Video Game Consoles Up 26%; iPhone Killing Portable Gaming Devices?

Strong numbers were announced today from The NDP Group that show significant year-over-year growth in video game console purchases: +26% in October '08 vs. '07 for consoles, software and accessories. However, portable gaming consoles (like the PSP and Nintendo DS) fell 14%. This clearly is an outcome of devices like the iPhone which are now full gaming systems in their own right... with publishers developing high-quality content specifically for the platform. What is the benefit of buying a PSP or Nintendo Wii when, for the same price, you can have an iPhone which has cheaper content, is social (phone, sms, email, etc), smaller and sexier. This trend will continue....:

"The video games industry grew an impressive 18 percent year-over-year in the first month of the critical fourth quarter," she wrote. "With 10-months under its belt, the video games industry is still poised to top $22B in annual sales in 2008.

"The sales results are mixed this month, however. The console portion of the market made significant gains at 26% across hardware, software and accessories, while the portable side of the market stalled, declining 14%. Year-to-date the portable segment of the market is still up 7%."

Disney's Bolt iPhone App - Awesome Marketing

Is this how Hollywood is going to release new movies, music and video games? I hope so... because there is a lot of potential here.

Disney's launched an iPhone App for it's new film Bolt (which opens tomorrow). It launched a couple weeks prior to the movie's release. It's free, of course, as it's a marketing / brand awareness play. The App features:

- high quality trailers - an interactive game based on the accelerometer - high scores and viral score sharing

Not exactly an App I would use - but I am not the target audience. I do however think that this is a brilliant marketing move and look forward to other studios / marketers doing the same.

The Economy Boosting McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts; Hurting Starbucks

Unlike many regular coffee drinkers, I actually quite like Starbucks. I plan to write further about this, but Starbucks is innovative, open to consumer feedback (hence the Pikes Place brew) and make consistently good coffee. I written many times though that I prefer Dunkin Donuts - in part due to the pricing. One outcome of the economic climate is that cheaper coffee producers (namely McDonalds) are finding success as consumers aren't willing to forgo their morning joe... but are willing to buy from cheaper locations.

Douglas Fisher, president of consultancy FHG International Inc, said, "The consumer is retrenching. They're out less and they're spending less. It's the low end of the market that is picking up now. A lot of it is consumers trading down."

I've heard - but been unable to verify - that Starbucks in fact saw sales rise, but revenues and profits fall as their consumers were shifting from more expensive, espresso-based drinks to drip coffees (which are about 50% of the cost). Whereas as latte can cost over $4.00, drip cofees are $1.50-$1.85 with available refills.

More from ReportonBusiness.com:

Meanwhile, business at McDonald's continues to grow as it cashes in on consumers' appetite for value. "Value, which has always been important, is mission critical today," McDonald's chief executive officer Jim Skinner said last month in reporting strong third-quarter results. Its U.S. same-store sales, a key measure in retailing, rose 4.7 per cent.

The picture is in stark contrast at Starbucks. It reported a same-store sales decline in the United States of 8 per cent, which was more than the company had anticipated. ... It doesn't help that McDonald's, which has declared itself to be "recession-resistant," is putting a push on selling coffee. In Canada, McDonald's premium drip coffee costs $1.13, $1.36 and $1.54 for its various servings compared with $1.58, $1.79, $2.05 and $2.24 at Starbucks.

Widget Advertising has Arrived: Widgetbox's In-Widget Ads

Widgetbox has had a big month: - First, we are quickly approaching the 80,000,000 monthly unique mark. On September 1st, Widgetbox was at 61m monthly uniques... today, it is 78m:

- Second, we announced a partnership with Yardbarker and their widgets are performing amazingly well (impressions, viral sharing and engagement)

- Third, we released our In-Widget ad system that dynamically renders ad units as widget overlays - optimized for the widget's size, type (flash vs. javascript) and content. We have a collection of ad networks working with us; and based on the specific widget and its location, we are able to render text, graphic and rich-media units. Below are two different versions based on the popular Widgetbox Blidget. One is running on a wide widget (typical use case is in a single post / page) and the other is a narrow widget (typical use case is within a sidebar). You will notice that the ad units vary (continually being optimized on a variety of parameters) and that the unique environment makes traditional text ads more engaging and interesting.

We would love your feedback (this is running in beta stages!). Please also contact me if you are interested in running sponsored widgets on your content - or advertising within your widgets:

Wide widget version:

Narrow widget version:

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beRecruited Featured on CNN.com, "Get Yourself Recruited"

This morning, beRecruited was featured on CNN.com in a segment called "Get Yourself Recruited." CEO Jeff Cravens talked about the service, our growing user base, and how the current economic environment has made beRecruited more important and relevant than ever.

View it at CNN.com: "The Web site www.beRecruited.com helps young athletes find their own ways to scholarships and college."

Other interesting beRecruited mentions: - Recruiting services help local athletes make it to next level - Mashable: 200+ Tools for Surviving the Economic Crisis - Current Economy, Fall Sports Season Combine for Recruiting Site's Record Growth:

Tough economic times and the fall sports season have collectively contributed to beRecruited's record growth numbers, company executives announced today. In September alone, more than 25,000 new athletes registered with the service, a 211% increase from last September. beRecruited also noted record-growth with newly registered college coaches and parents, as well as connections made between athletes and coaches. beRecruited is the largest free online network connecting high school athletes and collegiate coaches, facilitating thousands of scholarships annually.

"The country's financial turbulence has parents looking for alternatives while facing the high costs of education and the situation with the lending industry," said Jeff Cravens, president of beRecruited.com. "We typically see growth during late summer and fall, with athletes readying themselves for their season. But as families are examining how they are spending their hard-earned money, I believe they are finding beRecruited is by far the most effective recruiting solution available."

"As a parent you can spend thousands of dollars traveling to tournaments and camps trying to get your child noticed by college coaches, in hopes of landing a scholarship," said Liz Houser, a parent of a successfully recruited beRecruited user. "We learned about beRecruited and decided to give it a try. For a one-time investment of $40, our return was Matt's baseball scholarship, which saved us thousands in educational costs. And Matt gets to play the sport he loves. I recommend beRecruited to any parent with a serious athlete."

The Election, Poltical Ad Spend & AdSense

This morning, I was notified by friends and blog readers of political ads running on my site ... it's happened quite frequently over the last few months and I've gone to Google to put out each small fire using their competitive ad filter (which, by nature, is a reactive process). This time, I got an ad supporting "Yes on Prop 8" - which is already highly controversial and certainly nothing I would place on my blog (which I work hard to maintain as politically neutral and tech / web / mobile focused):

I am frustrated that Google doesn't have a meta-filter for ad categories that are political in nature (for instance)... asking me to block domain after domain is not particularly easy or effective.

Furthermore, I was asked by a specific ad-network (Forbes) to run this ad last week at premium CPMs (likely higher than what Google would pay) - and I declined. So you can imagine my frustration that the ads run DESPITE my prior decline at higher ad rates.

Update: TechCrunch just wrote about this exact topic... and the same ads. Glad to know others are also unhappy

Next Generation Remote Control Extender

I've written about (maybe even complained?!) Techmeme becoming Gadgetmeme... and I am falling into that bucket today as I have two product reviews that hopefully are useful for non-technical gadget fans like myself. You can check out the other review here. In an effort to reduce wires and ugly equipment boxes like Comcast's atrocious Motorola cable box, I bought a slim / saucer-like remote control extender from "Next Generation" that enables you to control cable box from afar... up to 100' supposedly.

It's quite clever actually - they have created a unique battery transmitter than sits within the saucer and also in your remote control.

The reviews on Amazon were amazing (194/255 were five stars; only 25 reviews were 1-3 stars). And it cost $100 less than most other options (it's just $33).

I have had some slight issues getting the sensor placed in the correct location on the Comcast Box - but I believe that is more due to Comcast's finnicky product.

Next Generation Remote Control Extender

- Turns any IR remote into RF by simply installing the battery transmitter - Go room to room and control your components up to 100' away - No direct line of sight needed - Includes AAA battery transmitter with AA sleeve and receiver with built-in recharger - 433.92 MHz Unit

Product Dimensions: 9 x 4.5 x 2.8 inches ; 12.8 ounces

Reviews: 225 reviews, 194 were 5 stars

Why I Chose Bose Companion 3 Speakers Rather than a 5.1 System

We were planning on wiring our house with in-wall speakers and, after an 'audio specialist' arrived for a consultation / estimate, we weren't in love with the price and amount of necessary work, wiring, etc. So we looked for other options with three considerations in mind: 1. aesthetics: simple and small 3. flexibility: we opted against surround sound because it wouldn't work well for regular audio / entertaining. We wanted an option that was flexible for movie viewing, music, and so on. 3. price: any time you require wiring and professional work, the price mounts very quickly

So we arrived at a bizarre solution: running the television's audio through a set of nice Bose computer speakers... and you know what? It was perfect and 10% the cost of the conservative estimate. It took a few minutes to install everything and we can easily run between our media system, the radio or our iPod. And the sound is terrific - far better than running through our Samsung television.

An aside: we purchased the system from the Bose Store and, after explaining our intended set up, our salesman actually advised against their higher end computer speakers ($399). He explained that they are terrific but intended for a desk and thus optimized for a very limited radius.... His honesty saved us $150 and we ended up with a better system for our needs. I was very impressed.

Bose Companion 3 multimedia speaker system

- Premium stereo performance for those who prefer a three-piece computer sound system - Two small desktop speakers deliver lifelike stereo sound - Hideaway Acoustimass module produces substantial low notes - Handy control pod includes volume, single-touch mute, headphone jack and auxiliary input

KFC Guitar Hero 4 Meal Deal is a Marketing Winner

I got it wrong. Totally wrong.

I underestimated the power of branded cardboard boxes of fried chicken.

This morning, I said that Kentucky Fried Chicken's promotion with Guitar Hero 4 was laughably bad... and used JibJab's High School Musical viral campaign as an example of a great branded promotion.

I stand by the JibJab comment - but apparently I underestimated the power of the Guitar Hero 4 brand... because since that post, my blog has been flooded with traffic arriving from Google search queries like:

» kfc guitar hero box price » kfc guitar hero » kfc box guitar hero » KFC GUITAR HERO » guitar hero box kfc » how much is new kfc guitar... » how much is the kfc guitar...

While I stand by my argument that this is not great marketing - KFC clearly attached themselves to a great brand and product launch. And their commercials did a great job featuring the Guitar Hero brand... effectively driving traffic to KFC and in search of their new combo meal. Even more impressive - this traffic is from the 2nd - 5th results in Google (meaning that I only represent a fraction of the actual 'demand' / activity.