Survey: 12% of Online Americans Buying Virtual Goods

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 31, 2009 - 4:36am.

New York - With the U.S. now accounting for nearly a quarter of the $1 billion market for virtual goods, 12% of online Americans say they have purchased virtual goods in the past year, for use in an online game, virtual world or social networks, according to a report from market research firm Frank N. Magid Associates and micropayments firm PlaySpan.

Virtual world visitors are the heaviest virtual goods buyers (46%), but nearly one-third of iPhone owners do as well. Most did not remember how much they spent on virtual goods last year, but 27% said they spent less than $50, while 15% said they spent $100 or more.

"The fact that lots of people are reaching into their pocket to buy virtual goods is impressive, but even more impressive is that some of those consumers are spending considerable dollars," said Magid Advisors president Mike Vorhaus.

"As this market grows, Magid believes that the majority of consumers will continue to spend $50 or more on virtual goods every year, and this will grow to be a multi-billion dollar market."

The report found that Asian Americans purchased the most virtual goods (16%), followed by "Others" (15%), Latinos (14%), Caucasians (12%) and African Americans (10%).

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