In-game advertising has clearly been in the spotlight of late, practically guaranteeing publishers new revenue streams if they begin implementing these ads in their games. However, global communications planning and implementation agency Mediaedge:cia warns that using in-game ads in situations that aren't appropriate could alienate the very audience marketers are attempting to target.
A new study has confirmed what has become a bit of a mantra in the in-game ad business: all in-game marketing must be handled with care. Although AdWatch doesn't want to oversell the importance of video games as an ad medium (this marks the fourth consecutive column that has addressed the subject), it is clearly something that could profoundly help or hinder publishers, based on the care they take in the implementation of in-game ads.
A new report released by Mediaedge:cia has taken a closer look at the "do's & don'ts" of in-game ad implementation. Virtually all of the young companies in the space have their own public (or internal) "code of ethics" for what will and won't fly with gamers, with this report "proving" that common knowledge, as well as putting a slight damper on the skyrocketing revenue expectations that have cropped up in the past 12 months.
"Taking an ad formula and applying it across categories and brands... You may end up doing more harm than good," Fran Kennish, Mediaedge:cia director of strategic planning"
Enhance, Don't Interrupt
Mediaedge:cia's primary message was that "using games simply to 'reach' or interrupt people cannot be regarded as an effective use of a channel with such potential." Instead, the best in-game ads are there to enhance the realism of an already realistic experience. As game makers strive to further blur the lines between their created fictional world and the real world, advertising has become a bit of a stumbling block. Real-world cities are filled with advertising messages, so an ad-free virtual city can actually take gamers out of the immersive experience. Creating fake logos for fake companies has an equally jarring effect.
This is also why implementing ads on an extremely large sale will forever be a more significant problem in video games than other mediums. "Taking an ad formula and applying it across categories and brands...that's not the way to go. You may end up doing more harm than good," Mediaedge:cia director of strategic planning Fran Kennish told MediaWeek.
Industry leader Massive has chosen to use pure manpower to overcome the problem. The company employs a team of people who work hands-on with every single ad placement in every level of every game, to ensure that the advertisement is enhancing and not detracting from the experience, via setting the proper lighting, colors, etc. It seems likely that as the space grows a more streamlined solution will be developed, but it isn't likely that in-game ads will be as simple and easy to drop into place as a 30-second TV spot, due to the sensitivity of the medium.
DoubleFusion founder and Executive Vice President Guy Bendov told GameDAILY BIZ in October that the extra care that must be taken to ensure the ads are an enriching experience is exactly what makes them more effective, in the end.
"I believe the response to in-game ads has been so much more positive than the response to advertising in other mediums because it doesn't interrupt or delay the experience," Bendov said. "In television for example, advertising stops the show. In-game ads are more like product placement on TV, which isn't seen in the negative light that commercials are."
Revenue Expectations
How big the in-game ad space is (and will grow to be) varies according to whom you ask. Massive CEO Mitch Davis thinks revenue will explode to $2.5 billion by 2010, while the Yankee Group estimates a (possibly) more realistic $800 million by 2009. Even that more conservative estimate might just outpace reality, according to Mediaedge:cia's study.
The report (which doesn't present its own revenue expectation) is far from all doom and gloom. The primary concern is that growth will be slowed by the aforementioned extreme level of customization necessary for each and every ad placement. The idea of such hands-on, continual work is not an attractive one to corporations used to the (relatively) simple TV, film, and radio ad buys. Still, with more and more of that key young male demographic spending increasing amounts of time with gaming, it's inevitable that the space is going to grow, and grow quickly. How quickly is what has proven difficult to predict.
