In 2005, spending on in-game advertising was USD$56 million, and this figure is estimated to grow to $1.8 billion by 2010 according to Massive Incorporated, although Yankee Group gives a lower estimate at $732 million.
Check out the two videos below to see how in-game advertising (product placement, in fact) currently looks like – you’ll agree it’s nothing glamorous so far. In-game advertising is still a vaste untapped resource of targeted audiences but nobody seems to have figured exactly how to do it, or has developed the technology.
Always Sunny ads in an Xbox game:
The Simpsons, Ford, Verizon, Subway, BIC and others in EA Skate game (US version):
Relevant ad metrics are practically inexistant for in-game ads at the moment and will continue to be so until suitable technologies are developed – something that will most likely open a can of worms in terms of data collection and privacy concerns.
With consumers being increasingly aware of privacy issues and not willing to provide much profiling and usage data, one could expect agencies to have a hard time including in-game ads in their clients’ media plans – once the novelty wears off, there is little justification to spend money on something with unquantifiable benefits.
