High Rollers Take Note: Online Casino Singapore Are Serious About Luring You In
Virtual Casinos Have Arrived: The Sector Becomes The Fifth Largest Advertiser, While Moving Its Ad-Buys To Mainstream Sites
Debut of Media Metrix Online Gambling Category Reveals that 13.6 Million People Visited Online Gambling Sites in December 2001
While billboards steer motorists to U.S. casino resorts in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Reno and Biloxi, online ads have become a major force in steering Internet surfers to virtual offshore outfits, such as Casino-on-Net, Swiss Casino, the Golden Tiger, Royal Vegas and the Coliseum. According to AdRelevance, Jupiter Media Metrix’ (Nasdaq: JMXI – news) online ad-tracking unit, online advertising by virtual casinos increased 170 percent between December 2000 and December 2001, from 911 million ad impressions to 2.5 billion. The online casino industry now ranks as the fifth largest online advertiser among 138 industry segments — up from number 11 in December 2000.
“The growth in online advertising among virtual casinos indicates that this industry is serious about increasing its momentum and gaining critical mass,” said Charles Buchwalter, vice president of media research, Jupiter Media Metrix. “Online casinos are now competing for advertising mindshare with the most visible industries, including retail, financial services and travel.”
Online Casinos Now Advertise on Mainstream Sites
In December 2000, most casino ads were found on niche gaming and incentive sites, but 39 percent of casino ads in December 2001 were hosted on portal sites while gaming and incentive sites now host 16 percent of online casino ads.
“The fact that casinos are transitioning their ad-buys from niche sites to mainstream portals is proof that this sector is going mainstream,” said Buchwalter.
Jupiter Introduces Gambling Web Site Category and Profile of
Online Gamblers
In light of the increase in gambling sites and consumers’ usage of them,
Jupiter Media Metrix recently introduced the gambling category to its U.S. monthly syndicated reports to monitor the evolution of the category and its users. There were 13.6 million unique visitors to gambling sites in December 2001, with 64 sites appearing in the Media Metrix reports. The top gambling sites according to unique visitors are: Kcasino.com with 2.3 million; Webstakes.com with 2.3 million; Aceshigh.com with 2.1 million; and Luckynugget.com with 1.7 million.
In December 2001, people spent a total of 274 million minutes on Online Casino Singapore sites, with visitors spending 20.2 minutes on average per month on the sites. This compares to 9.8 average monthly minutes for health-information sites, 35.8 minutes for travel sites, 52.8 minutes for general news sites and 62.9 minutes for sports sites.
Of the 64 gambling sites with reportable traffic, 11 were used three or more minutes on average per user that month, while 39 were used one minute or less. The top sites according to average minutes spent per user are: Bingocanada.com with 27.0 minutes; Webstakes.com with 23.9 minutes; and Vegas.com with 11.7 minutes.
“While gambling sites are quickly becoming a popular Internet sector, a limited number are engaging their audiences for significant amounts of time,” said Buchwalter. “The key for many will be to increase the duration of visits versus simply luring them to their sites.”
Additional Casino Advertising and Gambling Highlights:
* Traditional Casinos Are Not Yet Competing — In contrast to online casinos; bricks-and-mortar casinos barely register an online advertising presence, with less than one-tenth of one percent of the amount of advertising as their online competition. Among the land-based casinos advertising online are the Stratosphere Hotel and Casino, MGM Mirage, and Mohegan Sun.
* Top Casino Advertisers Online — Cassava Enterprises, operator of Casino-On-Net.com, has once again stacked the deck as the leading Casino advertiser with a 46 percent share of online casino ads. Cassava is also the 11th largest advertiser among all advertisers in December 2001. Fortune Lounge Casino is the second largest online casino advertiser, with 9 percent of all casino ads, and The River Belle is third with 5 percent.
* One-Third of Gambling Visits Occur at Work — In December 2001 gambling sites had 10.7 million visitors at home and 3.9 million visitors at work, with 1.0 million people visiting these sites from both home and work. People who visited gambling sites from home spent 22.9 minutes on average on these sites, while visitors from work spent 7.5 minutes at these sites.
* Visitors To Gambling Sites Are Less Likely to Have Children — According to third-quarter 2001 data, 45 percent of visitors to online gambling sites have children while 55 percent do not. In contrast, 54 percent of all Internet surfers have children while 46 percent do not.
* Lower Income Surfers Frequent Gambling Sites More — While Internet surfers with a household income less than $25,000 represent only 11 percent of the overall online population, this group represents 13 percent of visitors to gambling sites. Moreover, 19 percent of Internet surfers with a household income between $25,000 and $40,000 visited gambling sites, even though they represent only 15 percent of the overall online population. Conversely, only 15 percent of Internet users with a household income greater than $100,000 visited gambling sites, even though they represent 19 percent of the online population.
* Middle-Aged People Are Highly Represented Among Gambling Sites — Men and women between the ages of 25 and 54 are most likely to visit gambling sites. While men 25 to 54 years of age comprise only 26 percent of all Internet surfers, they represent 36 percent of all visitors to gambling sites. Similarly, women 25 to 54 comprise 37 percent of visitors to gambling sites, even though they represent only 29 percent of the overall online population. People 18 to 24 years of age are among the most infrequent visitors to gambling sites. Eight percent of this group visited gambling sites, even though they represent 13 percent of the overall online population.
Measurement Definitions:
Ad Impressions: the number of times an ad is rendered for viewing. One impression is equivalent to one opportunity to see an ad.
Unique Visitors: The actual number of total users who visited the reported Web site or online property at least once in the given month. All Unique Visitors are unduplicated (only counted once) and are in thousands.
Average Minutes Per Usage Month: The average total number of minutes spent on the Web site, category, channel, or application during the month, per visiting person.
About Jupiter Media Metrix
Jupiter Media Metrix is the global leader in Internet and new technology analysis and measurement. The Company delivers innovative and comprehensive Internet measurement, analysis and events to provide businesses with unmatched global resources for understanding and profiting from the Internet. Jupiter Media Metrix brings together world-class, innovative and market-leading products, services, research methodologies and people. Jupiter Media Metrix services include Media Metrix, AdRelevance, Jupiter Research and Site Measurement. The Company is headquartered in New York City.