Video games: A new competitor in the healthcare market?
I’ve been a gamer for as long as I can remember. I clearly recall the night my father brought home Pong and hooked it up to a tiny black & white television set. At the time (circa 1980), we lived a tiny rented farmhouse with no cable and limited network reception. This device finally gave our TV a purpose. My brother and I sat in front of that thing for hours whacking a giant pixel back and forth — ahhhh, memories. Little did I know, this new medium would become a vehicle for exposing me to targeted messaging from companies I actually cared about. I certainly had no idea it would become a venue for receiving personal healthcare advice.
As I grew, my gaming “career” evolved with the various gaming platforms. Commodore VIC-20, Atari, Nintendo, Sega, PC games, Xbox… you name it, I played it. I still do, actually. Whether it’s raiding dungeons and killing dragons with friends from around the world, or playing fake instruments in a wannabe rock band, gaming is still one of my favorite past times. Yes, I’m a bit of a nerd.
Growing up with controller in hand, I experienced the proliferation of advertising in video games. The earliest I can recall being billboards in various sports games in the early 1990s — though other in-game ads were reported as early as 1978.1 While one might think these ads would have been annoying or distracting, they actually added an element of realism to these virtual worlds. And, to an extent, they were welcome because they were targeted. I actually noticed and read them — I can’t say as much for most of today’s advertising.
In 2005 alone, spending on in-game advertising was $56 million. This figure is expected to grow to $1.8 billion by 2010.2 Now, we’re not talking about marketing to kids here. The average age of today’s gamer is 29. This demographic is not entirely testosterone-driven — 26% of today’s gamer community is comprised of female adults.3 Some sources claim that men make up just 59% of the market.4 Of all age groups the average gamer spends 6.5 hours a week indulging in their favorite past time.
So what does this have to do with healthcare? Are we recommending that hospitals slap billboards around virtual speedways and cityscapes? Of course not. But, the industry is beginning to dip its toes in the water and you should be aware.
Yesterday from The Guardian (a UK news source):
Spanish health authorities launched a virtual portal through the Second Life website yesterday designed to help young people too embarrassed to speak to a doctor about sexually transmitted disease or a drug problem.
Real doctors will log on and offer advice to their anonymous patients. What both will see is an image of a consulting room with a doctor and a typical patient.
What’s more interesting is that they are not the first to do this. A simple Google search on “Second Life, health care” yields interesting results.
If you’re unfamiliar with Second Life, it’s an online virtual world in which participants create and control avatars (digital characters with completely customizable characteristics). These avatars interact with each other much like people do in the “real world” — I use that term loosely, as our “real world” is redefined by the minute.
The healthcare industry is one of the first to go beyond advertising in video games to actually providing a service. This isn’t just entertainment anymore. The popularity of gaming is going to continue to grow. Messaging and services provided via gaming are going to continue to evolve. Have you thought much about this medium and how it may affect the services you provide and messages you deliver?
1. Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-game_advertising#Static_in-game_advertising)
2. Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-game_advertising)
3. Wired Magazine (http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/news/2003/08/60204)
4. USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-05-12-gamer-demographics_x.htm)