Social Games Rivaling Prime-Time TV Shows

Are social games killing prime-time television? According to recent numbers from smartphone application analytics and monetization platform Flurry, it might not be such a farfetched notion.

About a month ago, BrightRoll CEO Tod Sacerdoti attributed the death of Procter & Gamble’s long-running soap opera “Guiding Light” to viewers turning their backs on their daytime television programming so they can spend time with online content like FarmVille and ZooWorld. “Furthermore, if things continue down the path they are on, social gaming will kill daytime television altogether,” he warned.

Well, if Flurry’s numbers hold any weight, Sacerdoti might be proven right very soon.

According to Flurry, iOS social games boast an audience that rivals those of prime-time TV shows like “American Idol” and “NCIS.”

Using numbers from Nielsen, the company’s ranks are as follows:

1. “American Idol” (Tuesday)
2. “American Idol” (Wednesday)
3. NFL (CBS)
4. “NCIS”
5. “Dancing with the Stars”
6. iOS: Social Games (Flurry reach)
7. Sunday Night Football (NBC)
8. “Undercover Boss”
9. NFL Sunday (Fox)
10. “NCIS: Los Angeles”
11. “The Mentalist”

Peter Farago, vice president of marketing at Flurry, summed it up simply: “Social games on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices are competing for television viewers.”

He adds, “In fact, these apps, tracked on the Flurry network alone, comprise of a daily audience of more than 19 million who spend over 22 minutes per day using these apps.”

While this suggestion appears bold, Flurry notes that this is just part of the picture, since Flurry is integrated into 20 percent of Apple’s approximately 250,000 apps.

Apps also have the benefit of being accessible throughout the day and not just in a small window during the evening.

According to comScore, 22.5 percent of mobile subscribers in the U.S. played games on their mobile devices in June.

Sources:</strong

http://blog.flurry.com/bid/48156/Is-iPhone-the-next-American-Idol

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=137454

http://www.businessinsider.com/social-games-killed-the-soap-opera-star-2010-9

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20019233-17.html

http://www.comscoredatamine.com/2010/10/mobile-behaviors-across-japan-united-states-and-europe/

http://www.apple.com/webapps/games/index_top.html