And the Latest Polls Show
In a recent unscientific survey, the Las Vegas Review Journal polled readers about a hot topic. Readers were asked, "Should Internet gambling be legalized?" Altogether, 2,443 readers answered, and the results were as follows:
- Yes, it's the future of gaming - 21.7 percent
- No, it's impossible to verify age online - 64.9 percent
- Doesn't matter; I can already gamble on offshore websites - 8.5 percent
- Not sure/No opinion - 4.6 percent
Porn Leads Internet Attractions for Singapore Residents
While gambling remains one of the top online activities for Net surfers in Singapore, it seems that visiting porn sites is even more popular. NetValue recently studied Singaporeans' surfing patterns across gambling and adult websites and found that surfers are spending more time at adult sites than on gambling sites.
According to NetValue, there has been a gradual decreasing trend in reach across gambling sites during the last three months. In January more than 273,000 people visited gambling sites. That number, however, declined to about 264,000 across the following months.
"The average time spent at these sites has also decreased from 20.3 minutes to about 12.5 minutes per user across February and March 2001, respectively," added a NetValue spokesperson. "Although the reach across adults and gambling sites are somewhat similar, visitors on the average spent more than five times longer at the adult sites."
The top gambling sites were determined to be singaporepools.com.sg; iwin.com; mousebucks.com; freelotto.com and speedyclick.com. (Note: NetValue makes no differentiation between free-play and real-money gambling sites.)
Are Wireless Games Gaining Market Share Among Americans?
Wireless games will rapidly catch on in the United States, suggests the newest report from the Yankee Group. Researchers there say that carriers, through a myriad of partnerships, are offering a variety of gaming options to the approximately 110 million wireless subscribers in the States, and games are currently the most popular wireless entertainment service being offered.
Yankee says that the market for video games, including arcade, PC, console and online gaming, is currently worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $11 billion. And although wireless and phone-based games make up only a tiny part of that amount, the growth of wireless services is likely to garner a bigger chunk of that pie in the future.
"The key question is clearly not whether games are a major application for the mobile environment, but whether they can be leveraged to be an important revenue generator," commented a Yankee analyst. "The Yankee Group believes that wireless entertainment offers an excellent opportunity for carriers to increase subscriber usage levels, reduce churn, and enhance the overall user experience for their extremely fickle subscriber base. In addition, the Yankee Group believes that significant money can be derived by
content developers and publishers from wireless entertainment, especially wireless games."
Text Message Advertisements Prove Successful
Mobile advertising tends to get a favorable reception from mobile phone users, with nine out of 10 recipients saying that they weren't irritated by the ads. Recently The Mobile Channel sent text message ads to 1,000 people, aged 16-30, making sure that the ads sent were relevant, reported Media Guardian. The recipients had previously provided details about their interests.
As a result, The Mobile Channel learned that seven out of 10 recipients actually read three-quarters or more of all text messages sent them. Plus, 81 percent of the recipients said they found the ads interesting or
appropriate, making them more likely to want to have some interaction with the brands contacting them.
Less is More When it Comes to Web Advertising
Nielsen//NetRatings has discovered that a lower exposure to ad campaigns combined with a higher reach results in higher click rates for online advertising. "Through a low reach, high frequency model, dot-com advertisers have numbed Web surfers by exposing them to the same ads over and over again," explained a Nielsen spokesperson. "This contributes to low click rates and ineffective branding."
The spokesperson added, "Since reach is the cornerstone of most branding efforts, the use of the Web for awareness building will be hindered until either networks band together to provide easy purchasing across multiple channels or the pool of channels dwindle, allowing each channel to capture a higher proportion of unique visitors."
Internet Proves Excellent Staffing Tool
Filling staffing needs through online recruitment has grown so popular that more than half of employers are taking to the Web for new employees. A recent survey of 253 employers, conducted in March by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), showed that these companies
are able to reach a larger pool of candidates by using their Internet for their recruitment needs.
"Employers are using the Internet as part of a belt and braces approach to ensure that they are not missing out on potential candidates, " a CIPD advisor told Personnel Today, "especially given the tight labor market."