While 2009 was a financial down-turn for many video game developers and companies, the industry remains flexible in its expansion into free-to-play online and social gaming fronts. Even with the movement into new fields and formats, interactive entertainment still doesn’t factor too much into the average family entertainment budget, according to statistics recently released by famed ratings firm Nielsen.
Accounting for only 4.9% percent of overall money spent, Nielsen defines the term “entertainment budget.”
“Individual households spend different amounts in total on entertainment, which may deflate or inflate shares for a given category,” Nielsen explained. “In addition, these results are a reflection of consumer claims that are useful directionally in understanding how consumers perceive their allocations of money.”