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PC In-GAME ADVERTISING REVENUE TO TOP $400 MILLION
BY 2009
Male Gamers 18-34 More Open to Ads
Video games have become as much a part of the entertainment culture in
the U.S. as movies and television, but publishers haven’t capitalized on
advertising opportunities to the extent of other mediums.
In 2005, U.S. Internet gamer households received about $0.10 worth of
advertisement-supported gaming content on a monthly basis, compared to $50
worth of TV content. According to Parks Associates, a leading market
research firm covering the interactive entertainment industry, PC in-game
advertising will increase from $80 million in 2005 to more than $400
million in 2009.
Today, most in-game ads exist in the automotive, food and beverage,
apparel and lifestyle industries — advertising aimed at the so-called core
gamers, males 18-34.
“In-game advertising, currently in its infancy, is poised to grow,”
Yuanzhe (Michael) Cai, director of broadband and gaming, said. “Games
are now an important form of family entertainment. Advertisers will soon
realize they can reach the whole family using this medium. More and more
adults play video games with their children and teens are even playing
games with their parents. In addition, the 35-54 female gamers, who spend
tens of hours playing casual games every month, are undermonetized.”
Parks Associates’ market insights are based on
Electronic
Gaming in the Digital Home, an online survey of more than 2,000
Internet gamers who have Internet access and play games at least one hour
per month on a console, portable console or PC.
Cai revealed the results of the survey at the Game Advertising Summit
presented by the Game Developers Conference Friday, June 9 in San
Francisco.
According to Parks’ research, demographics groups vary widely in their
perception of in-game advertising:
- Males 18 – 34 are more open to seeing advertising than other age
groups-29% say they would not mind seeing ads in games as long as it
helps enhance game play, compared to only 19% among female gamers 35-54
- However, the percentage of gamers willing to put up with ads in
games if there is a chance to win prizes is similar among these two
groups (38 percent among 18-34 male and 35 percent among 35-54 female)
Men and women also differ about what is the least intrusive approach to
in-game advertising. Almost half of men 18-34 (49 percent) prefer product
placement over pre-game ads (22 percent) and in-game bulletin boards (18
percent). Women 35-54 prefer pre-game ads (42 percent) by a slim margin
over product placement (36 percent) and between-level ad placement (13
percent).
In addition, gamers revealed through the survey that they expect a
discount on game prices in exchange for seeing ads and the expected
discount ranged from 31 percent for gamers ages 13-17 to 58 percent for
women 55 and older.
For more information about this study or the gaming market, please
visit www.parksassociates.com
or e-mail
sales@parksassociates.com.
About Parks Associates: Parks Associates is an
internationally recognized market research and consulting company specializing
in emerging consumer technology products and services. Founded in 1986, Parks
Associates creates research capital for companies ranging from Fortune 500 to
small start-ups through market reports, primary studies, consumer research,
custom research, workshops, executive conferences, and annual service
subscriptions.
The company's expertise includes new media, digital
entertainment and gaming, home networks, Internet and television services,
digital health, mobile applications and services, consumer electronics, and home
control systems and security.
Each year, Parks Associates hosts executive thought
leadership conferences CONNECTIONS™, with support from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA®), and CONNECTIONS™ Europe. In addition, Parks
Associates produces the online publication Industry Insights in
conjunction with the CONNECTIONS™ Conference series.
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