2009 may have been a tough year for the video game industry, but when you factor in the emerging digital field, iPhone, Facebook and online free-to-play, it's easy to see that the sector's continuing to expand. That said, games are still entertainment and must compete with all other entertainment options for people's time and money. Looking specifically at U.S. households, Nielsen recently found that video games account for just 5% of entertainment budget; however, among households that are active buyers in the video game category, this figure jumps to over 9% of total entertainment spend attributed to game-related content.
As Nielsen points out, this share of entertainment budget is not the same as dollars spent. "Individual households spend different amounts in total on entertainment, which may deflate or inflate shares for a given category," Nielsen explained. "In addition, these results are a reflection of consumer claims that are useful directionally in understanding how consumers perceive their allocations of money."
Nielsen also found that video game category buyers (defined as those spending at least $1 per month on game-related content) comprise 24% of U.S. households, "and their share of wallet profiles paint a picture of valuable, tech-savvy entertainment consumers." For example, Nielsen found that these game consumers also "over-index substantially on DVD/Blu-ray, music, online entertainment, and VOD share of spending," and they generally have a higher share for movie-going, sports activities, and live events. This sort of spending takes away from established media options like basic cable and print media, which video game category buyers "under-index notably."
