Video games have long attractive the coveted 18-34 male demographic. However, advertising in games isn’t as high a priority as television or even the Internet.
“It is clear that as an advertising medium, video games are underutilized,” says DFC Intelligence’s new Advertising and Video Games report. “The amount of advertising revenue flowing into video games pales in comparison to other media. Particularly, when compared to the amount of leisure time accounted for by games.”
DFC does, however, foresee advertising growth for games over the next several years eventually reaching $7.2 billion globally in 2016. North America had $1 billion in game ad spending in 2010, which is expected to be over $2 billion by 2014.
“Video games have reached beyond adolescent males into a mainstream entertainment medium that touches every segment of the population,” said DFC analyst and lead researcher Michael Goodman. “Despite this, advertisers continue to under utilize video games as an advertising vehicle. This is slowly changing as more games go online. Consumers are inundated with advertising, and marketers’ messages are lost in the clutter. Video games, with their high degree of immersion and interactivity, are a natural solution for building brand awareness and influencing purchase decisions.”
Around-game advertising is expected to drive growth along with advergames rather than in-game advertising. DFC estimates that by 2016, advergames and around-game advertising are expected to account for about 78 percent of total game advertising revenue.
Source: IndustryGamers
