Nielsen recently researched the effects of in-game advertising on buying habits. Working with EA on behalf of Gatorade, they found that in-game ads for the energy drink increased household dollars spent on Gatorade by 24 percent, and offered a return on investment of $3.11

This is the first time that this type of sales lift analysis has been done for advertising within video games and it s all part of our efforts to help marketers better understand the potential of advertising in the gaming space, said Gerardo Guzman of Nielsen. In this case the story is simple dollars put into video game product placement result in more retail dollars.

Source: Blog.Nielsen.com