The average social gamer in the U.S. and U.K. is a 43 year old woman, according to a PopCap Games survey of those who play games on social networking platforms such as Facebook and MySpace.

According to video game maker, PopCap Games, over 24 percent of its 5,000 survey respondents play games on social networks. PopCap Games conducted its online survey between January 7 and January 12, 2010 and discovered the following:

• Of the 1,202 respondents – 800 (67 percent from the U.S. and 402 (33 percent) from the U.K. – who play social games, 55 percent are female and 45 percent are male — with the disparity being even larger among U.K. consumers (58 percent versus 42 percent).
• The average age of social gamers is 43, with U.S.-based social gamers averaging 48 years of age compared to 38 for those based in the U.K.. Further, 46 percent of American social gamers are 50 or older, compared to just 23 percent in the U.K. Only 6 percent of all social gamers are aged 21 or younger.
• Facebook is the most popular destination for social gamers, with 83 percent of social gamers citing Facebook as where they play social games, compared to 24 percent who play on MySpace, 7 percent on Bebo and 5 percent who play on Friendster.
• Social gamers spend 39 percent of time spent on social networking sites/services playing games. The second and third most popular social networking activities among social gamers are chatting with/messaging friends (17 percent) and playing non-social (solo) games (15 percent).
• Word-of-mouth is the most common way social gamers hear about new social games, with 57 percent of social gamers relying on a recommendation or in-game alert from a friend, 38 percent learning about new games from ads on social networking sites, and 27 percent relying on web searches.

The social games sector is expected to generate revenues of more than USD $1 billion this year. For more findings from PopCap Games’ survey go here.

Related Articles:

• U.S. Mobile Internet Users Spend Half Their Time on Social Networks
• Social Networks – Good or Bad For Society?
• eMarketer Downgrades Ad Spending On Social Networks
• Facebook Is World’s Biggest and Fastest Growing Social Network
• U.S. Advertisers To Spend 6.7 Percent of Online Budgets On Social Networks

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