“Advertisements in video games are becoming as common as billboards on
For example, golfers swing Nike clubs in EA’s “Tiger Woods PGA Golf Tour” and “Madden Football” is played in a fully branded stadium. “Everquest II” players can order a pie from Pizza Hut and skaters in “Tony Hawk” text on Nokia phones.
Many ad agencies still think of video games as a young male adolescent pursuit. But Stolar, now Google’s game industry evangelist, believes that will soon change. “This is going to be an ongoing education for publishers, developers and advertisers,” he said. “It’s a vision that’s just starting to evolve.” In fact, casual gamers are over three-quarters female, and are open to alternative business models, expressing broad support for advertising - eight of ten are willing to view an ad in return for free play, according to a survey by Macrovision.
Indeed, there is tremendous growth in the audience for games. The latest numbers from NPD show that video game sales increased 31% from last June to $1.1 billion this year. Advertisers are expected to spend $183 million this year to pitch their real-world products in video games, according to Yankee Group, which predicts in-game ad spending will reach nearly $1 billion by 2011. Microsoft and Google have snapped up smaller companies that broker in-game advertising, hoping to cash in on the burgeoning trend.
via LA Times (07.30)
Related articles:
Future Bright for Ad-Supported Casual Gaming [MediaBuyerPlanner]
Google to Bring AdSense to Web-Based Casual Games [Marketing Vox]
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1 University Update - Tiger Woods - In-Game Ads: Growing, Growing… // Aug 14, 2007 at 12:20 pm
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2 » Getting Hits with the Wii » Next Great Thing // Oct 2, 2007 at 8:42 am
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