Gaming continues to be the most popular online entertainment activity in US

August 16, 2007 – Playing games is still the most popular online activity in the US, above watching short video clips or visiting social networking sites, according to a new report from Parks Associates.

The report, entitled “Casual Gaming Market Update”, found that 34% of adult Internet users in the US play online games on a weekly basis, compared to 29% who watch short online videos and 19% who visit social networking sites with the same regularity.

“Despite the growing popularity of YouTube, MySpace and Facebook, gaming remains the king of online entertainment, driven largely by casual gaming activities,” commented James Kuai, research analyst for Parks Associates.  “Gaming also has business advantages.  Unlike sites for social networking and video streaming, which rely solely on advertising revenue, casual gaming has more mature and heterogeneous revenue models, including web-based and in-game advertising, try-before-you-buy, subscriptions and micro-transactions.”

The report found the year-on-year growth rate for frequent online gamers to be 79%, while the growth rate for users of social networking sites was 46%.  The growth rate for frequent users of video streaming sites was found to be 123%, which could pose a challenge for the gaming industry in coming years.