Is Angry Birds ‘Addiction’ Causing $1.5 Billion in Lost Business Revenue Each Year?
- Posted on September 14, 2011 at 9:38pm by
Billy Hallowell
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Over the past few years, Angry Birds, the popular, viral video game has swept the world. What started out as a fun-filled pursuit has evolved into a massively lucrative empire for Rovio, the company that first introduced the game back in 2009.
With more than 300 downloads and the billion mark not too far off into the future, it’s safe to say that the game has become a cultural phenomenon. From stuffed animals to a cook book, associated products have been hitting the shelves.
But while Rovio stands to gain from these developments, at least one journalist is questioning how much the game is costing businesses. According to Alexis Madrigal of the Atlantic, Angry Birds may be causing companies to lose more than $1.5 billion in income. How, you ask?
Madrigal explains that Challenger, Gray, and Christmas is a consulting firm that produces estimates surrounding how much companies lose when workers avoid tasks and engage in “other” activities (like watching the NCAA basketball tournament or engaging in fantasy football).
In an effort to replicate these estimates, Madrigal attempts to explain how much Angry Birds, another popular work distraction, harms business productivity and earnings. After learning that people collectively play the game for 200 million minutes per day, he computed the following estimates:
Madrigal admits that he makes some “big assumptions” in preparing this calculation. First, he assumes that five percent of Americans actually play Angry Birds during work hours (the proportion could be higher or lower).
Without knowledge of how many people actually play at work and without solid international numbers, one cannot be entirely sure that these numbers are accurate. Madrigal explains some of the specific, more intricate details:
…the Pew income data for smartphone ownership is not that precise, particularly on the upper ($75,000+) and lower (less than $30,000) ends. I had to pick numbers, so I basically split Americans up into four categories: people earning $30,000, $50,000, $75,000, and $100,000, then I calculated simple hourly wages for those groups (income/52/40) and did a weighted average based on smartphone adoption in those categories. The $35 per hour number I used is comparable with the $38 that Challenger, Gray, and Christmas used for fantasy sports players.
While he believes that the estimate “is right to the order of magnitude, if not in the details,” Business Insider’s Jay Yarow writes, “Frankly, we think these sorts of things are bogus. Productivity isn’t lost. People just do what they do. But, it’s sort of fun to play with numbers.”
Regardless of the actual business loss, if any, one thing is for sure: Americans are battling a collective addiction to this entertaining game.
(h/t Business Insider)
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Comments (75)
GhostOfJefferson
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 7:39amIt is of utmost importance that you arrive at work, dive into every task until you’re stressed to the point of suicide in a frantic effort to be as productive as possible, until you leave work 12 hours later. Then, you log into work from home via the VPN and work even more, until you go to bed at midnight.
That’s the Alexandrian vision of America for certain (notice I didn’t say the free market vision). Work automatons in a mechanized society. I prefer the Jeffersonian vision; farmers, family owned businesses, horse trading/haggling, honest work for honest pay and enjoying life all along the way. Call me strange, but I don‘t remember any farmer I’ve ever known (small family farmer) being stressed out to the point of needing medication everyday, like we’re supposed to be in the Alexandrian vision.
Honest day‘s work for an honest day’s pay. Doing the job you were hired to do, and doing it well, is the goal, not keeping “busy” in a never ending stream of fake “make work” or self induced panic and stress. If you need to take a smoke break or chat at the water cooler a couple of times a day, do it. Geesh, relax people, life is meant to be enjoyed.
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 8:02amGood points.
I’m not saying you can never take a break.
I’m only pointing out that the people who spend hours playing games on company time are NOT doing what they are paid to do.
Remember the FEDERAL employees busted for surfing porn OVER EIGHT HOURS PER DAY !?
Actually, the agrarian model is closer to my personal preference – if you don’t work, you don’t eat.
Report Post »You didn’t plant the corn? It don’t grow, and you starve. That all kind of breaks down when we have a welfare society.
gmoneytx
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 3:59pmIdeally, get a job you can sit around, play angry birds and be productive at the same time, and work with people on your google+ network and play against them for the high score! Now that’s what I call working for a living!
Report Post »Tickdog
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 7:26amoh whatever.. who comes up with stupid stuff like this..
Report Post »Charlie Justice
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 6:49amWill someone PLEASE tell me how to get 3 stars on level 17 Christmas Season?
Report Post »TMACK
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 8:38amLOL!!! I need help with level 15 as well!
Report Post »YepImaConservative
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 6:24amIf you’re a male playing this type of game at work, home or wherever and you’re over the age of 17… you’re a damn pansy anyways… face it. What a bunch of panty waists our young males have become. Do some work and put down childish things… grow a pair.
Angry Birds…. sheesh.
Report Post »JLGunner
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 8:42amagreed. I can’t believe men are so involved in “Fantasy” football. As a grown man I refuse to associate myself with anything that has the prefix“fantasy”. I will admit that I have thought about what dinner would be like with Michelle Malkin, but thats not a fantasy, thats a pipe dream. Big difference.
Report Post »turkey13
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 9:33amMy sons have a construction co. and it got to the point, that to give instructions they had to wait for the guys to get off their cell phone. They bought some lockers and had a meeting and told the employees that before leaving the yard all cell phones were to be in locker. If not the employee would be termninated. This has worked fine except for one young guy that quit.
Report Post »the gray lensman
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 2:17amI haven’t played it, have no desire to do so, and see no point in wasting any further time on this comment.
Report Post »Zorro6821
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 5:28amYes, get back to work now!!
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 2:09amIBM’s profitability plummeted as did their stock price, beginning when they instituted “casual fridays”.
Professional conduct, and a strong work ethic will always trump!
An analysis I once read (cannot remember the source) indicated when you “try to make your employees feel more like they are at home,” they begin to ACT more like they are at home. Slacking off, being disrespectful to customers, etc.
Oh, as for the “waiting for an e-mail” whine that someone posted…
Report Post »IT IS CALLED MULTI-TASKING.
Do you have so few responsibilites that you have NOTHING else you can be doing while you are waiting for an e-mail? You are being PAID to do WORK for your employer. NOT working is a form of THEFT.
Todd Decker
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 4:34am>>IBM’s profitability plummeted as did their stock price, beginning when they instituted “casual fridays”.
Oh yeah, that‘s IBM’s problems — blue jeans. It SURELY cannot be upper executives looking to get paid. IBM’s business is now centered on cutting costs and making sure Sam can leave with a big, fat payday.
“Professional conduct, and a strong work ethic will always trump!”
Well, that can be done while wearing jeans. I wonder if IBM management reaping major financial rewards while screwing their employees over repeatedly financially (IBMer’s taking massive pay cuts for working 12-hour shifts and nights; IBM contractors being forced to take repeated, unpaid furloughs; IBM executives getting big bonuses for cost cutting and keeping the stock price up) is professional or a sign of strong ethics. And don’t get me started on how IBM shafts their customers.
>>An analysis I once read (cannot remember the source) indicated when you “try to make your employees feel more like they are at home,” they begin to ACT more like they are at home. Slacking off, being disrespectful to customers, etc.
Spoken like a pointy-headed intellectual who has no actual experience in the trenches.
>>You are being PAID to do WORK for your employer. NOT working is a form of THEFT.
I’ll make sure to let firefighters who are out getting groceries with the fire truck or goofing off at the fire station waiting for the next call know that they are stealing when they are
Report Post »Zorro6821
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 5:23amBig deal, we are not work robots.Does Everything have to come down to money. For all the morons who think this game is destroying America, all I can say is get a grip and pull the stick out of your a..s. People waste time on the phone, bathroom, lunch, talking. Lighten up already. What a ridiculous waste of time just creating a mathematical statistic for this game. Fools will eat it up. Play the game and don’t feel guilty, you deserve a break America!!
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 7:52amLet me guess, you wrote this at work?
I said, IBM’s decline BEGAN at the same time that they started going “casual”.
IBM once had the highest work ethic, and was very well known for it.
They produced the best products at that time as well.
It was AFTER they instituted casual attire that they began stripping the company.
However, they DID so, because of EXPENSIVE UNION BENEFITS.
The IBM executives invested their own money in a Chinese company (lenovo), and either sold or licensed their computer manufacturing to lenovo.
They also spun off their printer division soon after, calling it Lexmark.
POINTY HEADED INTELLECTUAL WITH NO EXPERIENCE IN THE TRENCHES?
Try nearly THREE DECADES of consulting, systems design, engineering, and implementation.
Have had THREE family members who work(ed) for IBM, and TWO with Lexmark.
I was front row for ALL of this.
So, you may want to post with FACTS in the future, rather than
ATTACKING THE PERSON (me) !
.
.
.
OH, and when you are on a SALARY, you’re required to meet goals and objectives. YOU choose how to set your own schedule, but, you must get everything done. That usually means WAY over 40 hours in a week of work – usually more like 70, but rarely under 45-50.
As for firefighters – If ON DUTY and goofing off when they know there is work to be done, then, yes, they would be stealing. Being public SERVANTS, they would be stealing from the public coffers, so I know it would NEVER happen. Right?
Report Post ».
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TomFerrari
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 7:57am@zorro – I see you have chosen to be a part of the problem, and not a part of the cure.
Good luck with that.
Hopefully, you are independently wealthy, and not on a TAKER the welfare rolls, taking from the MAKERS who actually DO work.
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 2:02amEr, no…
A POOR WORK ETHIC, combined with IRRESPONSIBLE, UNPROFESSIONAL behavior, in a populist culture, is what is costing companies billions of dollars.
You wanna bet it is the same FEDERAL EMPLOYEES who got caught spending EIGHT HOURS A DAY on PORN SITES???? LOL
Report Post »Zorro6821
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 5:35amTomferrari…Oh the poor corporations, cry me a river! Trust me if a Corporation wants you out to better their bottom line, your out…no matter how hard you work. Corporations are not people folks, they have no feelings, loyalty etc. nor do they care about you. The shareholders are their only concern. Thats just the way it is then and now. There is no Corporate Heaven, that is for mere mortals.
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 7:55amI’m not taking a side with anyone.
I simply pointing out that “Angry Birds” is not the CAUSE.
An employee with a poor work ethic is the employee who will PLAY ANGRY BIRDS.
THAT is all I am saying.
An employee who is busting their butt, trying to get ahead, will not be goofing off playing Angry Birds on the clock.
Personal experience?
Report Post ».
Zorro6821
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 8:42amTamerfool@ you are so brainwashed that you probably, eat, sleep, shi..t for your work. Your the kind of guy who peaks over his cubicle to snitch on somebody who is not hunched over their computer.
Report Post »Zorro6821
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 8:46amSo what…are you the worker cop. If Fed employees want to watch porn then that is their risk. If they get caught then maybe they will get paid leave. Not a bad gig. Anyways why is what other people do concern you so much?
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 4:08pmBecause I PAY THEIR SALARY !?!?
Report Post »ryguy1985
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 1:11amwatch them try to get rid of angry birds
Report Post »salvawhoray
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 11:54pmthe only thing that should be played with at work is yourself and only at lunch time.
Report Post »TheGreyPiper
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 1:06amDang straight!
Wait, huh, whaaaa..?
Report Post »Zorro6821
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 5:36amSalva…no need to get perverted. Playing with yourself at work is never right.
Report Post »heavyduty
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 11:48pmWell if they have to play it while they are suppose to be working then I would think it would be a good idea for the workers to leave their phones at the check in desk. If they don’t have a check in desk then it seems they need one. I am sure they can afford one if they are paying $35.00 an hour to the employees.
Report Post »looseyloo
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 2:16amOK, so if they don’t have a check-in desk, they should get one at the business….there are probably hundreds of thousands (at least) of businesses in this country that don’t have a check-in desk, so they will have to build one.
Then, they will have to hire some people to staff it. There will probably need to be rules about checking things in and out, and those rules will have to be written, of course. Writing up a bunch of rules would require a manager to approve them first, and then they would have to be clearly posted to make sure each employee was aware.
Now, there will be a lot of expensive smartphones that get checked in and out each day at a medium to large company, so maybe security should be hired. And insurance will be needed in case a phone gets damaged while at the check-in counter.
If people are allowed to get their phones at lunch time, that might be quite a lot of people at the same time…a couple more employees might be needed. Same for the beginning and end of the work shift.
Before long, government will step in to regulate everything, so another employee will be needed to stay on top of the regulations…
Maybe we should just let people play “Angry Birds” or solitaire, or whatever. Might be cheaper.
Report Post »PoliticiansRCrooks
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 11:46pmNo people have nothing better to do than stare at there phones.
Report Post »endgamer
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 11:41pm$35.00 an hour? I wish!
Report Post »lketchum
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 11:48pmavg. of smartphone owners, which would include professionals earning any avg. of 72 dollars an hour – accounting for the higher avg. assocaited with smartphone owners in general.
Report Post »the hawk
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 11:54pmThis is stupid ! It could be crossword puzzels ! Sory Corporate Amercia NO-ONE works 8 hrs a day !
Report Post »theres restroom breaks, emails to your kids teacher ,WAITING For an E-mail from customer !
(Your customers on the east coast have done gone home)
But theres also recieving E-mails at home on work related issues And phone calls ! all evens out ! ! !
TheGreyPiper
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 1:11amAgree w/Hawk, it’s silly to single this out as some virulent phenomenon of the information age; even without this, people will be doing crosswords or sudoku or listening to the radio or any of a thousand other things people do to goof off at work. And that isn’t necessarily a bad thing: a little r&r through the day actually helps maintain productivity overall — considering how most people would be entirely bored and just slacking off without a little light diversion here and there through the day.
Report Post »WeeDontNeedNoSteenkinFaggots
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 11:10pmToo many CONGRESS TRAITORS are Causing LOST TRILLIONS !
Report Post »Rise up ANGRY BIRDS (American Eagles) and SCRATCH THEM OUT !!
Valerius Poplicola
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 11:02pmI don’t play Angry Birds at work. I don’t play any games at work…because I am at work hello? This isn‘t Rovio’s problem nor are they the cause. This has to do with the employee’s poor character. If you are playing a game when you should be working, you should be fired. There are a lof of people out there who are looking for work. Frankly, playing games during work is playing games with your livelihood.
Report Post »Zorro6821
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 5:26amHey man your way too serious about your work. People like you tend to get fired for being so freaky.
Report Post »Ron_WA
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 10:36pmIf there is any actual loss in productivity I’m sure it is no more than used to be lost in smoke breaks since the practice of smoking has declined over the years. If it’s not Angry Birds it’s going to be something else. Bottom line is that workers need an occasional distraction to remain productive in menial repetitive no-joy jobs.
Report Post »Salamander
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 10:52pmBe thankful if you have a menial, repetitive, no-joy job! It beats the alternative.
Report Post »broker0101
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 11:02pmSAL, I think there are far too many who would beg to differ with you. Obviously, laziness is being rewarded now more than ever. In fact, I know several skilled tradesmen that happily accept your “alternative” rather than actually working. One in particular collects over $600 per week in MN unemployment “benefits”. Guess who gets his vote every November?
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 11:05pmYea! Finding things to keep me busy around the house is my alternative to having a job.
Report Post »I WILL NO BE A COUCH POTATO!
homekeeper
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 10:34pmOk, so I must not be “in” with it because I didn’t know about this angry bird game. I did wonder what Glenn Beck was talking about when he made reference to angry birds.
Report Post »Inbred Jed
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 10:59pmDon’t start playing it. My daughter got me hooked. Although I don’t play at work I ask myself if I may be OCD. Those doggone pigs should not have taken my friends eggs !
Report Post »homekeeper
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 11:12pmToo late, I googled it and installed it and now my kid is begging to play it.
Report Post »macpappy
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 10:31pm$35.00 per hour average?
Report Post »Hell, man fire those high dollar/lazy employees and hire new people at a lower wage, and upgrade your server software.
Any employer who has people prone to do this kind of thing and does not monitor his “server relations” per work station is behind the eight ball anyway.
Mettag
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 11:40pmyou do realize this is a phone game, not a computer game right? Upgraded server wouldn’t be able to detect phone usage. Thats how we get around the internet tracking at work, smartphones!!! Actaully i waste more time surfing on my iPhone then i would on my computer because phone network is slower and screen is smaller and harder to read. If they unlocked the internet, i would be more productive!
I also wouldn’t have my phone out surfing in which to quickly check my twitter, Facebook, or play tiny tower!
Report Post »ares338
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 10:31pmIt doesn’t matter. If a person wants to screw off, he can find a multitude of ways.
Report Post »independentvoteril
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 10:19pmwell I play angry birds when I am waiting like at the doctors.. I do not however work.. my husband does .. but he doesn’t play.. so I guess that would be only 1/2 accurate on the hourly pay and if the person is at work.. the person who pays the bill is at work but he’s NOT the one playing..
Report Post »broker0101
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 10:33pmI hope you show your husband the level of gratitude he deserves for affording you such a nice life.
Report Post »broker0101
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 9:58pm$35/Hr as an average smartphone owner’s hourly pay?????? Baaaaaahahahahahahahah!!!!!!!! I guarantee that the majority welfare/foodstamps/SS Disability recipients have smartphones. After all, that sort of thing is a basic human right, isn’t it?
Report Post »Lowgo1981
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 10:33pmExactly. 35$ is definitely not accurate. I make good money, but if my work didnt provide me with a smartphone I wouldnt have one. However, I know at least a dozen people who have no jobs at all and have a smartphone. I’m sure they are playing Angry Birds.
Report Post »Mettag
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 11:42pmremember wage plus benefits is usually how these are calculated. You may make $20/hour but get an additional $15/hour in benefits.
Report Post »Zorro6821
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 8:31amActually most people living in poverty don’t have smart phones. When you own a smart phone you must pay for an internet package that starts around $85 – 100 per month. That would eat up most of their monthly income.
Report Post »oldironsides
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 9:57pmI am sure you can increase these figures exponentially for government employees -
Report Post »I had a gov. worker tell me how excited she was to get a smart phone because now she could watch TV at work.
HuckleberryFriend
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 9:54pmMan, must be nice to work at a job where you have time to idly play games instead of work and still get paid.
Report Post »Mettag
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 11:42pmit is….
Report Post »squeaker
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 1:06amHmmmmmmm… Ozero has been doing it…. just sayin… lol
Report Post »broker0101
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 9:49pmNo. That loss of production (if it exists) is due to Stupidity, not some smart phone app. Sadly, that accurate diagnosis will never be allowed to be expressed in today’s America, which is why our Representative Republic is dissolving before our eyes. It was fun while it lasted, though.
Report Post »Exrepublisheep
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 9:47pm1.50? Not too bad.
Report Post »broker0101
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 10:44pmSure. I‘d bet President Obama’s last bowel movement cost the country more than $1.5 billion.
Report Post »AWAKENEDAWARE
Posted on September 14, 2011 at 9:46pmTHREE HUNDRED DOWNLOADS? Damn, ain’t this site got an editor, yo?
Report Post »Zorro6821
Posted on September 15, 2011 at 8:39amThat is what I thought. I would probably put the number at 300 million downloads. Now the guy who created the program was smart. He obviously was not some working shlub but a lazy nerd living in his parents basement coming up with a great Idea. Good for him! He thinks out of the box and does not punch a clock and work 60 hours a week. Smart people always win the day. This kid probably made his first million before most people at their boring jobs found about angry birds. Now that is the America I love and know.
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