Commentary
Mobile Gaming Grows
- by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, May 15, 2006
Telephia reports that mobile game sales continue to show strong performance during the first quarter of 2006, with wireless consumers buying more than 8.2 million games on their phones in March, up 53 percent from since January 2006. The number of unique mobile game buyers also jumped significantly, surging 44 percent from nearly 3.5 million in January to five million in March, despite other recent reports that show idle growth.
Monthly Mobile Game Purchases and Total US Buyers(x000) | ||||
| Jan-06 | Feb-06 | Mar-06 | % Growth Jan-Mar 2006 |
Game Purchases (Sales) | 5,399 | 6,530 | 8,247 | 53% |
Game Buyers (Audience) | 3,475 | 4,282 | 5,003 | 44% |
Source: Telephia Mobile Game Report, January-March 2006 | ||||
Since nearly 12 percent of all game downloads were free during the first quarter of the year according to Kanishka Agarwal, Vice President of New Products, Telephia, the true measurement of performance for a publisher is revenue. Audience and revenue measurements for this study were collected directly from the bills of an opt-in panel of nearly 35,000 mobile consumers. "Purchase behavior from consumer bills (vs. respondent recall) is essential for accurate measurement," continued Agarwal.
Top Mobile Game Publishers by Revenue Share(U.S.) | |||
Publisher | Share of Revenue | Share of Downloads | No-Charge Downloads |
1. EA Mobile | 30.8% | 27.4% | 8.3% |
2. I-Play | 8.2% | 6.9% | 0.0% |
3. Gameloft | 7.7% | 8.0% | 0.0% |
5. Hands-On Mobile | 6.2% | 5.7% | 0.1% |
6. Glu Mobile (w/iFone) | 5.3% | 7.8% | 49.2% |
7. THQ Wireless | 2.6% | 1.8% | 0.0% |
8. Oasys Mobile | 2.3% | 4.3% | 57.0% |
9. Sony Pictures Mobile | 2.1% | 2.1% | 0.0% |
10. Mobliss | 2.1% | 2.6% | 0.0% |
TOTAL SHARE | 74.5% | 72.5% |
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Source: Telephia Mobile Game Report, Q1 2006 | |||
The top five mobile game titles In terms of revenue share:
- Tetris (5.2%)
- Tetris Deluxe (3.6%)
- Bejeweled (2.6%)
- JAMDAT Mahjong (2.2%)
- Ms. Pac-Man (2.0%)
Source: Telaphia Q1 2006 Mobile Game Report, April 2006
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Jack Loechner is the Editor of The Center for Media Research's daily Research Brief. You can reach him at jack@mediapost.com.