Sony is looking to bolster its PS3 revenues by signing a deal with Nielsen, the
Boston Globe reports. Doing so, Sony will gather data about its users, as well as "the effectiveness of advertisements in games, and some basic demographic information such as the user's age."
Dave Karraker, spokesman for Sony, told the
Globe, "This gives us the measurement statistics that we need to go out and sell advertising."
Also in the piece:
Although the US video game market was estimated to be worth $9.03 billion in 2006 by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP , the amount of money spent by advertisers in video games was only $80 million in the same year because advertisers would not spend large amounts in the absence of sophisticated data on gamers. Most advertising in games currently revolves around in-game product placements such as commercials at virtual sports stadiums and billboards in the streets.