From eMarketer:
By 2013, marketers will spend a total of $681 million on in-game advertising, up from $403 million in 2008, per eMarketer. During the forecast period, the relative mix of console/PC-based and Web-based advertising will shift slightly toward the latter, with 75 percent of the total spent online in 2013.
eMarketer has an interesting theory regardiung in-game advertising that, while console and PC in-game advertisements will continue to grow ($117 million in 2008 versus a projected $170 million by 2013), browser-based games will show a larger increase of its share ($286 million in 2008 to $511 million in 2013).
They point to the increased acceptance of gamers playing free games in exchange for exposure to advertising, rather than the slower acceptance of seeing ads and product placement in console games they’ve already spent money on.
After playing the free 1 vs. 100 on Xbox Live, we have to wonder if they jumped the gun here. The free-to-play game show has ample advertising from Sprint and Honda, and is now the #7 game being played on Xbox Live.
Not only are the advertisers presented in a way most browser-based games are incapable of doing, but the robust experience has already made this game show crack a top ten notorious for its hardcore Call of Duty, Halo and Gears of War mainstays.
