As advertising has moved away from the more interruptive broadcast model to the interactive engagement model, games have become a place where brands can easily play a role in, and add value to, a consumer’s experience.

Gaming has evolved into a mass-market activity, with an equal proportion of men and women spending their leisure time playing games. 

Gaming is moving away from that male-geek stereotype and into the family fun-time realm, as seen with the evolution of gaming consoles into entertainment systems. 

Advertising within this growing medium is a viable route to reaching an increasingly hard to reach audience in an era of media fragmentation. 

Provided the advertising in the game is appropriate to the gaming environment and relevant to the target audience, it will serve to enhance the experience for the gamer. 

In game advertising is all about adding realism to the game or world the player is immersed in, making their experience more realistic and therefore more valuable. Consumers have a positive attitude towards advertising within games; in fact, the majority of young audiences agree that it can make a brand more credible. 

For the advertiser, the impact comes in the form of brand visibility, and potentially brand interaction (depending on the game and type of advertising within it).  The benefit is in the potential for creative media placement; the advertiser is helping to create entertainment and enhance the game-playing experience – if this is achieved, there can be tremendous lasting effects in various brand metrics.

Speaking of metrics, in-game advertising is delivered and measured in a different way than any other media. 

Impressions are counted based on three factors – the amount of time the ad is visible on the screen, the angle of the ad when viewed by the player, and the amount of space on the screen the ad takes up.  On average, there are about 12 opportunities to see the ad for every one impression counted. 

Overall, there is a lack of consistency in impression delivery and counting with in-game advertising providers, which can make it difficult to measure the impact of this media – on it’s own as well as in relation to other media - and develop benchmarks over time.

As with the internet years ago, as more advertisers begin to use the medium and recognize the opportunity within it the demand will have to be met for consistency in measuring the impact and ROI, which will help to further the growth and appeal of the medium.

Jenny Zirinsky
Digital Director, OMD International

When people play games for example FIFA (football game) it will use sponsorships on shirts, sponsors in the football stadium. Many people do not see it as advertising they see it as the norm. This is a powerful way to create a strong awareness.