famed for its method of measuring TV audiences, have said that men spend more money on video games than music.
With games costing up to four times the cost of a CD, it's perhaps not surprising, but some of the statistics the firm puts forward make for interesting reading.
Gamers are getting older, with 25% now over the age of 40. 40% of all US households have some kind of gaming system. Gamers spend an average of 5 hours a week playing alone and 3 hours a week playing online. That trend is modified by age: over the age of 45, 79% of a gamer's time is spent playing alone, where as gamers in their teens play more socially.
The industry now has $10 billion a year in revenue, on par with the US box office takings each year. Games have been carrying film-style ratings systems for a while now: perhaps these latest financial figures will convince parents of the importance of not giving their kids games unsuitable for them, just as they wouldn't take their 10-year-old to an NC-17 movie.
