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No One Watches Online Videogame TV

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the why-would-we-when-we-have-g4 dept.

GameDailyBiz talks about disappointing statistics for anyone who enjoys online videogame related video or podcasts; Almost no one watches them. From the article: "didn't even recognize that I might have made a mistake until I ran across a recent Forrester Research marketing report. The report found that while 25% of online households have expressed interest in podcasting, only 2% had experimented with audio downloads but did not listen on a regular basis and a mere 1% of households actually download a podcast onto a player. For most new tech trends a 1% percent adoption rate might be admirable or even encouraging. However, podcasting is a nerd darling. On tech blogs and nerd-news centers podcasting been proudly crowned the Wave of the Future(TM). Currently, the search site PodNova is tracking more than 55,000 different podcasts. Yeah, 55,000 channels and apparently nothing's on."

5 of 54 comments (clear)

  1. But this is only for online broadcasts by dshaw858 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but it isn't all videogame broadcasts that aren't watched. In Korea, there are two television stations dedicated to video gaming (mostly Starcraft matches) that are extremely popular. During the CPL Championships, TSN (the premier online broadcasting network for cyberathletics) supports many many viewers- in fact, even during the CAL (Cyberathlete Amateur League) matches, many people watch the matches.

    I think that this article is trying to accomplish the wrong things. Comparing things like video game broadcasts to YouTube simply is comparing apples and oranges.

    - dshaw

    1. Re:But this is only for online broadcasts by Daengbo · · Score: 2, Informative

      Well, I'm in Korea, and if I go to lunch at a cheap diner near a high school, the TV there is always tuned to ongame.net, the channel the GP mentioned. Kids are obsessed with watching their role-models and learning new tricks or strategies for Starcraft, CS, or Special Forces. It's no different than anyone who watches experts at his serious hobbies. I doubt, as you say, that it's especially cultural. It just depends on how serious people take their gaming, I think.

      --
      Put identity in the browser.
  2. People do watch... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    This site seems to be pretty popular: http://bisqwit.iki.fi/nesvideos/

    This was on google videos popular list for quite a while: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6590364564 874563352

    Not to mention all the WoW stuff I constantly see on google video...

  3. Re:I don't buy it by FooHentai · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/ranko rder/2119rank.html

    1% of USA population ~= 2,984,442

    Regarding them lying - I think it's more likely that they're counting hits which don't equate 1:1 to a person.

  4. Re:Can we just call 'em MP3s? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    There are plenty of shows (so-called "podcasts") out there that do not force people to subscribe, and that have clear direct links to MP3's and even sometimes OGG vorbis files.

    A site like HackerMedia is a great place to start, they even catalogue video shows.

    Most of the shows on RantRadio and RantTV also operate in the same manner, such as GAMERadio and LagRadio.

    And lets not forget about TextFiles.com, Jason Scott's mirror of a little bit of everything, offering direct links to the files.

    The term "Podcast" has to go...