Good News about advertising in games?

[Evangolis]

Ads in games can be persuasive, study shows

Players like them when they're relevant, but inappropriate ads annoy

Updated: 12:30 p.m. ET Dec. 5, 2005

LOS ANGELES - Ads in video games can have a major influence on whether people buy products and recommend them to friends, a new study by Nielsen Entertainment concludes.

Nielsen has been studying advertising in games for more than a year in a joint project with game publisher Activision Inc.

Previous studies have shown that static ads in games, such as a billboard or blimp, or integrated advertising, such as a car a player must drive, can improve awareness of a brand in the same way as a 30-second TV spot.

But a new study released Monday shows that when ads are on screen long enough and are highly integrated in the game, they can make players feel more positive about a product.

"There's a whole new variable here," Nielsen Senior Vice President Michael Dowling said about the persuasive aspect of in-game advertising.

Game publishers have been trying to find a standard measurement of awareness so they can charge in the same way that television and other advertising is sold.

"Here is this medium that has more consumption by males 18-34 than television today," said Robert A. Kotick, chairman and chief executive of Activision, based in Santa Monica. "So if you just measure awareness, we can do better."

Nielsen's study included 1,350 male gamers between the ages of 13 and 44. The participants were split into four groups that played games with ads and two groups that played the same games without ads.

Three other groups watched TV shows, some with traditional ads, some with product placements and some with no advertising.

The study found that when ads were relevant to the game, the ads could remain on screen longer and resulted in a high percentage of brand awareness. Players surveyed after 20 minutes of game playing also said they would be highly likely to recommend an advertised product to a friend.

The study showed that products can make games more realistic. But ads done in a way the player interprets as inappropriate can also annoy.

It was short, so I just pasted the article.  What sticks out to me is that key to the success of ads is that they be well integrated and compatible with the game, which seems to me to be a win-win, providing a secondary revenue stream while potentially enhancing the game itself by adding consistency to the environment.

[HaemishM]

In other words, soulless marketing fucks state the obvious one more time. 

I kid, I kid.

[voodoolily]

omg this is totally true. Last night when Sauced and I were playing We  Katamari I totally started craving ramen. And I ended up making some for dinner. I know it's not the same as a product placement for Nissin that made me go out and buy some, but suggestion is still powerful.

I even put prawns and a slice of hardboiled egg on top and everything.

[Dren]

Some games make me nauseous.  Do they have subliminal ads for Pepto Bismal?

[Slyfeind]

I just got done playing Anarchy Online an hour ago. I saw ads for the US Navy, Fantastic 4 on DVD, and the new Usher album.

I just watched some TV about 10 minutes ago. I can't remember any of the ads.

I really don't mind advertising in gaming at all, even if it's really obvious, like you get in a car, and it's a Saab, and the jingle plays "ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM! Yeaaaah zoom zoom zoom." But I really don't like pop-ups of any kind, even if they had nothing to do with advertising and everything to do with the game.

If my character has to eat McDonald's food, I'm cool with that, and might just get hungry for a Big Mac. But if the McDonalds in the game says "Please enter your zip code to find the McDonalds nearest you!" Then it's time to force-quit and uninstall the damn thing. (Or just not buy it to begin with.)

[MorJadedThnU]

If my character has to eat McDonald's food, I'm cool with that, and might just get hungry for a Big Mac. But if the McDonalds in the game says "Please enter your zip code to find the McDonalds nearest you!" Then it's time to force-quit and uninstall the damn thing. (Or just not buy it to begin with.)

Hey /pizza /pizza /pizza! :)

I am not sure how many more babanas Dole sold after the heavy product placement in Super Monkey Ball though. But product placement is older, including product-games like Cool Spot (7-Up) on the Amiga way back when.

[Shockeye]

But product placement is older, including product-games like Cool Spot (7-Up) on the Amiga way back when.

Don't forget Avoid the Noid.

[HaemishM]

I just got done playing Anarchy Online an hour ago. I saw ads for the US Navy, Fantastic 4 on DVD, and the new Usher album.

I just watched some TV about 10 minutes ago. I can't remember any of the ads.

I wonder if it isn't because of the relative newness of ads in games as opposed to the fact that we have been used to switching our attention off (or getting up to go to the john) from TV ads for years.

[eldaec]

Novelty makes ads more effective.

Young men with above average disposable income often play computer games.

Who knew?



Now where do I pick up my $200k fee?

[Pococurante]

Now where do I pick up my $200k fee?

Clicky here...

[fnddf2]

Another point that this article brings up is about specifically targetted advertising.  Only show people the things that they are interested in as individuals.

I suspect that advertisers have known this for a while, but it was difficult to get really specific information about any one individual until computers came along.  Nowadays, the log everything about you.  Not advertisers, necessarily, but companies that provide aggregation as a service.

Internet ads are a good example of ads that are aimed at specific individuals.  I heard somewhere that Tivo was going to (or is, maybe) offer their data of what people record/watch to advertisers for relevant ad placement.  You see this kind of advertising happen all over Amazon.com.

I wonder if I would start watching more commercials if they catered more to my tastes.

[Stephen Zepp]

I know everyone hates Cruise, but Vanilla Sky had a pretty good walkthrough area that was the epitome of focused advertising. I think it was Vanilla Sky anyway...some Cruise flick.

[schild]

I know everyone hates Cruise, but Vanilla Sky had a pretty good walkthrough area that was the epitome of focused advertising. I think it was Vanilla Sky anyway...some Cruise flick.

Minority Report.

[Sky]

I don't watch tv commercials. Luckily the HD channels generally don't have them. When watching SD, I usually watch two or three shows so I have something to switch to when a commercial comes on. I'm a bad capitalist in general, though.

Players surveyed after 20 minutes of game playing also said they would be highly likely to recommend an advertised product to a friend.

This is why I don't ask people their opinion on things.

[Kitsune]

Who recommends things to their friends based solely on an ad?  I call survey bullshit on this.  I bet it was a 'on a scale of one to ten, with one being the least likely and ten being the most likely, would you recommend this product to your friends?' question, that kind of idiotic survey question that makes everyone shrug and fill in the seven box.

[eldaec]

Who recommends things to their friends based solely on an ad?

People who buy Madden do all sorts of crazy shit.