Heavy Streaming Video Viewers Watch Less TV, Nielsen Says

By Wayne Friedman

 The Nielsen Company now says streaming of Internet video may come at the expense of some traditional TV viewing, especially among young TV/video users.

According to Nielsen's new "State of the Media: Cross Platform Report" obtained by Media Daily News, the media research company says: "The new trend among TV and Internet homes shows the lightest traditional television users streaming significantly more Internet video via their computers, and the heaviest streamers under-indexing for traditional TV viewership. This behavior is led by those ages 18-34."

 The typical research view had been that the heaviest TV/media consumers are big users across all services and platforms. Previous research has shown, for example, that TV viewing and usage did not suffer because of new platforms like the Internet.

As evidence, Nielsen says in the first quarter of 2011, the heaviest streamers group -- those who view 18.8 minutes of streaming video a day -- also watch 272.4 minutes of traditional TV a day. The lightest streamers, those viewing 0.1 minutes of streaming video, watch 290.0 traditional TV minutes a day.

 In the fourth quarter of 2010, the heaviest streamers were at 14.5 minutes of daily streaming, and 262.7 minutes of traditional TV. The lightest streamers registered 0.0 minutes of streaming and 270.7 minutes of traditional TV time.

 Looking at the key 18-34 users -- those who are generally more Internet-savvy -- Nielsen says the heaviest streamers in this group were watching 27.1 minutes a day of streaming video as of the first quarter 2011, with traditional TV viewing at 212.1 minutes. By comparison, the lightest 18-34 streamers are looking at 0.1 minutes of streaming video and watching 246.5 minutes of traditional TV content.

 Although Nielsen says this group is small versus the general population, the results are significant. Nielsen adds that more than a third of the TV/Internet population don't stream any video, and that less than 1% don't watch TV at all.

 The news is still good for television overall.

 U.S. TV viewers watch 158 hours, 47 minutes of TV a month -- 22 more minutes than a year ago. (This includes any time-shifted playback activity.) This amounts to around 10 hours a day for the heaviest of TV users, and around one hour a day for the lightest TV users.

Nielsen says: "While certain segments of the population are migrating toward specific services and viewing habits, the resounding trend is this: Americans are spending more time watching video content on traditional TV, mobile devices and via the Internet than ever before."

Latest snapshot of TV viewing

Over three-quarters of Americans (77%) have watched a TV show on the Internet rather than on a traditional television. 30% of US adults say, however, they’re not interested in giving up their cable TV in favor of watching TV shows on the net. However, over half of those with cable would stop paying for cable, if certain stipulations were met (56%).

Half of U.S. adults say they have watched a show on the Internet that they never previously saw on a traditional television (51%), according to findings of a recent Harris Interactive survey.

Younger adults are more likely to have watched a TV show on the Internet than are those older—88% of those 18-34 years have, compared to 84% of those 35-44 years, 75% of those 45-54 years and 64% of those 55+.

Men and women are equally likely to have watched a TV show on the Internet—just over three quarters say they have done so (76% and 77%, respectively). Almost nine in ten Americans currently have cable TV (87%) and a majority would stop paying for it in favor of watching TV shows on the Internet if certain conditions were met (56%):

--Two in five say they would stop paying for cable TV in favor of watching TV shows on the Internet if they could get all of the programs that they wanted to watch for free online (44%);

--A quarter of adults say that they would need to get all the shows they wanted to watch online at the same time that they air on TV (25%);

--16% would do so if they could get all the programs they wanted to watch for a small fee online and the same number say they would do so if it was less complicated to set their TV up with Internet.

--Looking by age, majorities of those aged 18-34, 35-44 and 45-54 with cable would be interested in giving up their cable TV if certain conditions were met (between 59% and 62%) yet less than half of those 55+ say the same (45%); and, Men are more interested in stopping their cable TV paid subscription than women are (60% vs. 52%).

RBR-TVBR observation: It all eventually will boil down to what the cord is bringing into the monitor—as simple as that. If an online broadcaster could deliver the same content as a cable MSO for less of a fee, there would be plenty that would make the switch. With iPTV sets abundant now, the consumer is ready, but will the cable and broadcast networks let go and let all of their programming simulcast on the net? Right now many people are just preferring cable TV because the screen is bigger and they’d have to watch internet TV on their laptop or PC—uncomfortable.

TELEVISION loosing viewers

Fighting for Attention

The Web is drawing viewers' eyes away from TV, yet it's far from the only distraction

By Mike Chapman

If there wasn’t already enough proof that the old boob tube is under assault from the home computer: Three-quarters of respondents to the most recent Adweek/Harris Interactive poll confirmed that they have watched a TV show online, and nearly 70 percent have watched a show online before watching it on an actual television.

Yet the threat to television watching is coming from old media too. Of those people still tuning in, many say they aren’t necessarily paying attention while they have it on. Some 44 percent of our respondents said they’re reading a book, magazine, or paperback while watching TV.

(Reading, in fact, was the second-most popular activity after surfing the Web.) Thirty-seven percent are texting while watching, and 40 percent are connecting with friends via Facebook and other sites. (No wonder Lost fans didn’t understand the show’s ending last year!)

The good news for TV (and the advertisers who love its reach)? Only 3 percent of our respondents said they don’t watch TV at all. We’d say 97 percent means it’s a medium that isn’t going anywhere—not yet, anyway.

GAME SALES STATS/ mobile ads

Video game sales slide 10% in June

By Alex Pham

 

Video game sales plunged again in June, dropping 10% from a year ago, as consumers greeted some new releases with a yawn and as sales continue to erode for Nintendo Co.'s once-popular Wii console.

Sales of games and the consoles required to play them were $1.03 billion last month, compared with $1.15 billion in June 2010, according to the NPD Group, a market research firm. The decline followed a 14% slide in May to a four-year low for the video game industry.

The lower numbers do not necessarily spell doom for the entire sector. An increasing portion of the industry's sales now come from digital outlets such as Apple Inc.'s iTunes, Facebook Inc. or Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox Live online marketplace. Such sales are not included in the monthly NPD sales reports.

John Riccitiello, chief executive of game publisher Electronic Arts Inc., estimated that digital distribution, which accounts for 25% of the industry's sales, could reach 50% of overall game revenue within five years.

Still, traditional games sold at retail outlets as discs continue to be a vital component of the $40-billion global game industry. And monthly fluctuations such as the drops seen in May and June aren't an indication of how the year will play out. That's particularly true for video games because the bulk of the industry's sales occur in the months leading up to Christmas.

June's result partly reflected weak sales of titles that launched last month, including Activision Blizzard Inc.'s Transformers: Dark of the Moon, THQ Inc.'s Red Faction: Armageddon, and Ubisoft Entertainment's Child of Eden — none of which made the list of top 10 selling titles for the month.

Sales of Nintendo's Wii console also continued to slide, said Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities. And its new handheld 3DS console is facing tough competition from Apple Inc.'s iPhones and iPads.

U.S. Mobile Advertising To Hit $1.2 Billion In 2011

By Mark Walsh

A new J.P. Morgan report predicts U.S. mobile ad spending will roughly double to $1.2 billion this year, fueled by growing mobile usage.

That forecast is in line with an eMarketer projection that U.S. mobile advertising will reach $1.1 billion in 2011. The Internet Advertising Bureau estimates that mobile ad dollars totaled in the range of $550 million to $650 million last year.

In an analysis focusing on top Internet companies, JP Morgan analyst Douglas Anmuth says the firm expects mobile to be the single biggest factor accelerating Web growth for the next several years. He points out that mobile data traffic is already three times the level of the wired Internet globally in 2000. In addition, the build-out of next-generation networks will increase connection speeds tenfold by 2015.

The J.P. Morgan report estimates mobile ad revenue in 2011 comes to $7 or $8 per user -- well below the $35 per Internet user during the post-bubble days of Web advertising in 2002. (The roughly $600 million in mobile advertising last year was equal to only a fraction of the $26 billion in Internet spending.) The smaller real estate of phone screens and limitations on ad creative also present obstacles to higher spending.

Driving demand for faster mobile data delivery is the spread of smartphones.

Despite rapid growth, the report points out that global penetration will only approach 30% this year, indicating that there is still plenty of room for expansion. (A Pew study released this week estimated U.S. smartphone penetration at 35%.) Worldwide, IDC predicts smartphone share will reach 45% in 2015.

Even so, Anmuth argues that advertising on smartphones and tablets will ramp up much faster than on the PC-based Web, especially given the established online ad market. And based on the growth of mobile users and location-based services, mobile advertising could ultimately become larger than Web-based advertising.

When it comes to major Internet companies, Google has been among the most aggressive in pushing into mobile through Android, search and mobile payment initiatives like Google Wallet. Mobile likely accounts for 5% of the company's gross revenue in 2011, according to the J.P. Morgan report. Google earlier this year said revenue from mobile operations had reached $1 billion on an annualized basis.

Anmuth noted that Yahoo has a stronger mobile presence overseas through a host of carrier deals, including with operators such as Vodafone. But mobile texting represents a threat to Yahoo's traditional strength in email, which represents about half of its page views. Likewise, the rollout of mobile app versions of key properties like Yahoo Finance and Fantasy Football could undermine the portal model the company is built on.

In the online retail sector, eBay is viewed as well-positioned for mobile. The company is on track to generate $4 billion in mobile transactions this year, while payments unit PayPal will do $3 billion in mobile. eBay this month also acquired mobile payments provider Zong for $240 million to add carrier-based billing to its payments arsenal.

Amazon has a variety of apps including Amazon Mobile, Deals, Kindle, and Price Check, but is still at an early stage in m-commerce. Amazon a year ago said customers had spent more than $1 billion on mobile devices (including via the Kindle) in the prior 12 months. If the company introduces its own tablet in the next few months, as reported Wednesday, that would provide another connected device to help drive sales

ADVERTISING FORECAST

U.S. Cable Network Ad Spending Forecast to Exceed Broadcast Nets for First Time

Media buyer ZenithOptimedia estimates unchanged broadcast ad expenditures of $17.4 billion this year, compared with a 10 percent cable networks gain to nearly $18.0 billion.

By Georg Szalai, THR

NEW YORK – U.S. advertising spending on cable networks will for the first time trump spending on broadcast networks this year, according to the latest forecast from media buyer ZenithOptimedia.

The company estimates that U.S. broadcast network ad spending will be flat at $17.4 billion this year, down from a previous expectation of 3 percent growth, while cable networks spending will rise to nearly $18.0 billion, up about 10 percent from $16.3 billion in 2010.

For 2012, Zenith expects broadcast spending to drop 1 percent to $17.2 billion despite the return of the Olympics to NBC amid a projected increase in online and cable viewing for the games in London, compared with an estimated 9 percent gain to $19.6 billion for cable.

“Network TV continued to attract the largest share of TV dollars in 2010, but we predict that cable will garner a larger share of spend in 2011 and beyond,” Zenith said. “Network spend began the first quarter of 2011 down year-on-year due to the absence of the Olympics, fewer men’s basketball March Madness games on CBS [thanks to the move of some games to Time Warner’s Turner networks] and the migration of college football games to ESPN. Since our April forecast did not anticipate the amount of college sports moving to cable, we have now revised our figures.”

Zenith is predicting cable will see the largest U.S. ad increase this year except for Internet advertising, which it sees rising 12.6 percent. “Cable networks will continue to build momentum – especially those seen as alternatives to broadcast prime (USA, TBS, TNT, FX), largely thanks to the return of big-spending automotive and financial advertisers,” the firm said, also citing the strong cable upfront this year.

AD Spending Forecast revised

Report cites college football moving to ESPN

By Andrew Wallenstein, Variety

U.S. advertising spending on broadcast TV will be flat in 2011 compared with the previous year, according to a revised forecast issued Wednesday by media buyer/planner ZenithOptimedia.

Back in April the firm had projected a 3% increase, which it reconsidered in light of underestimating the amount of college football that would move to ESPN. ZenithOptimedia also sees broadcast spending decreasing 1% in 2012 despite the presidential elections due to Comcast's pledge to air less time-delayed Olympics programming on TV in favor of the Internet.

Not coincidentally, cable and Internet will see increases of 10% and 12.6%, respectively, in 2011, according to the forecast -- enough to give cable a bigger share of ad dollars than broadcast. Syndication is expected to fall 2%, with 8% drops projected in the year ahead as the sector faces the loss of Oprah Winfrey.

Zenith Lowers Ad Growth Forecast

New outlook has broadcast flat; cable up 10%

By Jon Lafayette, Broadcasting & Cable

Media buyer Zenith has lowered its forecast for 2011 advertising spending growth to 2.1% from 2.5%.

Zenith is predicting increases of 3.5% in 2012 and 3.2% in 2013, but notes that the economy still has not returned to the level it was at before the recession, with high unemployment keeping consumers cautious. Neither has advertising recovered fully. "It will take several years for advertising spending to reach the level it was at in 2008.

The agency says TV ad dollars will continue to move from network to cable, with cable growing 10% in 2011, while broadcast is flat, thanks partly to the shift of college sports to cable. Cable will grow 9% in 2012 and 10% in 2013, according to Zenith, while broadcast is expected to decline 1% in 2012 despite the Olympics airing on NBC.

Zenith also revised its forecast for global ad spending down, but only by 0.1% to 4.1% for 2011. That would put spending at $471 billion, the same level it was at before the 2009 recession. More robust growth is expected in2012 and 2013.

---

Global Ad Spend to Rise 4.1% This Year to Return to Pre-Recession Peak

ZenithOptimedia predicts that U.S. advertising will only return to peak levels in several years though.

By Georg Szalai, THR

NEW YORK - Global advertising expenditures will return to pre-recession peak levels this year, but the U.S. will take several years to return to its peak performance, media planning and buying firm ZenithOptimedia predicted Tuesday.

"While the U.S. economy is on the road to recovery, overall performance is lackluster," ZenithOptimedia said. “Although recovery will continue, the economy has still not returned to the level it was at before the recession, and neither has advertising spending.” And it added: “Overall advertising expenditure will not reach [peak] levels for several years yet.”

Assuming current growth rates continue, the U.S. ad market is unlikely to reach the 2007 spending level of $177.7 billion until 2015 or 2016, according to Jonathan Barnard, head of forecasting at ZenithOptimedia.

Beyond economic factors, such as high unemployment and high gas and grocery prices, the firm also cited traditional media that are “struggling to reach new consumers and, as a result, are losing revenue.”

Lowering its growth forecasts for several key regions, including the U.S., but increasing its outlook for Asia, the company now projects global ad spending will reach $471 billion for all of 2011, on par with the peak level reached in 2008 and up 4.1 percent from 2010 – just slightly below the 4.2 percent gain that the company had predicted in April.

Zenith, which is part of advertising giant Publicis Groupe, cited a softening in the Americas and Europe, counterbalanced by stronger growth in the Asia Pacific region, where it eyes a 2011 improvement of 5.9 percent compared with 4.6 percent previously, as reasons for its slightly changed outlook.

"This is partly because the earthquake in Japan has been less disruptive than initially feared," said Zenith, which expects Japan ad spending to drop 2.4 percent this year, better than its previous estimate for a 4.1 percent decline.

For the U.S., Zenith is now projecting a 2.1 percent ad gain in 2011 to $154.9 billion from $161.7 billion last year, down from its 2.5 percent

growth forecast previously. The firm predicted the largest increases this year to come in Internet advertising (12.6 percent), cable TV (10 percent) and cinema (6 percent).

TV VIEWING AND STREAMING STATISTICS LATEST

Heavy Streaming Video Viewers Watch Less TV, Nielsen Says

By Wayne Friedman 

The Nielsen Company now says streaming of Internet video may come at the expense of some traditional TV viewing, especially among young TV/video users.  

According to Nielsen's new "State of the Media: Cross Platform Report" obtained by Media Daily News, the media research company says: "The new trend among TV and Internet homes shows the lightest traditional television users streaming significantly more Internet video via their computers, and the heaviest streamers under-indexing for traditional TV viewership. This behavior is led by those ages 18-34."  

The typical research view had been that the heaviest TV/media consumers are big users across all services and platforms. Previous research has shown, for example, that TV viewing and usage did not suffer because of new platforms like the Internet.  

As evidence, Nielsen says in the first quarter of 2011, the heaviest streamers group -- those who view 18.8 minutes of streaming video a day -- also watch 272.4 minutes of traditional TV a day. The lightest streamers, those viewing 0.1 minutes of streaming video, watch 290.0 traditional TV minutes a day.  

In the fourth quarter of 2010, the heaviest streamers were at 14.5 minutes of daily streaming, and 262.7 minutes of traditional TV. The lightest streamers registered 0.0 minutes of streaming and 270.7 minutes of traditional TV time.  

Looking at the key 18-34 users -- those who are generally more Internet-savvy -- Nielsen says the heaviest streamers in this group were watching 27.1 minutes a day of streaming video as of the first quarter 2011, with traditional TV viewing at 212.1 minutes. By comparison, the lightest 18-34 streamers are looking at 0.1 minutes of streaming video and watching 246.5 minutes of traditional TV content.  

Although Nielsen says this group is small versus the general population, the results are significant. Nielsen adds that more than a third of the TV/Internet population don't stream any video, and that less than 1% don't watch TV at all.  

The news is still good for television overall.  

U.S. TV viewers watch 158 hours, 47 minutes of TV a month -- 22 more minutes than a year ago. (This includes any time-shifted playback activity.) This amounts to around 10 hours a day for the heaviest of TV users, and around one hour a day for the lightest TV users.  

Nielsen says: "While certain segments of the population are migrating toward specific services and viewing habits, the resounding trend is this: Americans are spending more time watching video content on traditional TV, mobile devices and via the Internet than ever before."

PwC: Entertainment & Media Spending to Grow 5.7% to $1.9T by 2015

Digital platforms expected to account for 58.7% of all growth; cable subs to continue declining

By Tim Baysinger and John Eggerton,Broadcasting & Cable

Worldwide spending on entertainment and media will grow from $1.4 trillion in 2010 to $1.9 trillion by 2015, according to Pricewaterhouse Coopers' Global Entertainment & Media Outlook for 2011-2015.

PwC expects the entertainment industry's post-recession upswing to continue over the next five years, with consumer spending and advertising revenue related to entertainment and media content (E&M) growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.7% globally. In the United States, E&M-related spending is expected to grow at a 4.6% CAGR to $555 billion in 2015 from $443 billion in 2010.

Digital platforms are driving future operating models, consumer relationships and revenue growth, PwC found. Consumers in today's tech-laden world feel more empowered, and the E&M industry is being forced to create multi-purpose/multi-platform experiences, which also create additional money-making opportunities. The report states that digital is expected to account for 58.7% of all growth by 2015.

"Triggered in large part by the device revolution, the consumer migration to digital has continued at an even faster pace," Ken Sharkey,PwC entertainment, media and communications U.S. practice leader, said. "At the same time advertisers are responding by seeking a greater involvement with the consumer's media and entertainment experience."

In a world where digital is king and pirates are out to overthrow the monarch, PwC predicts that the biggest challenge for entertainment and media companies over that time frame it so leverage five key consumer attributes--convenience, experience, quality, participation and privilege--into a sustainable business model by offering "advantages that outweigh the attractiveness of free or pirated content."

Advertising revenue has shown the strongest growth year-over-year, PwC said; U.S. advertising revenue rebounded at a 5.4 percent growth rate in 2010 from a 14.4 percent slump in 2009. By 2015, U.S. advertising is expected to reach $208 billion, increasing at a 4.2% CAGR overall. The key sectors driving ad revenue include include Internet advertising, expected to increase at a 12.2% CAGR; TV (4.9% CAGR); video games (8% CAGR) and cinema (6.7% CAGR). Directories (-1.8%) and newspaper advertising (-0.2%) are the only advertising categories expected to decline, PwC said.

In a good-news, not-as-good-news scenario for cable operators, PwC projects that consumer spending in the U.S. on combined wired and mobile Internet access will grow at a healthy pace, but expects the cable subs universe to continue to decline to just a hair above half of all TV households. Nonetheless, cable will remain "the dominant television subscription service in the United States," the report states.

VIDEO GAME INCREASE

Video Game Industry Continues Major Growth, Gartner Says

By NICK BILTON
 The video game industry is expected to continue growing at a  rapid pace for several years to come, with game-related spending reaching $112 billion by 2015, according to a report issued Tuesday by Gartner, the technology research company.
 The report, “Gaming Ecosystem, 2011,” said spending on video game hardware and games in 2011 was expected to exceed $74 billion, up from $67 billion on games in 2010.
 But the fastest growth is likely to come in mobile gaming, said Tuong Nguyen, principal research analyst at Gartner and co-author of the report, in an e-mail interview. He predicted that the sales and use of hand-held gaming consoles, including those made by Sony or Nintendo, would slow as young gamers opted for a smartphone or tablet instead of a dedicated gaming device.
 Mobile gaming will grow “from 15 percent in 2010 to 20 percent in 2015,” according to the report, the largest amount of growth compared with other gaming platforms.
 Sales of individual video games have already shattered previous records; for example, earlier this year Activision, which makes high-end video games for the Xbox and PS3, made over $650 million in just five days from the sale of its latest hit, Call of Duty: Black Ops.
 At the same time, pay models for online games are starting to fracture, according to the report, creating a number of new online-style transactions that don’t exist with physical sales of games made for traditional consoles.
 “Subscription fees are giving way to ‘freemium’ models, in which the game is provided for free to gamers but is monetized through advertising,” wrote Brian Blau, a research director at Gartner who is also a co-author of the report. There are also “in-game microtransactions, such as the sale of value-added services or virtual-good purchases” that customers see in games like FarmVille, which is made by Zynga, Mr. Blau wrote.

Actors, Storytelling Are Key Elements in New Video Games
By Ryan Nakashima
 LOS ANGELES (AP) — Menacing alien machines descend on Earth, and amid all-out war, a soldier searches a building to find a frightened boy hiding in a vent.

"It's OK," says the soldier.

"Everyone's dying," the boy replies.

The soldier must choose: Help the boy or tell him to flee.

Though it's full of dramatic tension and realistic animation, this isn't a scene from the next Hollywood blockbuster. It's actually from upcoming video game "Mass Effect 3."

Game makers are crafting more sophisticated story lines and creating characters that evolve based on their experiences within a game. It's an attempt to interest new customers and reverse a decline in video game sales as the maturing business fights for people's attention in the face of new devices such as the iPad.

A new crop of games calls for players to make choices that go beyond selecting a weapon. Among other things, players are asked to make moral decisions that force their characters — and the game's narrative — to evolve in different ways. Upcoming games such as "Bioshock Infinite" and "Star Wars: The Old Republic" tap into this vein.

These storytelling games couldn't come at a better time. U.S. sales of gaming consoles and video games hit a peak in 2008, at $21.4 billion, according to market research firm NPD Group. Since then, however, annual sales fell 13 percent to $18.6 billion in 2010. So far in 2011, sales are flat compared with last year.

With the recent Supreme Court decision protecting violent games as free speech, it's more appropriate than ever for games to have more of a message.

Part of the goal of involved storytelling is to keep players occupied for longer, playing out stories through to the end. Video game makers are trying to stop players from getting bored and quickly offloading games onto used game shops, which can sap sales.

The new games merge first-person shoot-em-ups with movie plotlines to develop what some in the industry are calling a new art form.

In the past, games mostly sandwiched so-called theatrical "cut scenes" between bouts of trigger-finger action. In "Grand Theft Auto IV," for instance, players are given missions on a roughly linear progression as other hoodlums call by cellphone and recruit them to participate in crimes that will elevate the player in rank. Players can follow along or ignore the story lines in favor of other pursuits, such as discovering hidden details like the giant, chained heart inside the Statue of Liberty lookalike.

Gradually, non-action scenes are becoming more central to games and the story is the focus. "Grand Theft" was a start in that direction, with two different endings depending on player choices. The new "Star Wars" game will have about 20 different endings and a billion ways to get there.

"Photographs tell stories. Movies tell stories. Songs tell stories. Games tell stories," said Ken Levine, creative director for Irrational Games.

Levine's studio is poised to release "BioShock Infinite" next year. The shooting game confronts main character Booker with moral decisions — like saving a man from execution or putting down a horse — all the while roaming around an immersive floating world that resembles early 20th century America.

"My mom's not going to connect to the story of 'Mega Man 2,'" Levine said, referring to the pixelated Capcom game from the late 1980s. "But hopefully she can connect to a story like this."

These storytelling games represent yet another way the video game business is reaching out to people who have not traditionally considered themselves "gamers." Mobile games including "Angry Birds" and addicting social-network games such as "FarmVille" have gotten more women to play. Motion controllers from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo have turned video gaming into a physical workout that appeals to young and old.

Storytelling games could appeal to those attracted to character development more than killing.

Lindsay Grace, professor of interactive media studies at Miami University, said the video game industry is trying to accomplish what Hollywood has turned into a science: entering new markets by offering a little something for everyone — a little romance, a little action, a little this and that.

"Games have started to understand this in the last four to five years, but they are later to understand that than film," he said. "Before, it was a shooting game, and that's what you do."

Grace, who's been studying video games for seven years, believes the answer is not in more big-budget shoot-em-ups, but in independent video games pushing the boundaries of entertainment.

"From indie games to more mainstream offerings, in the next decade or so we are going to be seeing a greater diversity in subject matter," said Scott Steinberg, the chief executive of video game consulting company TechSavvy Global. "The selection of games will more closely resemble your selection of movies."

Market tracker NPD Group doesn't track or categorize "storytelling" games specifically. But many of the games that have had commercial success dive deep into narrative territory. "Grand Theft Auto IV" has sold 20 million units since its record-breaking April 2008 launch. "L.A. Noire" was the top-selling game in the United States in May, with an estimated 899,000 units, despite an industry downturn.

A-list actors, writers and directors are increasingly participating in the industry, lending their voices, faces and ideas to the medium.

Guillermo Del Toro, the Oscar-nominated director behind such hits as "Pan's Labyrinth" and "Hellboy," recently cut off work on the unfinished "The Hobbit" movies in part to free himself to work on video games. One of his first new projects is with game maker THQ on a future release called "Insane." Guillermo envisions the making of the game to take up eight to nine years of his creative life.

"We are in the infancy of people recognizing video games as art," Del Toro said in a recent interview.

He believes game releases will become major cultural events someday, much like big-budget movies. "In order to be a storyteller in the 21st century, we urgently need to learn to tell stories through video games," he said.

Aaron Staton, an actor from the Emmy-winning television series "Mad Men," said he signed on to play detective Cole Phelps in the epic crime game "L.A. Noire," to be part of the cutting-edge method of storytelling that the game explores.

Staton studied 2,200 pages of script in order to act out all the story lines that evolve from player choices. A key game mechanic is determining how the detective will react to suspects in the interrogation room. Deciding to believe or doubt them moves the story into what he describes as "its own separate reality."

Many recent games have featured actors' voices, but in "L.A. Noire," their facial expressions and voices become "an important aspect of the story of the game and the game play itself," Staton said. "So I thought that it would be exciting."

Actions in these games are meant to have consequences that go beyond passing levels or gaining points. They unlock new, unexplored chapters, like a book that has dozens of endings, and provide lessons for the characters along the way.

A love triangle is expected to develop in "Mass Effect 3," but only if characters created romances in the earlier two versions.

In "Star Wars: The Old Republic," gamers can choose to play do-good Jedi Knights, evil Sith lords or six other classes of characters. Sparing an enemy's life, for instance, will determine which direction the game heads and whether companions cooperate or betray the player later on.

Daniel Erickson, the lead writer of the "Star Wars" game, said the amount of storytelling content was unprecedented. The studio behind it, BioWare, created more than 10,000 characters to talk to and used voices from more than 1,000 actors.

The alternate paths amount to more than 60 "Star Wars" novels worth of content in a script that, if read completely, would last longer than the entire 86-episode run of the HBO television show "The Sopranos," which would take three days without sleep.

Employee Shoplifting

A report states that EMPLOYEE SHOPLIFTING is on the rise.

This is a Good Sign.

The report found that employees stole more in good economies because they think they can get another job easier so they take a chance.  When the economy is bad, employees don't want to lose their jobs.

The Report said there has been a steady rise in Employee Shoplifting since June 08.