News May 3, 2012

Game consoles now found in nearly half of American homes

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A new report published by the Nielsen Cross-Platform has revealed that game consoles can now be found in 45% of American homes that also own a TV. This is an increase of three percent over last year.

"Consoles have become strategically positioned as a secondary gateway to TV content," the report states. "With Netflix and other streaming apps, Blu-ray players, social gaming and point of purchase seamlessly integrated into game consoles, it is no surprise that consumers are relying on their consoles to perform double (and triple) duty. These new activities are adding up and contributing to the growth of content consumption."

To be honest, this doesn't really come as a surprise to me. Both Microsoft and Sony have been putting a tremendous emphasis on entertainment apps on their consoles. In fact, in March Microsoft revealed that, for the first time, the amount of time average U.S. gamers spend on various Xbox 360 entertainment apps has surpassed the time spent playing games online through Xbox LIVE. And with the average American watching nearly five hours of video each day, I don't think that number will decrease any time soon.

In an interesting note, Nielsen revealed that households without children are leading the way in new game console adoption which could demonstrate "that game consoles are appealing to a range of audiences for a variety of purposes."

Do you find yourself watching more video via your console or is Nielsen just full of it?

Tags: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii