Boys ages 5 to 12 are spending more time playing video games than with each of the traditional toy categories in an average week, while girls in the same age group tend to spend more or comparable time with several toy categories as they do video games, according to The NPD Group's recently-released report, "Toying with Video Games: An In-depth Report on the Impact of Video Games on Traditional Toys."

According to the report, the average time children among the ages of 5 to 12 spend playing video games is 4.2 hours per week, with one-third (32 percent) of boys and only 10 percent of girls playing more than six hours per week. Nearly half of the children in the study began playing video games between the ages of 4 and 5, with 20 percent beginning at age 3 or younger.

Older boys, ages 9 to 12, show a tendency to gravitate away from specific traditional toy categories in favor of spending more time playing video games, while girls in the same age group continue to show little to no difference in time spent between playing with video games and toys. However, as girls get older, they are more likely than boys to find interests outside of both the traditional toy and video games markets.

The toy categories being most threatened by video games for older boys are Action Figures, Building Sets, Games/Puzzles and Vehicles. Those toys not as affected by video games include Learning and Exploration toys and outdoor-oriented categories such as Summer Seasonal and Sports Toys/Ride-Ons.

Not surprising, region plays a key role in determining the amount of time being spent playing video games. Children in the South and West regions of the United States are more likely to play video games on a consistent basis throughout the year, while kids in the Northeast and Central regions are likely to play video games more often in the winter time.

"Video games demand the attention of toy manufacturers who want to understand their implications to play time with traditional toys," said Michael Redmond, senior industry analyst, The NPD Group. "For toy manufacturers, determining how to leverage the 'power' of video games in order to take advantage of their popularity through different marketing tactics is essential. By researching which types of video games are most popular among children, toy manufacturers can discover new licensing opportunities."

For boys, licensed properties such as Spider-Man, Harry Potter, Pokemon and Scooby-Doo, tend to do well for both video games publishers and toy manufacturers. For girls, Barbie is extremely strong across both toys and video games, as it ranks number 1 on both lists.

Methodology

"Toying with Video Games: An In-depth Report on the Impact of Video Games on Traditional Toys" was an online survey conducted among members of The NPD Group's online consumer panel. A nationally balanced sample of 8,000 male and female adults age 25 and over with children ages 5 to 12 in the same household were surveyed. The survey was fielded on Thursday, March 25, 2004, and closed on Thursday, April 1, 2004, yielding a 45% response rate. The final results are based on responses from 2,809 parents/guardians of children ages 5 to 12 who play video games.

About The NPD Group, Inc.

Since 1967 The NPD Group has provided reliable and comprehensive sales and marketing information for a wide range of industries. NPD provides critical knowledge on what is selling, where, to whom and why to help our clients make more successful, fact-based business decisions. Today more than 1,300 manufacturers and retailers rely on NPD to help them better understand their customers, product categories, distribution channels and competition in order to help guide their business and positively impact sales and revenues. Information from The NPD Group is available for the following major vertical sectors: apparel, appliances, automotive, beauty, cellular, consumer electronics, food and beverage, foodservice, footwear, home improvement, housewares, imaging, information technology, music, software, travel, toys and video games. For more information visit www.npd.com.