Report: Gaming bigger than networking online

Despite the publicity surrounding sites such as YouTube and Facebook, gaming is the most popular online activity in the US, new report finds.

Web sites such as YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, and Bebo are often in the news as growing in popularity, with well-known people such as Prince William, Nicole Richie, Paris Hilton, and Lindsey Lohan all known to use them. But gaming is actually the most popular online activity, a new report titled "Casual Gaming Market Update" from Parks Associates has found.

The report found that in an average week, 34 percent of US adult Internet users play online games, compared to 29 percent who watch short online videos such as those found on YouTube, while 19 percent visit social networking sites.

All these figures were up over those found in the second quarter of last year, when 19 percent were playing games, 13 percent were watching short video clips online, and 13 percent were using social networking sites such as Facebook.

James Kuai, a research analyst at Parks Associates, said that the success of online gaming has largely been driven by casual games. He said, "Gaming also has business advantages. Unlike sites for social networking and video streaming, which rely solely on advertising revenue, casual gaming has more mature and heterogeneous revenue models, including Web-based and in-game advertising, try-before-you-buy, subscriptions, and micro-transactions."

However, the casual gaming industry "cannot afford to rest on its laurels," says Kuai, "In order to counter the growing competition from other online activities, the industry needs to continue to grow its fan base and find ways to better monetise its existing audience."

63 Comments

  • da_illest101

    Posted Aug 19, 2007 10:03 pm PT

    let's give ourselves a good round of applause

  • gatsbythepig

    Posted Aug 19, 2007 1:10 pm PT

    Is anyone that surprised.

  • digi_dragon324

    Posted Aug 19, 2007 12:09 pm PT

    hell yea! kitty canon, and gears of war

  • GameDestroyer88

    Posted Aug 18, 2007 10:54 pm PT

    Good...thats the way I like it.

  • NeoNavarro

    Posted Aug 18, 2007 10:25 am PT

    Kitty Cannon stole hours of my life away!

  • Fraquelli

    Posted Aug 18, 2007 10:18 am PT

    RaiKageRyu:
    "Newgrounds FTW!"

    hehehe hell yeah! nuff said XD

  • dQuarters

    Posted Aug 18, 2007 12:42 am PT

    This study is misleading, if not totally bogus. But what I THOUGHT it would report would be interesting to know.

  • ocdog45

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 10:48 pm PT

    get a life people

  • YukoAsho

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 6:36 pm PT

    delcidanddarth - I dunno if the bored secretary is going to buy a lot of those $5 games, but you have another good point. If only 34% of online participants are gaming, networking or viewing stream (not counting overlap with porn), how long will it be before any of these mediums are a bigger portion of the online world than porn?

  • Shinedown220

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 3:11 pm PT

    But its not real gaming.

  • Pete5506

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 3:10 pm PT

    Wow go gaming

  • comthitnuong

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 3:05 pm PT

    I wouldn't say that this is that big of a deal. Those flash games and things of that nature have always been highly popular and a "fun" way to waste time.

  • delcidanddarth

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 2:55 pm PT

    @YukoAsho

    Actually, the gaming is much greater than the social networking... gaming is only slightly larger than video streaming. And I would say casual gamers are more likely to do a microtransaction ($4.99 for a fun, casual game doesn't sound like a lot to anyone), while a "hardcore" player is more likely to subscribe... in fact, there is no other choice for the "hardcore" games. You don't pay by the hour.

    I do question a little bit the categorization of social networking and video streaming. Most social networking can link with videos or youtube, and all this sharing makes it more difficult to parse out who is doing exactly what. If you are on myspace, and click on your friend's fav youtube video, doesn't that count as both?

    And as a final point, it is interesting they didn't include the obvious biggest contributor to online time: porn. Considering that the categories are not mutually exclusive (each one could have gone up to 100% each, if EVERYone was doing those things), this might lead people to believe that the only things adults are doing online is playing games, watching videos, or socializing. If that were true, that would mean at worst (if all the categories overlapped), 34% of people are online. I highly doubt that, even considering the assumption that the categories overlap a LOT is not a big logical jump. If you added porn, I'm sure it would double the gaming numbers, but show no increase year over year.

  • YukoAsho

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 2:27 pm PT

    OK, so casual online gaming is bigger than social networking (slightly), but its' rate of growth is slower.

    Am I out of base saying that casuals aren't going to be as apt to subscribe to a service or buy microtransactions as more dedicated players? If so, then the only way to monetize it is to pump intrusive adverts (you can't really do product placement inside pac-man). If they become intrusive enough, wouldn't casual gamers just get their kicks from social networking/video streaming?

    Also, video streaming sites have things to offer gamers, between fan-made music videos, video reviews and machinema.

  • 123625

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 2:13 pm PT

    i wpuld of thought it would of been the other way around well proves me wrong.

  • Jegrox

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 1:45 pm PT

    Agree with delcidanddarth. The original report states:
    "gaming remains the king of online entertainment, driven largely by casual gaming activities,”

    And it also says the growth rate of video streaming is higher than the one for online games. So this is not happy news after all =s.

  • delcidanddarth

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 1:08 pm PT

    Wow... and I don't mean World of Warcraft. I mean "Wow, you kiddies really have no idea what you are talking about." How many WoW accounts are active right now? The most recent number I could find is 9 million (off of Digg). That number includes other countries, but even giving the US all 9 million WoW accounts pales in comparison to the number of people playing casual games. Keep in mind, this article asked 1000 people over the age of 18 this question: How often do you do the following activities online (play games, stream videos, social networking)? The data they show is only percentages of people who said "at least weekly".

    Anyone who played Bejeweled even once a week would count towards the "online gaming" category. Let's say all 9 million WoW accounts are played at least once a week... there is estimated about 300 million people in this country, 75% is above the age of 18, or 225 million (US Census, 2006 estimates). 9 million of this subset is 4%... so WoW contributed 4% to the 34% IF you assume all 9 million are in the US and IF you assume all 9 million subscribers are people over 18. A quick trip to Wikipedia "quoted" a 6 million figure for US accounts, and if we assume 75% of those are 18 or over, then it's 4.5 million subscribers that would count towards this article. Now WoW only accounts now for 2 of the 34%. So you can see... as insanely popular as WoW is, it still only contributes a fraction of online game-playing. Of course, subtracting WoW out puts it significantly closer to video-streaming, and based on year-over-year increases, video-streaming will overtake games by next year. What might be a good source of info is how much time people spend doing each one, because if other people are like me, then they only spend a few minutes browsing youtube, but spend hours playing games.

  • backinthekrak

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 12:48 pm PT

    Oh, so it's not just me??

  • playstation_wii

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 12:45 pm PT

    Videogames rule!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Megavideogamer

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 12:36 pm PT

    The videogame industry has been known to whip the Movie, Television, Music industries for sheer dollars earned per capita at times. So now beating facebook/second life is not too suprising. Isn't Second life kinda like playing the Sims anyway? A game without a goal to it? except to tool around and explore.

  • McGregor

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 12:20 pm PT

    eh, i've been part of this percentage since i was a wee little lad. Now I feel like i'm making a difference!

  • sancezz

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 12:12 pm PT

    Lol, I remember playing CounterStrike 1.5 with a 56k modem. but it didn't matter because everyone had dial up back then! Those were the days...Long live CS!

  • enoslives7

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 12:03 pm PT

    TV sucks, music sucks nowadays, even most of the new movies suck....No wonder people have turned to video games as their chief form of media entertainment. All hail Nolan Bushnell !!!!!!!!

  • jbot666

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 11:53 am PT

    Lets give the casual gamers a hand for popularizing online gaming activity. Uh...that felt weird to say.

  • RaiKageRyu

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 11:52 am PT

    Newgrounds FTW!

  • StrikerGold

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 11:52 am PT

    Well, good for gaming, but this has happened before. 2007 seems like it might be another 1998, back when Fallout, Starcraft, Grim Fandango, Half-Life, Ocarina of Time all came out (and loads of others). Back then gaming ruled the internet too. There weren't any of these crappy networking sites to begin with, and people had to hunt for YouTube like videos. Starcraft, UT, Quake, C&C, Counterstrike WERE the online gaming scene.

  • ganon546

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 11:32 am PT

    Nice, video games are really having a great year so far. Sales are increasing and more games are coming out.

  • prioritymail

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 11:11 am PT

    Gamers rule the internet

  • McH0TTY

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 11:09 am PT

    COUNTER STRIKE IS THE # 1 ONLINE GAME OF ALL TIME AND I THINK IT STILL IS.

  • thomasperry

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 10:56 am PT

    I would say WOW increased this significantly actually.

  • Jegrox

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 10:47 am PT

    Well, the article is actually about casual gaming. It's talking about all those flash and java games you can play online. Of course, WOW and stuff has to be in that 34%, but i doubt it has too much weight in that report

  • MangyForestCat

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 10:45 am PT

    Video Games win again

  • ctg867

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 10:41 am PT

    Online gaming FTW. We win.

  • yoshi-lnex

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 10:30 am PT

    Hooray for a strengthening video game industry!!!

  • Chirico_Cuvie

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 10:07 am PT

    Actually they're not talking about WoW or Live, the big factor are those web games like Scrabble, Boggle. Zambeezee and all those Sudoku games your Mom plays. My Mother played a few games in arcades back in the 80s, like Centipede and Crystal Castles, but she never took part in console gaming past Atari Pac Man. She plays those web games every night like I used to play Nintendo in 1986. This study shows that she's not the only one playing those games.

  • okassar

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 9:33 am PT

    Dang?!Xbox Live and WoW have to be the biggest additions to online gaming(making online gaming bigger than online networking).

  • JDevL

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 9:23 am PT

    It does seem kind of odd to separate out the categories. Most online gamers are doing all three at some point during their week, and most of the social networkers are watching YouTube videos.

    I like seeing gaming at the top, but the figures don't mean anything.

  • The_Weekend

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 9:10 am PT

    WoW anyone?

  • rico212

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 8:56 am PT

    WoW definately boosted that.

  • Romanticide

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 8:25 am PT

    Nobody said WoW is the only one. But WoW does have more active accounts right now than Xbox live. It is the most most popular online game ever made. It's had massive impact on gamers worldwide.

  • soulofaqua

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 8:19 am PT

    You all talk about WoW this and that but Online gaming is more then WoW its also Second Life... just kidding but WoW may be a big part of online gaming but don't forget the other online games, Xbox Live enabled games Playstation online, and Nintendo WiFi all summed up it is bigger then WoW so WoW is not the only one to thank

  • Poost

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 8:15 am PT

    More horrible statistics. They don't tell you whether the gamers are also using the social networking sites, or whether the stats are arranged in some sort of hierarchy.

  • Romanticide

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 8:14 am PT

    WoW has done so much for Gaming. Blizzard are just Kings, they make Games, not recycled trash to cash in on. They actually want to make decent games.

  • DJSMITH007

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 8:04 am PT

    Cool. Go WoW...actually, not really.

  • xDonRobx

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 7:56 am PT

    If it were teens, MySpace would have 85%.

  • GuitarsOfWarr

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 7:53 am PT

    This is adults...it it were teens itwould probably be myspace at #1 haha

  • lovea218

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 7:50 am PT

    I would take online gaming over Myspace any day!

  • maxxorz

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 7:48 am PT

    IN OTHER NEWS: The Earth orbits the sun! Scientific community astounded!

  • greystone227

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 7:38 am PT

    Haha, yeah, a huge percent of that has to be WOW.

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