By this fall, the network plans to launch several games based on Nickelodeon and MTV shows and characters. MTV will also be launching a platform for indie game developers.
This will be MTV Networks's first foray into social gaming. The company's current game sites include AddictingGames.com, Shockwave.com, Nick.com Games, Nick.com Arcade, Neopets, GameTrailers and Xfire.
MTV's CEO Judy McGrath said in a release today, "Social gaming is one of the biggest drivers of the explosive growth in social media – it's fun, it's engaging, and it's shareable." We're sure it hasn't escaped the company's notice that social games can also be wildly profitable. In fact, AdWeek projects that social games will soon comprise a $2 billion industry.
Social games also get users to spend more time on-site and create more opportunities for branded interactions with advertisers.
MTV isn't the only broadcast brand attempting to make a cutting-edge connection with wired culture. ESPN also recently announced that, with a little help from social game developers Playdom, it too will be rolling out a suite of social games, including Facebook-enabled and mobile games.
These tech-related efforts on the part of entertainment brands are telling. The line between the television and the web has blurred almost to the point of fusion. Around 83% of people in a recent survey said that some or all of their TV content was, in fact, watched on the Internet and not on a TV. And around 60% of us are watching and browsing simultaneously.
It's important for television-rooted brands to connect to and immerse themselves in all new forms of media to escape obsolescence, and we look forward to seeing what MTV cooks up for its Internet-minded audience this fall.