Advergaming and Ingame Advertising: An Introduction

The greatest challenge to advertisers is gaining and maintaining eyeball time of the target audience. They use every gimmick to capture the attention of potential customers. The latest weapon in the advertiser’s arsenal is games. The process of blending advertisements into games is creating tremendous hype in the industry. Games – video, Internet, console, PC – which were considered geek boys’ toys are now successful tools to breakthrough the media clutter. The two variants of in-game product placements include advertising around the game (Advergaming) and advertising in the game (In-Game Advertising). This new marketing concept is gaining popularity, as the young tech savvy generation is increasingly connected to the Internet through computers and wireless devices such as mobile phones. The world of advergaming has opened up new business models and exciting advertising opportunities. According to Yankee Group, a Boston-based research firm, the advergaming industry is expected to reach a figure of $312.2 million by 2009. This book explores games as an advertising medium. It looks at the current and potential market for advergaming, the trends, and examines its effectiveness as an advertising tool. It also tries to give some insight into the players’ receptiveness to in-game ads and advergames. The book further expands on the emerging trends and applications in this promising area.