How often do we get to hear an advertising success story these days? I've got one for you.
Back in April, Taco Bell Corp. signed on as the first promotional partner for the launch of the
Microsoft Xbox video game system. In October, Taco Bell unveiled details of the partnership, which included an extensive national sweepstakes program as well as primetime network television, radio,
print and online advertising.
Looks like their efforts paid off. Nielsen//NetRatings today reported that surfers at-home flocked to Xbox.com during the week
ending October 28, to access information about the November 15th launch of the video gaming console.
Xbox.com attracted 589,000 unique visitors to the site, jumping 71% from 344,000 visitors one
week prior. Surfers accessed more than five million pages on the site, skyrocketing 108% from 2.4 million page views the previous week. Males comprised 65% of the site's audience while females
accounted for 35%.
Surfers spent more than five minutes at the site, with 74% of the visitors clicking on the page featuring the Taco Bell-Xbox Instant Win Sweepstakes.
PlayStation.com
attracted 113,000 unique visitors, rising 64% from 69,000 visitors the week prior. Nintendo's new GameCube console, featured at NintendoGameCube.com, will launch on November 18.
Jarvis Mak,
senior Internet analyst at NetRatings said, "The number, variety and type of games offered by the various video game systems are critical to the success of the systems themselves. With the holiday
season right around the corner, game console websites are playing a critical role in marketing new game titles and releases to consumers."