March 2012 Mobile Insights

Twiddling Thumbs – A look at Mobile Gaming

Gaming on the smartphone has emerged as a favorite pastime for many smartphone users. We looked at usage and spotted these trends -

1. Arcade games, led by , is the most played game genre. Despite lower popularity, there is a high level of engagement for Card games. 2. On Android, a number of games are played. This is unlike BlackBerry, where only a handful of games are very popular. 3. Time spent in every playing session increases as the day progresses.

Arcade games have the highest reach and playing sessions compared to other game genres. Angry Birds, the leading arcade game, was played by one in ten users. Card games witnessed greater engagement amongst users in terms of time spent and playing sessions, despite having the lowest reach amongst top gaming genres.

Mobile Gaming Usage: Top 10 genres Reach (%), Time spent amongst users in a month (min); February 2012 Reach % Time (mins/month)

240

65% 296 200 Card

160 Arcade Shooting 120 Sports Puzzle

80 Board Racing Action Ball 40 Adventure Time spentamongstusers inamonth(min) 0 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% Reach %

Gaming is equally popular on Android and BlackBerry, while the S60 platform turns out to be relatively less preferred. Despite similar reach, gaming on Android is fragmented with many games being played, while only a few games dominate BlackBerry.

Mobile Gaming Usage and Top 5 Games: Across Operating Systems Reach (%); February 2012

Android Total 82 Angry Birds 23 Racing Moto 11 Angry Birds Seasons 10 Raging Thunder 9 SpeedCar 8

BlackBerry Total 80 Brick Breaker 50 Word Mole 26 Klondike Solitaire 14 Bubble Breaker 7 Texas Hold`em King 7

Symbian S60 Total 55 Angry Birds 4 Chess 3 Bounce Touch 3 Cricket 2011 2 Asphalt 2

Time spent gaming keeps increasing as the day progresses – time per playing session also jumps.

Games Usage: By day part Time spent (min) & playing sessions; February 2012

1.6 1.4

1.1 1.1 0.8 0.6 0.5 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.2 0.3

Early Morning Morning Afternoon Late Afternoon Evening Night (07:00-10:00) (10:00 - 13:00) (13:00 - 16:00) (16:00 - 19:00) (19:00 - 20:00) (20:00 - 07:00)

Minutes by day part Sessions by day part

About Nielsen Informate Mobile Insights

Nielsen Informate Mobile Insights leverages innovative smartphone metering technology to provide insights into evolving consumption patterns of mobile device users. Based on accurate, real-time usage data, we help clients understand consumer behavior and develop product and marketing strategies. Nielsen Informate Mobile Insights maintains opt-in smartphone panels to generate syndicated reports, in addition to building custom panels and conducting custom surveys for clients. Our insights aid decision makers across various segments like operators, OEMs, publishers, advertisers, content creators and aggregators and application developers.

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