Slipping back to our business suits, we've gotten word that U.S. market research firm Parks Associates has discovered that online gaming still outweighs video streaming or social networking over the Internet. The report entitled "Casual Gaming Market Update" claimed that at least 34% of adult Internet users play online games on a weekly basis. Games they play include casual games, confirming the rise in popularity of the casual gaming sector.

 

In contrast, 29% of those surveyed watch short online videos, and a smaller 19% visit social networking sites at least once a week. Additionally, online gaming is also experiencing a major surge in the North American region. Parks Associates observed a 79% year-on-year rise in online gamers, compared to the 46% climb of social networking users.

Still, video streaming users are ascending at a steep 123%, and the online gaming sector would do well to challenge that rate in the following years. The online gaming sector is becoming a ripe source of income, and Parks Associates still recommends the tried-and-tested Western business models for the region.

In the Eastern front, the online gaming sector is becoming a blossoming playground for the Asian gaming industry, as Taiwan, Korea, and China have experienced phenomenally market booms in the previous year. Market predictions are also off-the-roof for the Far East, and it may have already grown leaps and bounds in the first half of 2007.

Because people WoW and click Flash more than they Facebook or Youtube, we'll be monitoring for more developments as they come clicking by.

The amount of money companies put into game advertising is expected to grow from US$ 370 million in 2006 to more than US$ 2 billion by 2012. This data comes from Parks Associates report called Electronic Gaming in the Digital Home: Game Advertising.

While this may not seem important to most people, you have to realize that this growth rate surpasses that of other major advertising media, including TV, radio, print, and the Internet.

If the trend continues we may be looking at a barrage of in-game adverts from multiple fronts, not a good sign indeed. However, the director of broadband and gaming from Parks Associates Yuanzhe (Michael) Cai sees it in a different light:

Advertising in electronic games had an average monthly household expenditure of less than 50 cents in 2006, while broadcast TV was at $37, meaning advertisers are not using the gaming medium to its full potential. If executed correctly, game advertising can provide a win-win solution for advertisers, developers and publishers, console manufacturers, game portals, and gamers.

In-game advertising will be experiencing this growth among the various categories of game advertising methods such as dynamic in-game advertising (DIGA) in PC, console, mobile. It's also expected that casual games will grow from 27% of the in-game advertising market in 2006 to an absurd 84% in 2012.

Gamers, be aware. Is this the direction we want the developers to take? Well, to be honest, if the advertisements subsidize the cost and make it cheaper for us to play, it would really be appreciated. Provided of course that the advertising isn't intrusive like what we're seeing in some online games with the horrible pop-ups.