The leading figures in the in-game advertising market discuss the opportunities this exciting space offers.

Tuesday, 29 April 2008

Video games are an ultimate form of escapism and pure enjoyment that has over 250 million people hooked worldwide. The innovative release of the Nintendo Wii has also brought a new physical gaming experience to all ages and contributed to the industry now being worth $40 billion.

At our most recent seminar, ‘In game advertising’, we invited Tom Hosking of Massive, Jean Paul Edwards from Manning Gottleib OMD and Double Fusion’s David Miller to explain to advertisers why gaming is an arena not to be ignored when marketing to brands.

Tom Hoskings outlined how peoples’ habits have changed, game playing is now rivaling TV in terms of the audiences it attracts. Men, however, still make up the large proportion of hard core gamers. Massive undertook research that compared male players and male non-players, findings demonstrated men who play games carry higher interests in sports and purchase more entertainment goods on a regular basis. The use of ‘dynamic advertising’ – an advert within a game, possibly a billboard, that when the user is connected to the internet can be refreshed on a regular basis - built into games is an extremely effective way to reach this audience.

Hoskings also added that there is an array of multi-genre video games available, offering marketers the chance to advertise in games relevant to their brand, for example a recruitment ad from the British Intelligence was placed in the tactical shooting game Rainbow Six: Vegas. We are so used to being bombarded by advertising in our everyday lives that video games set within the real world benefit from having brands placed in them as it adds realism to the virtual environment, enhancing the game play for consumers.

Jean Paul Edward’s presentation focused on the realism advertising brings to games and the success brands have experienced from being present ‘in-game’; “car companies would usually have tended to stay away from games, but now they depend on them.” The car manufacturer Nissan invests highly in appearing in car sport games to promote new cars from their range, to engage with their heavily male-based demographic.

David Miller concentrated on the rapidly growing casual games market casual gamers now online. Casual games are ad-funded, free to play games of high quality that carry rich media ads and regularly attract over 200 million gamers each month. Women represent a 51% share of the casual gaming market and have a ‘broader take on games’. Miller outlined how women are more willing to play a number of different games, whereas men will normally stick to their favourite genre games. This is a key area where women can be easily targeted, along with executional options available in the casual games. Casual games offer a terrific opportunity to reach a large female market.

Kieron Matthews then opened up for questions from the audience:

Where do in-game advertising ideas originate from, advertisers, developers or the publishers?

The panelists agreed that ideas can come from anywhere. Tom Hosking’s said ‘developers may create a bespoke game with certain advertisers in mind’, but advertisers have recognised this as a solid revenue stream so will get involved with a new game in the planning stages to allow for full integration.

What are the average lead times for adverts to be placed in games?

David Miller replied that an average turn around for an advertiser wanting to insert ads in a game would take no longer than 3 weeks, however in special cases it could only take a matter of days for the ad to be placed if approval within the advertiser was granted quickly. There are cases within blockbuster games where a 6 month or longer advance may be needed for ads to be placed within games, Jean Paul Edward added.

The seminar emphasised how in-game advertising - despite still being a relatively new discipline - can offer marketers the chance to target specific and engaged consumers with relevant adverts. A number of brands are experiencing terrific returns on their investment in the in-game space. If marketers are not at least considering how much time their target consumers are spending playing games and the ways their brand could work in the in-game space, they might be missing a considerable opportunity.

• For more information please read our in-game advertising handbook.