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TV's Missing Men Still Flocking To Games?
Thanks to Ad Age for its article discussing the young male demographic's move away from television and towards videogames. The article notes: "Some 32 million 18- to 34-year-old males constitute the mother lode for a vast array of marketers. That's about one-quarter of the total U.S. male population", and goes on to quote an advertising executive as suggesting: "Games have bigger viewership numbers than The Sopranos." Also of note is a referenced Codemasters survey, which "...found that 32% of gamers were over 30 and 47% were in their 20s. It was the latest data to confirm that video gaming, once almost exclusively associated with teenagers, has become a mainstream interest that is dramatically altering the pattern of media consumption by men."
It seems to me that the generation that is now in its 30s and late 20s is the generation that the phrase "video gaming, once almost exclusively associated with teenagers" used to describe. All that happened is that while the media wasn't paying any attention, the home console video game generation grew up. Or, at least, grew older. Does this really surprise anyone?
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. (Einstein)
hard-core players who prefer first-person-player games like Nintendo's "Final Fantasy" series which takes 100 hours to complete
Now, I can understand someone not understanding what a 'first-person' game is.
But thinking Nintendo makes Final Fantasy? That's either a testament to the strength of the Nintendo brand, the weakness of Square-Enix (in North America, anyways), the inability of the writer to look up a simple detail, or some combination of the three.
I've noticed a shift towards programming to attract female audiences over the past ~10 years. There always has been some, just as there is some directed programming for males. But the shift is not just in female oriented networks (Lifetime), but also in mainstream broadcast programming. Some of this gets extreme. - pardon the commercial reference.
One is to do with the tv schedule. The computer has changed the way I do my entertaining/time wasting. I want it when I want it. It is not really even a want. It is more like I see a program I might like to watch and then totally forget to turn the tv on in time. Of course it doesn't help that were once I had the tv on as background noise I now have to turn it off in disgust when their is some reality show before what I want to watch and even hearing it in the background irritates me. There is at the moment only 1 program that I watch and that is "have I got news for you" on the bbc. Nothing else. Not that I don't wanna watch but I simply forget.
I have been hearing since I was a little kid about on demand tv. First machines I seen used tapes to give you an idea how old it is. Yet it never happened. No demand the networks said. Nope people didn't demand it. I don't demand it. I simply don't watch your product anymore.
There is a group to whom I belong that tv just can't seem to reach anymore. I never liked programs like gameshows but when they where half-shows I could at least tolerate them. If in a group I would watch it with half an eye. Shows like Idols I can't stand. Wich means I have the tv off and won't watch the program I might be intrestted in afterwards since I am now doing something else.
So tv networks can do three things. Whine and die, aim at other groups, win us back. 1 is what they will do, 2 is what they should do, 3 is what they haven't got a chance in hell of doing.
Oh and cutting back on the number of ads wouldn't hurt either. Don't have 10x$1000 ads. Have 1x$100.000 ads. Same money less channel hopping.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
"Games have bigger viewership numbers than The Sopranos."
Let me correct this statement: games have a larger number of players than "The Sopranos" has viewers.
In case you're an ad-man, or have an MBA, let me clearly state: gamers are not viewers.
Anyone remember the whole premise of cable-tv channels? That you'd pay for the channel upfront, and so avoid commercials?
Now this is only true for the so-called "premium" channels, so called because to view them you must pay an additional premium over and above what you pay for the basic cable service. Indeed it seems like most cable channels not only feature ads, but sell their entire late night time to infomercials. (Of course, I may be wrong; I only watch cable on vacation, because I won't buy lots of channels with lots of ads.)
So beware this discovery of games by Madison Avenue: prepare to find the games you've paid for to interrupt your play for commercials, or to sacrifice playability to product placements.
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Reality shows just don't cut it for a lot of men. I am sick of hearing about them, and I would rather see higher quality fiction on television. Instead, shows like Firefly, John Doe, Mr. Sterling, and The Lyon's Den get canned. All for 'lack of ratings'... sometimes a show takes awhile to get a following, but this short-sighted nature will kill a lot of good tv.
I have Tivo, so the time a show is on doesn't really matter much to me. I get to watch the shows I'm interested in, when I want to. Unfortunatly, television schedules still work on the prime-time model, and that needs to change. If there are three shows on at the same time that I want to watch, I'll usually only pick one. If they show one in another time slot, then I can get that one as well. Fortunatly this isn't much of a problem now, as the networks are hell-bent on cramming every form of reality show into as many spots as they can.
Until then, the computer is a better use of my time anyway. Maybe the execs will get it, maybe they won't.
"If you fight, fight without fear. If you love, love without reservation." -- J. Michael Straczynski, Babylon 5
I've noticed that the mass media in general has NO idea about anything concerning video games. They consider them a curiosity, a destabilizing element in our country's youth, or simply a pastime that's not worth reporting on. By and large, they're not much better with computer-related stories, unless it's on the business end.
Why is it that scientific stories generally have "science correspondents", weather reports are made by actual meteorologists, and even political stories are made by people who watch politics closely, but video gaming stories are reported by whatever clueless hack happens to be open at the moment?
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The only reason I, as a gamer in his 20's, don't watch much TV these days is because the majority of the tv and especially its primetime (I assume that's the time tv execs want us watching the most) lineup are geared toward mindless comedy, trite drama, and the much over-played shock-value.
It seems to me that all of the tv that I find interesting has some aspect of it that hasn't been ran through the politically-correct/marketing machine. Things like reality tv are only intriguing (and sometimes funny) because they hint at showing everyday life, filled with obsceneties, moodiness, and everyone's unique perspective/opinions on life. Sitcoms and drama's just don't have that, even a fictional state. They try so desparately to keep their hands clean that its no wonder people tuned in everywhere when Southpark uttered "Shit" almost 200 times in 30 minutes.
Its not that people want filthy tv filled with sex, violence, and cursing... rather, perhaps they want something that doesn't make them feel like they're children and have to cover their eyes all of the time.
Besides the movie channels, I really only watch Cartoon Network (honestly, only Adult Swim/Toonami and a few others like Samurai Jack, occasionally Justice League, etc), Discovery/TLC, and SciFi. I'm sure I'm not alone, either. And if you think about the programming you watch on those channels, I would bet that they all just don't pay much attention to what the other channels are doing, and instead just focus on what they do best: anime, documentaries, and science fiction with lots of cheesy effects.
If you want me to watch your station, don't hold my hand like I'm a freakin' 2 year old. Just spit out the real truth behind what you're trying to tell (if there is some), and for God's sake quit trying to market to every demographic possible!
Oh, and it might help to come up with something original instead of just repackaging the leading channel's ideas. Just a hint.
Sorry for the rant.