Digital Entertainment Survey: 48% of Britons Have Never Heard of Second Life

Entertainment Media Research, an entertainment research consultancy, released its 2008 Digital Entertainment Survey earlier this week, looking at responses from 1,608 UK consumers aged 15-54 in January 2008. There's no section specifically devoted to virtual worlds, but there's plenty of interesting information in the meticulously cross-referenced 249-page report. Hit the jump for a breakdown of social networks and MMORPGs.

Second Life, which is listed under the social networking category, is showing

• only 6% adoption by UK users
• another 6% have "browsed" the site (I'm not sure if this means they've seen the website are actually logged in.)
• 40% of users are aware of the service, but don't use it
• 48% have never even heard of the virtual world.
• Among the adopters, the highest rates are among women aged 20-24 (10%) and men aged 45-54 (9%)

9% users of social networks in general, also subscribe to MMORPGs ("like World of Warcraft, EverQuest, etc.") compared to the general UK population's 5%. Their biggest interest for socializing online, though, is in chatting over instant messenger (56%) and listening to music from social networks (30%).

Overall subscription for MMORPGs fare a little better:

• 5% say they play regularly. (Actually, the report lists it as "subscribe to MMORPG online game," but let's assume they mean "play" and not just rampant, serial subscription.)
• 4% play occasionally
• 5% say they play rarely
• 5% don't play now, but intend to in the next 6 months
• 61% have no plans to play
• 20% are unfamiliar with the idea

It's a big dividing mark among demographics: 17% males aged 15-19 play MMORPGs and 55% browse social network sites, while among males aged 45-54 only 2% play and 13% browse. For those that play, though, it's addictive. 10% say they are "addicted/never stop"  playing MMORPGs compared to 10% that feel the same way about browsing social networks.

The most surprising attachment, to me at least, is the leader. 23% of respondents say they are addicted or never stop reading.

And now I feel better about my English degree.

[Read the full report here]

Comments

[Aleister Kronos]

I'm actually surprised that the nunmber who've heard of SL is so high. But then, that may be driven by the cohort from which the interviewees came.

[Nic Mitham]

Isn't funny how data can be interpreted for the purpose of headlines.

Looking at this another way - 52% of Britons Have Heard of Second Life

So, for a pretty (in generalist terms) niche internet application that has done no above the line mainstream advertising AND is currently primarily made up of Innovators and Early Adopters (jointly accounting for 18.5% of the popn) then having more than half of the people bearing aware of it is pretty good, wouldn't you say?

[Joey Seiler]

Touché, Nic. Touché. It would have been nice to see the data broken out to cross list Second Life interest with the other digital media activities the survey covers, just to see where those early adopters are fitting in. Since it's blended with all of social networking, though, no such luck. Sounds like a job for someone who specializes in virtual world consulting and research....

[nic mitham]

so much research, so little time ;)

[Aleister Kronos]

This still sounds like highly selective sampling to me. I am 100% certain (based on a sample of one: me) that if I asked 100 people in the offices in which I earn a crust (and this includes an IT department), I'd be amazed if more than 20 people had ever heard of Second Life. And most of them only know about it because of me!

[nic mitham]

I agree with Al. The sample size and selection worries me.

What's a lot more interesting is understanding the drivers and motivators of people already inside virtual worlds, especially from a marketing perspective.

I'd like to think that we're over the stage of building branded (desert) islands and hoping 'they' will come.

IMO (again from a marketing perspective) there's a massive opportunity for brands to be getting dirty with the locals (that's you, me and everyone else) and providing products and services purely on a virtual basis.

This means working with residents who are already way way up the learning curve compared to normal marketers and even some of the developers.

ps, the headline comment wasn't directed at you Joey.

[Suya]

Virtual world doesn't mean second life. There are many other virtual worlds. That's what people have to know.
Here are a list :
http://www.oonania.com/social_network/virtual_world.html