What It's Like
Think only complicated games can enrapture players and drive traffic? Guess again. Online versions of sporting events are grabbing eyeballs and emotions and perhaps changing the way advertisers think about games.
During the 2006 Winter Olympics, for example, nbcOlympics.com drew big numbers with rather simple, essentially unpromoted games such as "Bode Miller Skiing." The online game versions of the Olympic Games drew 988,058 total users, each of whom spent an average of 32.5 minutes playing.
Adventure sports are also scoring online. Bermuda-based Virtual Spectator offers a desktop game at VolvoOceanRace.org that creates a virtual race with high-powered sailboats in the North Atlantic. Traffic is brisk, with 40,000 hits a day, and marketers are getting good exposure. Ericsson, which pushed race reports to cell phones, says traffic exceeds 150,000 requests per week.
Earlier this year, espn.com rolled out "Ultimate Baseball Online 2006," which blends human play with baseball strategy targeted at the die-hard fan. ESPN.com did not break out traffic for the game but Paul Melvin, an ESPN spokesman, says, "UBO 2006 was part of a package that reaches 8 million homes."
Online games are cheap and flexible enough to allow for innovation, brand testing and powerful marketing.
"There is an emotional reaction to games that we have not touched yet," says Ian Bogost, partner at Persuasive Games, the Atlanta-based Web developer. "What's it like to be in Game 7 in the World Series? What is it like to be a coach? Online games offer a way for the industry to get there."Recent Media Magazine Articles
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