According to new media research consultancy Interpret, videogames are reaching a U.S. audience far beyond what retail sales data suggests. The research firm studied 80 of the top-selling games of 2006 through the end of January 2007, exploring the actual reach, frequency and demographic makeup of each title through its quarterly Gameasure report.

As an example of videogame’s extensive reach, Activision’s "Call of Duty 3" sold 2 million units in the U.S. as of February 3, 2007, according to The NPD Group. However, the actual reach as reported by Gameasure is nearly 9 million gamers–over a 4 times multiple. In addition, Electronic Arts' Madden NFL 2007 has sold over 6 million units at retail, but 14 million gamers have actually played the game–just over a 2 times multiple.

“We’ve known for a long time that the secondary reach of video games is significant,” said David Anderson, senior director of business development, Activision, the first company to subscribe to Gameasure. “Having a third-party measurement will not only help validate video games as a viable alternative, but will properly value the medium.”

According to Michael Dowling, CEO, Interpret, there are numerous factors that are playing a part in games reaching a larger audience, including social game play with friends, game rental, used game sales and the pass-around of games from one person to another. Because in-game ad placements are being sold based on retail sales, as that is the only currently available measurement of a video games’ reach, the full impact of games is not being realized in its pricing.

"This methodology produces a comprehensive read of the marketplace and it can be utilized today," said Downling, who said Interpret is already working on a technology that will cut across all of the platforms once Sony and Nintendo announce their plans for in-game advertising. "We're not ready with that yet, and part of the reason is that Sony and Nintendo have not let their plans known. But this allows people to get a measure of how far games are reaching into the audience today. It can evolve over time."

Another key aspect of Gameasure is that it quantifies, for the first time, the demographic profile of individuals playing specific titles. For example, 21% of all males between the ages of 18 to 34 have played "Halo 2;" of the 6.8 million people who have played "Guitar Hero 2," 56% are males 12 to 34 and 30% are females 12 to 34.

Dowling said that 58% of Halo 2 gamers are males under 44 years of age. The Gameasure data shows this consumer buys more DVDs than the average gamer. They also are huge fans of TV shows like "Prison Break," "Scrubs," and "Family Guy." And they drink a lot of Gatorade and chew more gum than the average person.

"Gameasure shows where gamers are spending a lot of their discretionary income and shows advertisers how to get a piece of this business," said Dowling. "If you're buying ads for 'Prison Break' or 'Scrubs,' then you should also be buying ads for games because the audience is in both places. If you're Gatorade, it's a fast-moving consumer product so you want to make sure you're present often in front of gamers and in-game advertising is one way of doing that."

Dowling said all of Interpret's research has shown that the depth of engagement is much more significant in videogames than in any other form of entertainment. Because Gameasure is compatible with key media planning software like Nielsen's IMF and Telmar, subscribers will be able to compare game data side-by-side with other forms of media like broadcast, cable, print, outdoor, and Internet.

According to Gameasure, the active gamer is someone who personally owns and plays a game system and has purchased at least one game in the last six months. Active gamers purchased eight DVDs in the past six months, compared to the average U.S. consumer's five DVDs. They also saw five movies in the past six months, up from the national average of 3.4 movies.

"Gamers are tremendous consumers of other entertainment products, compared to the average US consumer ages 12 to 65," said Dowling. "Not only are they more active with traditional media like movies and DVDs, but they're also significantly over-indexing with new media usage like watching video clips on the Internet or watching TV shows on the computer or downloading entertainment via PC or Xbox Live."

Dowling said Gameasure is the only comprehensive measure of all games in the market. He said people often forget about PC games role in today's world, but more people played a PC game (44%) than a console game (38%) last month.

"Our measure incorporates PC and handheld gaming with console to show the complete picture," said Dowling. "Most dynamically-served ads are on the PC today, even with Massive and Xbox 360."

Moving forward, Dowling said Interpret will focus on 100 games per quarter, and over time, as the market shifts, data will be studied monthly and then potentially even weekly. Gameasure is an online study based on a sample of 5,425 people ages 12 to 65. All data is weighted to the US census, which Dowling said gives a much truer read to the methodology of games.

"Our methodology has been put through the paces, plus/minus 1.3 percent at a 95 percent confidence interval," said Dowling. "We're very confident in the data. It's very robust. We looked at the total market and we didn't screen anybody else. So you can see the weight of games compared to the entire marketplace."