I found a pretty interesting chart (via Nick Parish) this afternoon. It breaks down (by age) the choice people would make if they had to eliminate either the Internet or TV from their life. If you look at the stats though, it clearly seems as though TV’s “days are numbered” (should people ever actually have to make such a sadistic decision) as the majority of people under 44 would choose to eliminate their TV.
As I thought through the survey I started to wonder if the main question itself isn’t a touch flawed. It’s really not about choosing between TV and the Internet, is it? It will ultimately be about choosing between the Internet and Cable/Satellite providers. Just this week I set up my Netflix account to stream video through my PS3 (if you haven’t done this yet, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s life changing). That means I’m watching content from the Internet on my big, beautiful HDTV. In essence, my TV is now the most expensive computer monitor I own. Granted, the vast majority of people aren’t doing this… yet. And maybe that’s why the survey below is relevant today, but I think in the future survey’s like this won’t be a “TV or The Internet?” question. It will be a “Internet or Cable/Satellite” question. At the end of the day, the TV is just a box that displays the content…
So, that’s enough out of me, I’d love to know what you think…
Facebook Goes To The Red Carpet With Live Video For American Music Awards – Noticing a trend yet with Live Video broadcasts with integrated real-time commenting (i.e. Social TV)?
This is before the release of the $99 iPhone 3G pricepoint and the upcoming launch of the iPhone 3G S with more hard drive space and better graphics capabilities.
Adobe recently announced that they were extending Flash to TV and set-top box platforms. Dan Rayburn of the Business of Online Video has an excellent write-up on why Flash will not be a dominate platform on TV sets anytime in the near future. As Dan points out:
“Putting all that aside, how well will Flash work on the TV in terms of performance? For starters, when it specifically comes to HD video quality, Flash is not exactly leading in that department. Trying to get HD videos to play on my MacBook from their showcase website is a poor experience, with my six month old MacBook not being able to handle the processing power that’s needed. Yes, it works for 480p content, but only Adobe classifies 480p as “HD” on the web, no one else does. How much processing power will the TV or set-top box need to have even with the “optimized implementation of Flash technology” that Adobe is working on? Flash video is a resource intensive beast and unless Flash Lite is much better, I think the performance is going to be a big issue. I want to see this working at 1080p on a 50″ TV set without someone needing to have a 10MB connection.”
It’s not breaking news that the battle for the digital living room has already begun, but it also begs the question if Adobe is already too late to the game for this. The Big 3 Console Makers (Xbox, PS3, Wii) already have a foothold in the digital living room and what’s to stop someone like Sony from integrating a future iteration of PlayStation directly into their Bravia line of TV’s?
Mashable’s look at the social media players in Los Angeles.Not surprisingly, it focuses on the entertainment industry…
Apple is about to hit 1 Billion app downloads (we wonder how many Fart apps and the like have been uninstalled though).Here’s a page documenting the countdown to 1,000,000,000.
If you are a casual or hardcore gamer there is little doubt in my mind that you haven’t heard of Killzone 2. Guerrilla Games, Sony and Deutsch have been hard at work to elevate the perception of the Killzone franchise from its mediocre debut.
The cinematics initially drew me into the continuation of the epic war between the ISA and the Helghast. After reviewing the gameplay, my mouse was pushed a few pixels closer to the buy button. However, it wasn’t until I learned the latest commercial, “Behind the Bullet” (directed by Loni Peristere of Zoic Studios) was entirely produced using the game’s engine on the PS3, that I was sold.
When it comes to marketing games, CGI cinematics serve their purpose to generate excitement. However, all too often gamers are let down when they see or get a chance to demo gameplay. The beauty of the “Behind the Bullet” spot is that the rendering farm has been removed from the picture. It communicates the story while revealing the actual look and feel of the gameplay in a single thirty second spot. No smoke and mirrors; what you see is what you get.
The commercial brings you up front and center, delivering a breath holding experience from a moment in Helghan time via a true representation of in-game graphics, effects, and sound. In the heart of combat the camera emerges from the eye of a battle hardened ISA soldier. He squeezes off several rounds as the camera pulls back to follow the bullet on a path of destiny. Riding the bullets rift, the camera moves to several unique vantage points, taking us on a journey across the bloodied battlefield to reveal the awesome power of the game’s engine and the incredible work done by the Guerrilla crew. From eye to eye the bullet rests. Hark the raven…
Just when you think the fun is over, that’s not it. An interactive version of the commercial first came to my attention via Scott Steinberg on the PlayStation blog. On the PlayStation Network you will find one of the coolest features to come along with a promotional download yet. Guerrilla puts you in control of the camera. You can adjust the camera angle to fly through the core of exploding debris, slow the action down to a creep and gaze upon the extraordinary detail or blast into overdrive to maximize the bullet’s impact. My favorite part was adjusting the camera angle to see how the bullet affected the blood red light emanating from the Helghan eyes. You can even utilize debug mode to toggle the lighting, post effects, bump maps, and shininess of reflective materials. Another cool highlight is that you can turn on commentary from the Director – Loni Peristere, the Art Director – Jan Bart van Beek and the Lead Tech Artist – Paulus Bannink, for valuable insight on the making of…definitely worth a listen.
Adage recently reported on a Honda / Xbox Live partnership where: “The automaker will be the sole sponsor of Xbox Live Primetime’s “Play and Win,” a three-month-long interactive quiz game that will launch May 15. Using Xbox’s internet-connected Live platform, the game will pit one gamer against 100 other gamers. Honda will run the car’s 30-second TV launch ads or 15-second versions in the game for people in the waiting room and during an intermission”
The article goes on to say that the Honda Insight: “is aimed at people between the ages of 24 and 54. Honda expects buyers to range from first-time new-car buyers to empty nesters. The Insight TV ads that will appear in the Xbox game don’t target young people but have a youthful feel.”
Ok. You’re targeting Xbox Live users but not young people but your ad has a youthful feel for that 45 year old businesswoman who after a hard days work is just itching to get on Xbox Live??? Maybe I’m missing something here, but did anybody bother to do their homework? Anybody’s who played on XBL (that’s Xbox Live for the uninitiated) knows that this is ground zero for a much younger demographic and not exactly appealing to the majority of Honda Insight’s target market. Let’s see what the ‘official stats’ say…
Nielsen recently released demographic statistics for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii that showed:
Wii: The best selling of the three systems appeals to boys age 6-11 and women age 25-34. Usage of Wii by women 35+ is much higher than with the Xbox 360 and PS3. Games such as Wii Fit, Guitar Hero and Rock Band appear to have engaged an older female gamer like never before.
Usage of Wii by the 18-24 age group, considered the core/hardcore gaming segment, is low for both genders compared to the other two consoles. However, Wii has been successful in broadening the gaming market to a wider demographic audience. (My note – the casual game audience they seem to want to target…)
Xbox 360: For males, the largest percentage of usage is in the 12-17 age group, older than Wii, but younger than PS3. For females, the 25-34 age group had the highest percentage of usage. These consumers may also be attracted to the other services featured such as Xbox Live, which offers online play, online audio/video chat, and the ability to download movies (now with Netflix as part of the NXE Xbox Live update), classic video and user-generated games, additional game content and music videos.(My note – I can see how they might feel that the female 25-34 age group is right in the demo wheelhouse….but keep reading)
PS3: The Sony console skews the oldest of the three consoles, and that could be the result of consumer brand loyalty, since Sony has been the dominant market player since it introduced the PlayStation in 1994 and PlayStation 2 in 2000. Gamers who owned one or both of these consoles in their youth may have “graduated” to the PS3 in their assumed adulthood. For both males and females, the highest usage came from the 18-24 age group.
In terms of overall usage, males using the Xbox 360 are playing almost twice as many days per months as females (10.2 vs. 5.4 in December), but on the other two consoles, usage days for males and females are much closer. On average, the least used console is the Wii.
To me this last paragraph is key. Most XBL users are much younger males that are more active than the target demo of the Honda Insight promotion. This leaves a very small percentage of XBL users that fall within the target demographic and then you’re banking on that small percentage playing casual games on XBL. Swing and a miss…
This reeks of an agency convincing a client to do something ‘cool’ and ‘cutting edge’ without doing their due diligence. Sure, doing a promotion on XBL sounds cool (and costs a crapload) but you’re much better off targeting casual gamer sites like Pogo, Big Fish Games or Pop Cap Games. Well, at the very least, hopefully the Honda Insight will still be around in 5 – 10 years when the XBL demo they’re currently targeting gets old enough to actually purchase one…
We Are Organized Chaos (WAOC) is Zugara’s (www.zugara.com) interactive marketing and advertising blog where we’ll be featuring some great projects and discussing upcoming trends in the digital world. Work — good and bad — will be critiqued. Hope you’ll enjoy reading our insights and thoughts on interactive.
