More Than One Third of U.S. Adults Online Own a Game Console, According to Nielsen//NetRatings

Nielsen//NetRatings (NASDAQ: NTRT), a global leader in Internet media and market research, announced today that more than one third of U.S. adults online, 36.5 percent, own a game console, and 15.9 percent own a portable game console, according to @Plan's Spring 2007 Release. Not just for kids anymore, game consoles are becoming an integral part of America's home entertainment systems. The majority of console owners, 71 percent, are married, and 66 percent have at least one child in the household. With the advent of video game ratings determined by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), home video games can now cater to the entire family.

"As game consoles have become increasingly sophisticated, families have incorporated them into their centralized home media centers, which include the television, digital recording device, digital music player, and the PC," said Carolyn Creekmore, senior director of media analytics, Nielsen//NetRatings. "Video game technology will only benefit other media, since what makes a video game fun and exciting brings life to movies and music as well. Companies that can leverage these new technologies across a number of products will have a distinct advantage in the competitive marketplace."

Online Retail Favorites among Game Console Owners

Among retail Web sites, Best Buy's video game site has the highest concentration of game console owners, who comprise 90 percent of the site's audience. Amazon's video game site and Gamestop.com rank a close second and third, with console owners comprising 89 and 88 percent of their unique visitors, respectively.

Game Console Web Sites

Among the most popular game console providers, Nintendo has enjoyed the fastest Web traffic growth over the past year with the much-anticipated release of Wii. Unique visitors to Nintendo.com increased 91 percent, from 856,000 in February 2006 to 1.6 million in February 2007. Xbox.com also saw significant year-over-year growth in February, increasing 47 percent from a unique audience of 827,000 to 1.2 million. Traffic to Playstation.com dropped 8 percent in the same period, from 1.1 million to 1.0 million unique visitors.

Table 1: Video Game Console Providers ranked by Year-Over-Year Web Traffic
Growth (U.S., Home and Work)

Site             Feb-06 UA (000)      Feb-07 UA (000)      YOY Growth
Nintendo                    856                1,631             91%
XBOX                        827                1,218             47%
Playstation               1,105                1,016             -8%

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, March 2007

Personal Interests among Console Owners

Besides playing video games, the highest indexing personal interests among console owners are attending theme parks, collecting comic books, and collecting dolls and other figurines. The highest indexing vacation activities in this group are theme parks, water sports, and major sporting events.

Table 2: Highest Indexing Personal Interests and Vacation Activities among
Console Owners (U.S.)

Personal Interest                  Composition Index
Theme Parks                        178
Comic Book Collecting              171
Collecting Dolls/Figurines/Toys    137

Vacation Activity                  Composition Index
Theme Parks                        152
Water Sports                       144
Major Sporting Event               140

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings @Plan, Spring 2007 Release

Note: An average composition index is 100. Anything above 100 means a group
is overrepresented for this profile point. For example, console owners are
78 percent more likely to have an interest in theme parks than the average
Web user.

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Nielsen//NetRatings reports February 2007 data for the Top Sites by Parent Company and Top Brands. In addition, Nielsen//NetRatings reveals the Top Advertisers by Company for February 2007.

Nielsen//NetRatings Top 10 Web Sites by Parent Company and Top 10 Web Sites By Brand, February 2007

Table 1. Top 10 Parent Companies,
Combined Home & Work

                             Unique       Time Per
                             Audience      Person
Parent                         (000)     (hh:mm:ss)
1.   Microsoft               116,381      2:06:27
2.   Google                  110,041      1:20:37
3.   Yahoo!                  107,995      3:01:09
4.   Time Warner             101,722      4:27:45
5.   News Corp. Online        68,535      1:44:12
6.   eBay                     66,597      1:41:39
7.   InterActiveCorp          58,004      0:26:13
8.   Amazon                   48,307      0:22:36
9.   Landmark Communications  44,408      0:41:51
10.  Wikimedia Foundation     42,432      0:15:57


Table 2. Top 10 Brands,
Combined Home & Work

                             Unique       Time Per
                             Audience      Person
Brand                          (000)     (hh:mm:ss)
1.   Yahoo!                  107,230      3:01:46
2.   Google                  105,270      1:04:39
3.   Microsoft                94,386      0:41:00
4.   MSN/Windows Live         92,820      1:56:45
5.   AOL Media Network        89,391      4:45:25
6.   Fox Interactive Media    60,565      1:50:28
7.   eBay                     59,426      1:41:35
8.   Wikipedia                42,309      0:15:49
9.   YouTube                  42,116      0:40:44
10.  Apple                    41,850      1:08:47