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New worldwide research has revealed that the brand power of PlayStation is as strong as ever, as it remains the aspirational console of choice for teens.
Nearly 60,000 teenagers between the ages of 11 and 18 across 31 markets took part in a survey conducted by youth-oriented virtual world Habbo, highlighting their preference for PS3 in every age group apart from 11-12 year olds, amongst whom the Wii came out top.
69 per cent referred to the PS3 console as ‘great’ or ‘good’, followed closely by the Nintendo Wii at 64 per cent and Xbox 360 at 58 per cent.
The Wii was found to be more popular amongst girls up to 16 years, and was the favoured female choice overall. The results also show that whilst the Xbox 360 is less popular in Europe and Asia, its popularity in the Americas fares much better: it is the most popular console in Mexico and Colombia and takes second place in the United States, Canada, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.
The results of this survey are interesting as it gives us an insight into which brands these teens aspire to as the level of ownership does not correspond to the consoles’ popularity,” explained Emmi Kuusikko, director of User and Market Insight at Sulake.
Of the teens surveyed, 24 per cent owned a Wii, with 21 per cent and 23 per cent owning a PS3 and Xbox 360 respectively.
The results suggested significant growth potential; with each of these consoles there was another 20 per cent of teenagers planning on buying one of them in the next 12 months.
The Wii and PS3 had the most sales potential: the amount of respondents that were interested in buying one was four to five percentage points higher than for Microsoft’s Xbox 360.
