Videogame Ads Attempt Next Level
No Longer Just Old Photos, New Technique Uses Sound, Motion to Reach Young Men
By CHRISTOPHER LAWTON
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
July 25, 2005; Page B6
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112224468814094387,00.html?mod=technology%5Ffeatured%5Fstories%5Fhs
Advertising in videogames, dominated in the past by static ads such as
billboards and signposts, is beginning to look more like TV commercials.
For the past few weeks, Massive Inc., a New York company that distributes
ads in videogames, has been testing an ad with full motion and sound in a
science-fiction game called Anarchy Online. Today, Massive will roll out
the full-motion ad capability to advertisers generally.
Massive rolled out a new capability that allows advertisers to run
full-motion ads in video games.
Massive's move comes less than a year after it created a stir in the
videogame-advertising industry by offering advertisers the chance to insert
still ads into videogames played on Internet-connected computers. Massive
uses the Internet to insert ads into spaces in the games. The ads can also
be changed and withdrawn whenever the advertisers want. The technique was a
big step forward for videogame advertising, which previously was restricted
to ads inserted into games while the games were made. Because games can
take up to a couple of years to be designed, this required advertisers to
put their ads into games well before the games' release.
The game-insertion technology opened the door for a broader array of
marketers to promote their products on videogames. These ads are
particularly suitable for Hollywood studios wanting to promote movies a
week before their release date or retailers promoting holiday sales,
Massive Chief Executive Mitchell Davis says. He says Massive has sold space
to 35 advertisers, including Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures.
Finding better ways to advertise in videogames is extremely important for
many marketers, particularly those selling products aimed at young men, who
often spend more time playing videogames than watching television. To be
sure, the money spent on ads in videogames is currently only a drop in the
bucket compared with television -- $10 million compared with $10 billion on
TV advertising aimed at young men, according to estimates from Harris
Nesbitt Equity Research. But advertising in videogames is growing fast and
expected to reach $92 million by 2008, according to Yankee Group, a global
technology-research firm.
"We know the 17 to 34 audience, the male audience, is elusive and quite
difficult to reach through traditional broadcast. ... It is incumbent upon
us to find ways to reach them," says Gerry Rich, president of world-wide
marketing for Paramount Pictures.
The introduction of full-motion ads on games gives advertisers more
options. Massive's Mr. Davis says Hollywood movie studios have shown
particular interest in running 15-second movie trailers in online games.
Mr. Rich says Paramount may be interested in such ads, but emphasized that
the content of any such ads shouldn't turn off gamers.
To be sure, Massive's ad-insertion technique has some limits. Massive is so
far inserting ads only into computer games connected to the Internet,
rather than games played on any of the more popular consoles like Sony
Corp.'s PlayStation, Nintendo Co.'s GameCube and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox. A
little more than a quarter of young men surveyed by Activision Inc. and
Nielsen Media Research played videogames online.
Massive says its technology works for both online games and consoles, but
it hasn't yet negotiated a deal allowing for ad-insertion in console games.
Mr. Davis says he hopes to strike a console game deal soon. Edward
Williams, managing director at Harris Nesbitt Equity Research in New York,
says the videogame ads won't take off until console games are included.
One problem with the full-motion ads is that gamers can easily avoid
watching them. The full-motion ads start playing when a player moves near
the ad spot on the screen -- and stop playing when the player moves away.
As a result, gamers may see only a few seconds of the 15-second ads.
Massive says it won't charge advertisers unless the full ad has been viewed.
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post.
_______________________________________________
MEDIANEWS mailing list
[email protected]
To unsubscribe send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
