New Report Focuses On In-Game Advertising
A new report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has just been published which focuses on the in-game advertising market.
The IAB says that almost all of the experts it spoke to when compiling the report identified the lack of standardized metrics across the networks as a crucial issue that needs addressing.
The advertising body also found that there was some disagreement as to whether in-game advertising can be thought of as a medium in its own right.
However, there was agreement by all parties that “if a campaign incorporates an element of in-game marketing, the creative should be bespoke for the games environment”.
It recommended that advertisers should take into account the opportunities that games present, making it essential that in-game ads should be planned and executed with these features in mind.
The report quotes figures from PricewaterhouseCoopers which show that video gaming is an industry set to be worth $55 billion in the next two years, up from $25 billion in 2005.
The IAB found that game players are not afraid to complain if they see advertisers as intruding into the game-playing space, and will soon voice their concerns amongst their peers in the gaming community.
The majority of game players are seen as more savvy than the average consumer, and, according to the IAB, are well aware of the “imbalance in the advertiser/consumer relationship – the advertisers need them far more than they need marketing messages within the gaming experience”.
In contrast to this though, the IAB also noted that the presence of commonplace brands inside the video game world is sometimes not even considered marketing by many game players.
Of course with the recent release of the Playstation 3 – following the Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360 into the marketplace – the next generation of consoles are now with us, and the figure of 37 million active gamers in the UK, Germany and Spain in 2005, quoted by GameVision Europe, is almost certain to have grown.
Recent research from the Nielsen Company said that the number of video game consoles in US television households has expanded by 18.5% since the fourth quarter of 2004 (see Number Of Games Consoles In US TV Households Increases).
The IAB report says that in-game advertising is a tool which is currently not being used to its full by potential by brands, with advertisers needing to be aware that it is not enough to run outdoor or TV ads within a game.
Many online companies are making moves in the world of in-game advertising though. Last week, Google bought in-game advertising firm Adscape in a deal rumoured to be worth around $23 million.
Google said of the purchase: “We think this rich environment is a perfect medium to deliver relevant, targeted advertising that ultimately benefits the user, the video game publisher and the advertiser.”
No discussion of in-game advertising is complete without mentioning massively multiplayer online games (MMOG) with the IAB pointing out that the most popular of these, World Of Warcraft now has 8 million players worldwide.
In a separate report published last week, Screen Digest revealed that the market value for massively multiplayer online games in the West hit $1bn for the first time in 2006 (see Multiplayer Online Games Market Sees Value Grow).
When averaging out predictions from the Yankee Group, Forrester, Citi, IDC and SIG, the IAB says that the in-game advertising market is estimated to be worth $1.2 billion by 2010, adding that “Before its true growth potential can be assessed, however, more research needs to be conducted to prove the effectiveness and value of the sector”.