Yes, fun sells. And yes, changing the industry sells, too, since rivals
cannot catch up to fresh ideas.

But the underlying reason I believe video games look “recession proof”
and have exploded across all age groups is some original analysis I did
to get inside the cost per experience of the media. Basically I broke
down the media type, number of plays and cost to determine a “cost per
play” of movies, video games, DVDs, TV shows (using onine download
pricing), and songs.

Here’s the breakdown:

————————–

Media Experience                 Cost       Plays    Cost Per Play
Song                                             $0.99         100           $0.01
Video game                                 $49.95         250           $0.20
Cable TV                                     $75.00           60           $1.25
DVD                                            $19.95            5            $3.99
On Demand Movie                        $3.99            1            $3.99
Movie theater                              $40.00            1          $40.00

————————–

Buying a video game turns into an entertainment experience that costs
what I estimate to be about 20 cents per playing session, assuming you
purchase a popular game for $49.95 and play it 250 times over the course
of 2 years, for example. Now, these estimates are not scientific but
based on the habits of media consumers and data.

A 99 cent song is cheaper overall and that helps explain the success of
iTunes and services like that. Unfortunately, piracy eats into the music
sales industry. From my perspective, the new music model is live
performance, with the song acting as an “ad” for the artist, drawing
fans into the concert tour. The 1 cent per play is almost free. But with
MP3s free on P2P networks this is still a concern for selling songs.
Concerts are the future, as are huge fan social networks that generate
revenue for the artist via advertising and merchandising.

With movies, the theater experience is least cost effective with 2 adult
tickets and expensive snacks easily eating $40 of the consumer’s money.
Couple that with other movie goers who text message during the movie or
worse, talk on their mobile phones or offer play by play and the movie
theater experience just isn’t very cost effective or pleasureable. Movie
theaters should install cell phone blocking material in their walls to
stop cell phone use during a movie. Or kick the violator out.

If you spend $75 a month on cable TV and watch 2 shows a day that’s
$1.25 per show cost.

Anyway, this is a fresh way to look at media, the cost per play and
shows that video games are a clear cost effective form of entertainment
vs. other mediums. Game play is the new king of media.

——-

Update: my firm Taleee now has 450 million product ratings and is
expanding with partners. I want to take a moment and thank our team and
angel investors.

We are now looking for more partners to help us meet demand.

If you are interested in hearing more please let me know. Check
www.taleee.com for an idea of what we are doing and email me at
sharmon@taleee.com if you would like to discuss partnering or being part
of our exciting growth.

___________________
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