MTV Networks plans to invest over $500 million in videogames, seeing the red-hot entertainment category as a major pillar of growth in its goal to reach consumers wherever they spend time. The two-year investment is part of a global strategy to incorporate games development at the inception of all new programming plans and not as an afterthought.
Some 42 million unique visitors globally dropped by an MTV Networks game-related website in June, which is up 20% since January. About 47% of MTV Network’s audience played games, compared with about 27 percent of average web users.
To expand the market beyond kids and teens, MTV has also signed deals with Verizon Wireless and the world’s biggest cell-phone maker, Nokia, for cell-phone games.