Mobile social gaming goes mainstream

Sometimes it seems like the only thing that's permanent in the mobile industry is impermanence--the pace of innovation guarantees that nothing stays the same for very long. One exception is the enduring popularity of mobile gaming: From BlackBerry staple Brick Breaker to blockbuster du jour Angry Birds, the titles may change, but consumer interest in gaming remains intact. Worldwide mobile app revenues increased to $2.2 billion in 2010, a 160.2 percent annual increase over 2009 revenues of $828 million, according to research firm IHS Screen Digest--games dominated app store sales last year, accounting for 52.5 percent of revenues. In fact, mobile gaming is now so ubiquitous and so mainstream that it's emerged as a viable threat to the traditional hardcore gamer market: According to new data published by mobile application analytics provider Flurry, mobile social gaming is redefining the market, bringing in more female players and reducing the average user age by six years.

Female users make up 53 percent of the overall mobile social gaming segment, Flurry reports--by contrast, females represent just 40 percent of the traditional gamer demographic. At the same time, the average mobile social gamer is 28 years old, while the average traditional gamer is 34--moreover, more than 75 percent of mobile social gamers fall between ages 18 and 49, compared to less than 50 percent of traditional gamers, indicating that "iOS and Android devices are attracting users during their earning years versus, in particular, their teenage years, where they likely cannot afford more expensive mobile devices," Flurry notes. In all, the firm calculates that more than 26 million subscribers actively engage in mobile social gaming, playing an average of 25 minutes per day--Flurry notes that their ranks exceed the audience for the most popular U.S. primetime television programs, which average 20 million viewers when new episodes air.

But it's not just the size of the mobile social gaming demographic that's attracting advertisers. Most mobile social gamers live in developed regions, with 64 percent in North America and 30 percent in Europe; the average U.S. gamer earns $66,100 a year, $22,500 more than the median U.S. income, and 61 percent of mobile social gamers boast a Bachelor's degree or higher, far ahead of the national average at 28 percent. It's no wonder Flurry says that males 18 to 34 are no longer the segment big brands and advertisers are targeting--mobile social gamers are younger, more diverse, better educated and more affluent. No matter what else changes, that kind of desirable demographic never goes out of style. -Jason