In-game Advertising to Hit $1.94 Billion
In-game Advertising to Hit $1.94 Billion
By Tom Ivan Print | Send to a friend | Email the editor
A new report forecasts that global in-game advertising will rise by almost 23% a year for the next five years, reaching a figure of $1.94 billion by 2011.
Image Essentially this is because the video games market is currently booming and advertisers are keen to exploit the possibilities presented by such a vast amount of players. A widening of the traditional video game playing demographic, including an increase in male and especially female adult players (who hold the majority of decision making buying power in the US), the prominence of online gaming, and technological innovations allowing far more flexibility with regard to how, where and when adverts are embedded into games are increasingly enticing marketers to the medium.
The increase in casual gaming is also cited as a key factor in the proliferation of in-game advertising. A major proponent of in-game advertising, RealNetworks has implemented a streaming video advertising model for use in their casual games to great success. As a result it reports that advertisers have received click through ratings averaging 10% and an average 74% completion rate for the ads.
