In-Game Ads are ok

Thanks to Media Week for this article:

IGA: Most Gamers Cool With In-Game Ads
Ads pack more wallop for brands than ads appearing in traditional media
June 17, 2008
-By Mike Shields

The vast majority of gamers are fine with seeing ads placed within video games, and those ads pack more wallop for brands than ads appearing in traditional media, according to comprehensive new study released by top vendor IGA Worldwide.

IGA, which works with game publishers such as EA and Activision to insert both permanent and rotation ads within video games played via an Internet connection, last year tapped Nielsen BASES and Nielsen Games to conduct a in-depth six month examination of the impact of in-game advertising using traditional brand effectiveness measures such as awareness and recall.

The report, Consumers’ Experience with In-Game Content & Brand Impact of In-Game Advertising Study, includes responses from nearly 1,300 gamers surveyed using IGA’s proprietary software while playing games in their homes, with participation from the advertisers Taco Bell, Jeep and Wrigley.

The report found that 82 percent of respondents found games to be just as enjoyable if ads were present. Of the respondents that claimed to most opinionated on the subject, 70 percent said that ads made them feel better about the brands involved.

In fact, the brands that participated enjoyed a litany of encouraging results, says IGA. The survey found that advertisers running in-game ad campaigns saw an average of 44 percent increase in recall when compared to awareness prior to their exposure in the game. In addition, participating brands enjoyed an average 33 percent increase in positive brand attribute association.

According to IGA Worldwide CEO Justin Townsend, the research confirms many of the commonly made assumptions about the in-game ad industry. “Gamers like in game ads when done in a contextually relevant way and there is no arguing that,” he said.

But whether or not in-game ads are accepted is one thing. What’ crucial as the medium seeks more acceptance from top brands is whether they work. To ensure the study could that, Chris Morf, IGA’s director of corporate development said it was important that IGA examined campaigns in multiple games for multiple brands, rather than presenting a single case study. Plus, because the matched survey data with real game play, IGA was able to drill down to see the drop off in effectiveness for ads that received minimal exposure during actual games vs ads that received a large amount of impressions.

Townsend believes that the results make clear the medium’s power as a branding vehicle. “One of the key things that for any new industry is to have research like this out there,” he said. “We’ve delivered results that are unheard of in traditional media. This is something that media buyers can take to decision makers and given them the comfort they need to start increasing budgets and frequencies.”

“We’re trying to reinforce in-game advertising as a premium medium,” he added.
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/digital-downloads/gaming/e3i8d91a7147083886bfb91a8ee5978c1a7