Videogame Opportunities in Teen & Low Income HH’s, Female Markets.

Jupiter Research announced that the age segment widely considered the target market for videogames – teens 13 to 17 years old – still contains under exploited and ripe sub-segments that have yet to be adequately addressed. Although teens account for less than 10% of the U.S. population, they represent 20% of the console videogame audience. According to Jupiter Research’s new report “Audience Benchmark: Teen Videogame Adoption, Usage and Preferences”, female teens represent a highly underserved sub-segment while teens from low-income households are voracious game players that also merit special attention.

“Despite the shifting demographic of the average videogame consumer towards an older market, teens 13 to 17 years old will remain a driving force for the industry,” stated Jupiter Research Analyst Jay Horwitz. “Companies that can capture both the imagination and wallet of this group will claim an important audience for today and tomorrow.” The report, which is being presented at Jupitermedia’s Game Market Watch Conference in Los Angeles today, benchmarks platform ownership and preferences of the teen market.

“From the consumer’s standpoint, videogames are highly cost effective entertainment,” said Horwitz. “Jupiter Research data show that teens from low-income households are more intensive videogame players than their high-income counterparts.” Whereas teens from low-income households play an average of 9.7 hours per week, their high-income household counterparts log almost a third less time (6.5 hours). Furthermore, nearly 60% of teens from low-income households own legacy platforms compared to only 37% among high-income households. The report also highlights major gender disparity among teens: on a monthly basis, only 67% of female teens play videogames compared to 95% of male teens. The report suggests ways that game companies can address this disparity through content developed to appeal to different user segments.

“We believe these characteristics of the teen audience present significant opportunities for game companies to better cater to groups within this age segment with tailored content, late stage title bundling and legacy platform releases,” continued Horwitz.

For more information at http://www.jupiterresearch.com