The following results are from BIGresearch’s Simultaneous Media Study VII, with over 15,000 participants, conducted during December 2005.
The key to successful marketing of video games has a great deal to do with the type of platform in use. Not all platforms are equal. By looking at the platform in use, the type of video game most likely to be purchased becomes apparent.
The following charts show the percent of White, Blacks and Hispanics 18 to 24 and 25 to 34 and their platforms of choice.
PC and Playstation II are the dominant platforms for Whites, Blacks and Hispanics age 18 to 24 and continue to be for 25- to 34-year-olds.
All of the platforms seem to shrink in percentage of White, Black and Hispanic users based on age. While Playstation II increases with Blacks 25 to 34, it decreased with Hispanics and decreased with Whites. PC shrunk in use across Whites, Blacks and Hispanics who are 25 to 34.
Marketers and advertisers will need to continue to track platform usage if there is interest in multicultural marketing, especially in the video game world where change can happen rapidly.
Joe Pilotta is vice president of BIGresearch, and a professor at Ohio State University, School of Communications. He holds two Ph.D.s from Ohio University (Communication Research) and from University of Toronto (Sociology), Canada. He is a member of the Word of Mouth Association (WOMMA) Standards and Metric Committee and the ARF Long Term Advertising Effects Committee.
