![]() and Noggin, where games are meant to be played by children “on the laps of their moms,” Ms. The youngest players of all are welcome on the sites of Nick Jr. Slightly younger players are directed to, which drew an average of 7.9 million visitors in February and is expected to add 185 games this year. The N, Nickelodeon’s teenage network, has dozens of games for children aged 12 to 17. (By comparison, Microsoft’s online game network, Xbox Live, has about 10 million members.) With more than 12 million visitors each, Electronic Arts and are also leaders in the arena. In the online games market, its stiffest competition comes from Yahoo Games, which had 15.5 million unique visitors in February according to the measurement firm comScore. With a series of customized sites for different age groups (preschoolers, tweens, teenage boys, moms), Nickelodeon calls itself the “biggest gaming network in the country.” Movie studios, video game publishers, and toy makers are among the top marketers on the sites. “For us to be relevant to our audience, that is where we need to put our investment.” “What video is to TV, games are to the Web,” Steve Youngwood, the executive vice president for digital media at Nickelodeon, said in an interview. A message promoted the company’s gaming audience: “Over 25 million unique visitors last month.” Zarghami began her presentation by gesturing to a giant overhead monitor tinted in the channel’s signature shade of orange. Just how important are games to Nickelodeon’s future? Standing on stage at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan at an annual event for advertisers last Wednesday, Ms. “It’s definitely more engaging - and the brand affiliation is stronger - in an interactive setting.” “Sitting and watching Dora DVDs is quite different from playing Dora in a game,” said Michael Cai, the director for broadband and gaming at Parks Associates, whose 3-year-old daughter is a fan of the preschool brand. Millions of children and teenagers play games on sites like Addicting Games, Miniclip Games and, and social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook are also becoming popular platforms for gaming.Ī recent study by Grunwald Associates found that multitasking young people are often driven to online games by television shows and frequently interact with both media at the same time. Studies show that one-third of Internet users play online games at least once a week. The term “casual,” used to contrast with the action-packed console games popularized by Sony and Microsoft, belies the fact that users devote hours to the games. “We don’t believe they have enough homework,” joked Cyma Zarghami, the president of the MTV Networks’ Nickelodeon Kids and Family group. On Tuesday, Nickelodeon is expected to announce the first of 600 original and exclusive games for its network of Web sites, as part of a $100 million investment in game development. ![]() Viacom, the parent company of Nickelodeon and MTV, may be moving the most aggressively. But those agreements have not always extended to the Internet. In addition to building brands, one of the big lures in casual games is the opportunity to attract advertising, including from food companies which have gradually agreed to limit the nature and volume of television advertisements aimed at children. Tapping into this desire, media companies are increasingly entering the marketplace for online games - called casual games - and treating them as new programming, not just online add-ons to their television properties. For some children, watching “Dora the Explorer” on television is becoming passé.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |