GMI launches gamer panel

by Staff, Brand Republic 17-Sep-07, 11:35

LONDON - Global Market Insite is to launch an online gamer panel to serve the needs of market researchers in the gaming industry.

To develop the panel, GMI is partnering with video game website GameSpot, which is owned by CNET Networks.

The panel covers gamers who play console and PC games and online gamers, and offers real-time access to the opinions of gamers for future product development, pricing and purchase behaviour, or test marketing strategies and ad concepts.

Dietmar Walter, executive vice president EMEA. "After focusing our panelist recruitment mainly in North America to start, we are planning to rapidly expand into EMEA and Asia-Pacific to provide our customers with the market feedback they need to leverage all the global opportunities associated with today's gaming industry."

The gamer panel joins a number of GMI specialty panels, which also include IT professionals, youth and teens, physicians, nurses etc.

According to PricewaterhouseCoopers the worldwide video game market is expected to grow to $46.5bn billion by 2010 fuelled by hits such as 'Halo' on the Xbox 360, with software sales in the US market alone worth $7.4bn last year, a rise of 6% according to the Entertainment Software Association.

GMI's gamer panelists undergo a rigorous qualification process based on answers to nearly 100 questions, which GMI claims ensures in-depth and much higher quality profiling than industry standards. Double opted-in panelists are profiled on a wide range of attributes, including consoles owned and played, hours per week spent gaming, and types of games (console, PC, portable/handheld, etc.).