App Annie & IDC Raise the Curtain On a Special Report at E3: "Games & Hollywood - The Perks & Pitfalls of Transmedia Development"

LOS ANGELES, June 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- E3 -- App Annie and International Data Corporation (IDC) today unveiled a special report for E3 titled, "Games & Hollywood - The Perks & Pitfalls of Transmedia Development," which takes a look at the rise of cross-channel entertainment properties, including the top-performing movie tie-in games in Google Play, the iOS App Store and on console platforms and PCs. 

The video game industry and Hollywood's leading movie/TV studios have had a long and occasionally tempestuous relationship. New App Annie and IDC research suggests that these pillars of entertainment have become more intertwined in recent years even as their development processes have remained distinct and their monetization models have diverged. For example, there have been at least 24 video game properties that have been adapted into wide release movies since 2000, a sharp increase from the 1990s, and yet the proliferation of free-to-play games that require players to "grind" to advance further into the game is at odds with Hollywood's classic three-act dramatic structure.

Video games represented close to 40 percent of all downloads in the iOS App Store and Google Play digital storefronts in Q1 2014. Google Play's quarterly revenue grew over 2.5x compared to its Q1 2013 total. iOS App Store quarterly revenue was also 1.7x higher in 1Q 2014 than it was in the same quarter a year ago. A large market opportunity for digital entertainment tie-ins has clearly emerged across multiple screens.

The report highlights trends across entertainment brands and publishers that are working to increase mobile engagement and to take movie and TV franchises far beyond their original release windows. A few companies that have performed particularly well with movie or TV show tie-ins on smartphones and tablets in the past year include: Disney (i.e., Frozen Free Fall, Monsters University), Gameloft (i.e., Despicable Me, Iron Man 3), Kabam (i.e., Fast & Furious 6, The Hobbit: Kingdoms) and Rovio (i.e., Angry Birds Star Wars II, Angry Birds Rio).

Mobile games involving city-building, puzzles, endless runners, and card battles were the most common game genres for movie tie-ins, and eight of the Top 15 cross-over titles by downloads were based on animated films or shows. Five of the Top 15 revenue-earning transmedia games were based on TV shows, which indicates that game tie-ins are becoming an increasingly important aspect of animated and general TV show marketing. App Annie analysis implies that a dual screen, interactive experience is likely to accompany many more popular TV shows and wide release movies in the coming years.

Titles that made the Top 15 cross-over list such as Turbo Racing League, Robocop, and Real Steel World Robot Boxing suggest that even moderately successful films can have hit mobile games. Real Steel World Robot Boxing performed well in downloads in 2013 and early 2014 even though the film came out in 2011.

"The takeaway of this report is that box office success and ratings are no longer the only indicator of a successful movie or TV show,"  said App Annie CEO, Bertrand Schmitt. "As we are seeing in other industries, mobile strategy clearly needs to be a serious consideration for any entertainment marketer interested in maximizing their brand's reach and overall lifespan. And it's not just about slapping a film's brand on top of a puzzle game – as movie and game creation technology advances, so do consumer expectations."

From a console and PC gaming perspective, the report found, properties that originate as comic books, graphic novels, physical toys, movies or TV shows and that are adapted into video games tend to be more successful (both critically and financially) than properties that originate as a game property and are translated into another branch of entertainment.

"The revenue dynamic between Hollywood and video games has shifted  in the direction of games in the past decade and this trend is likely to continue," says Lewis Ward, research director of gaming at IDC. "In fact, total video game software and service spending is on track to surpass total movie-related spending in the United States by the end of this decade. This revenue shift has already given rise to some interesting transmedia companies and we're likely to see cross-channel franchises proliferate in the next several years."

To obtain a full copy of the report please visit: http://blog.appannie.com/app-annie-idc-games-hollywood/

About App Annie
App Annie is the industry standard for analytics and market data in the apps and digital content economy. The App Annie platform helps app business owners, marketers and investors understand both their own app business and app market trends so that they can make better business decisions in product, international, marketing and investment strategy. App Annie is used by over 90 percent of the Top 100 publishers with nearly 600,000 apps relying on App Annie Analytics to track their downloads, revenues, rankings and reviews. making it the leading innovator in the app analytics and market data space.  The company has tracked over 60 billion downloads and more than US $17 billion in revenues to date. App Annie is a privately held global company of more than 240 employees headquartered in San Francisco and with offices in Amsterdam, Beijing, Hong Kong, London, Moscow, New York, Seoul, Shanghai, and Tokyo. For more information, please visit: www.appannie.com.

About IDC
International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. IDC helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and business strategy. More than 1,100 IDC analysts provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries worldwide. For more than 50 years, IDC has provided strategic insights to help our clients achieve their key business objectives. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research, and events company. For more information, please visit www.idc.com, email [email protected], or call 508-872-8200. Visit the IDC Community at https://idc-community.com.

SOURCE App Annie

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