Console Ownership Rising

I don’t know, maybe this shouldn’t be as obvious as it is. Maybe they were just trying to attach some numbers to a fact that shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone knowing that three major consoles have been released in the past few years.

Nielsen has released the results of a study, “The State of the Console”, that examines console purchases from Q4 2004 to Q4 2006. Not surprisingly they found that there had been a large rise in the number of US homes with a console of some variety hooked up to their TV. Whereas 38.6 million households believed in boxy goodness in 2004, an 18.5% jump in ownership saw that number climb to 45.7 million in 2006.

Demographically, Nielsen found the same tired trends that have been paraded in gaming studies since the dawn of time. A full two-thirds of men aged 18-34, and 80% of boys between 12-18 years old, have a console linked to their television. Nearly 75% of console use came from hardcore (top 20%) gamers. Yawn.

Stupid fact of the day? Nielsen chose to highlight the idea that console purchases are rising far faster than televisions, at 18.5% versus 1.6 % for TVs over the same time period. Now, children, if we think carefully, what could be the reason for this discrepancy? Could it be that televisions are ubiquitous and already in homes everywhere? Could it be that increasing sales in TVs at all is still quite impressive, considering the market saturation? It could, it could.

Via |GameSpot