Internet Advertising Bureau UK establishes game advertising council upon industry request.
Launch of latest collaborative group brings IAB council total to 17.
The Internet Advertising Bureau – the trade body for UK digital marketing – has announced plans to establish a Game Advertising Council to educate marketers and ease adoption of advertising in and around video games.
Taking the lead from IAB US who launched their own Game Council last year, the creation of a group dedicated to game advertising in the UK has been driven by numerous requests from the marketplace and IAB members, as well as advertisers keen to learn more about the medium.
This brings the number of IAB UK Councils to 17 as they further extend their remit to represent every area of online communication as the industry develops. In order to represent every part of the value chain, the trade body will be enlisting game publishers, technology providers and senior experts from agencies to form the Council.
Video games continue to grow rapidly in terms of audience usage and advertiser investment and are a mainstream platform already, in the US alone, advertisers spent roughly $55 million on dynamic in-game advertising in 2008, according to Screen Digest. Online games, casual games, new controllers and new devices such as mobile phones, are all contributing to this growth and the role of the IAB UK Council will be to present these opportunities to the marketing community in a digestible format.
One of the first objectives of the UK group will be the IAB US in-game measurement standards – released on Monday at their Game Marketplace event in San Francisco – to evaluate their suitability in the UK market. Further initiatives including educational materials, events and industry research are planned over the next 12 months.
Jack Wallington, senior programmes manager for the IAB and coordinator of the Game Advertising Council said: “Gaming is one of the largest, most immersive and engaging entertainment platforms in the world, yet remains totally misunderstood by a large part of the market.
“The US gaming industry is thriving, and we’re seeing some strong parallels over here in the UK. With the US gaining universal agreement on their in-game measurement standard, this is just the ticket for advertisers to make even more of game advertising and something we hope to replicate in the UK through our Game Advertising Council.”
For more information contact:
Jack Wallington, senior programmes manager, IAB, jack@iabuk.net
Amy Kean, senior PR and marketing manager, IAB, amy@iabuk.net
