An interesting news that is going around these days is worth our attention. Even if the interested people do not know or pretend not to know anything about, it is almost sure that Microsoft and Peter Chernin (ex Chairman of News Corp, founded and managed by Rupert Murdoch) are thinking about a new TV channel for the Xbox owners. At the beginning the cost of the subscription will be almost nothing , one or two dollars maximum and it will allow to the subscribers to download updating videogames, or shows and entertainment programmes for which Fox and Twentieth Century have been reaching an agreement.

Such a novelty is interesting from a mediatic and technological point of view, as well as to fight the wild downloading through the very low cost of the subscription. Important subjects I want to talk about in the future. But this blog is connected to product placement and this is what I want to speak about. It’s well-known that a good market of the placement belongs to videogames; the banners along the cars and motorcicles circuit are with fees, as well the verbal mention and the hands on the famous people, not to speak about the brand integration operations. Continue Reading

The day before August the 15^th, Shankar Gupta, an important columnist by Mediapost published an article in which he underlined the ineffectiveness of advertisement within the video games. Even if the target is well defined and the costs not so expensive, the chance to insert sponsor clips is quite doubtful. Nobody of the thousands of players in fact is ready to accept to delay his own game or the next stages, just to watch a promo, even if this would mean to spend less money when buying the videogame (such a theory has to be proved yet). A famous example can be the last game of Sony, Wipeout HD, published at the beginning of this month and containing some ads promos that have provoked lots of controversies. A video sent by a player has demonstrated that the loading had a delay between 9 and 19 seconds because of the presence of these promos. The video has had lots of visitors and promoters, from which the discussion among the advertising men that will probably lasts for a few months. It’s really a pity as the right solution exists and is called product placement. It’s not the correct one for all the games, but in the majority of the case the product placement would not provoke any intrusion and any delay, on the contrary it would help to make them more realistic.

It’s just been published a research by Mediamark Research & Intelligence about the videogames among kids from 6 to 11 years old. A market  field that, as told in other posts, does not know any crisis. Some of the dates are very interesting for those Companies that want to do product placement through the videogames. A kind of communication that in Italy is not so much exploited while on the contrary, considering the economic results, it should be considered much more seriously by those brands that aim to a younger target. And Annamarie Kelly (responsible for this research) let us know that:

The 87% of kids from 6 to 11 years old in the United States has played to videogames at least once in the last month. This means almost everybody. We should not have any doubt about the importance of such a channel.

The 27% of the kids plays every day and the majority is between 10 and 11 years old. Boys play more than girls and the 15% of the kids plays less than once a week.

The 61% enjoys the adventure/speed kind of games, then sport, fighting, strategy, educational and at last the electronic replies of the classic table games.

It’s interesting to note that the 44% of the kids ask for the help and participation of at least one of their parents. This is important because last week a famous American pedagogue affirmed that the actual trend of buying kids products is changing. Until now we have considered the influence of the kids really determinant. Nowadays a consumer, much more responsible and conscious of being parents, is less inclined to be influenced by his kids’ requests unless really well-grounded.

At the end an important marketing piece of information about the games’ commercial success. More than 63% has affirmed to be influenced in his choice by the opinions of friends and parents. The 18% employs Internet for his choices. Once they have found what they are looking for, the 73% are ready to recommend it to friends and families.

p.latini@oratorio.biz