AdOnion

I came across this article in Online Media Daily this morning called “Gamers: They’re Not Who You Think The Are” which is an area that I would like to explore a little more. Sitting here looking at AdOnion, I see that our gaming channel is amongst the fastest growing ones and I always encounter clients coming through AdOnion to advertise to gamers, but have the demographics of gamers changed and since now that there are so many games and consoles available what constitutes a game?

Traditionally when we ask advertisers what are the demographics they’re looking for a consensus reached amongst console gamers are generally males in the age range of 18-34. But now the Nintendo Wii usuage is coming from players between the ages of 6 -34 (Nielson, May 2008). Also GameCube an earlier console had players coming from 2 – 17 three-fourths of the time in 2001.

Some factors impacting on the “shift in gamer demographics, from more powerful, feature-rich consoles to media hype and brand affinity.” Also technological advances like DVD players and downloadable content in consoles has helped open the market up. Also factors like aging where the 18-34 is growing up and a whole new bunch of gamers are entering the market meaning different target audiences and new marketing techniques to the new market can be considered. In addition to more family-friendly platforms like the Wii, also attracts a whole new gaming market.

Finally, as the gamer demographics are changing doing your research before entering the gaming market is the key. Be aware that different games and consoles are attracting different demographics, knowing the demographics will help you as an advertiser to easily hardcode your brand into their everyday life. AdOnion also allows you to set up 1 day tests with publishers to see if they are fitting with your market and offer ROI tracking codes in packages to help you optimize your campaign. So why not start here with us at AdOnion?