InGameAdvertising
Latest
Microsoft's NUAds interactive advertising to harness powers of Kinect, 'change television as we know it'
The folks over at Microsoft Advertising are quite fond of their latest brainchild, so much so that they're calling the Kinect-enabled advertising platform "irresistibly interactive." NUAds -- which snaked the NU in NUI -- feeds off our need for interactivity, allowing advertisers to lure us in by enabling points of gesture and voice control. Think the latest Snuggie spot is super cool? Just say "Xbox, Tweet," and all your friends will know it. Want to know more about Mariah Carey's latest fragrance? Say "Xbox, More," and the info is all yours. Wondering where you can pick up a box of Nad's edible hair remover? Say "Xbox, Near Me," and you'll get a text with the location of the closest Nad's retailer. Want to vote on the hottest new Bratz doll? Give your girl a thumbs up. So Microsoft may have engaged a host of more respectable partners, namely Adidas, NBC, and Coca Cola, for its demo of the voice and gesture-enabled advertising platform yesterday, and NUAds does indeed serve up promotions in an entirely new way, but will it really change how we view the boob tube for good? Check out the video demo after the break, and weigh in the comments below.
Nielsen tracking in-game ads for Sony
Sony Computer Entertainment America and The Nielsen Company want to track your stats. Specifically, the two companies have teamed up to "develop a measurement system for game network advertising that will help make game software a more competitive advertising platform," according to the press release. SCEA will "share with Nielsen game network traffic and other data" from PS3 titles, PlayStation Network and the upcoming social MMO Home, at first only in North America -- details beyond that are sketchy, but Nielson calls the effort "fully-transparent" in the press release. The results will be used "to deliver the right ad to the right person at the right time" and to help advertisers figure out a CPM, or cost per impression, for in-game ads.The initial results of the partnership are expected later this year. Expect more in-game ads you're less inclined to ignore and possibly the strange feeling that Big Brother is critiquing your gamer skills.[Via PS3 Fanboy]
SCEA partners with Nielsen to track in-game advertising
Sony has revealed a new partnership with The Nielsen Company, who specialise in market research, in order to better track the success of in-game advertising. Initially being tested in North America exclusively, the partnership will allow Sony to monitor the reach, frequency and effectiveness of in-game advertising. Sony will share usage statistics from the PlayStation Network with The Nielsen Company, including which games people are playing most and what content they are accessing within Home, in order to better focus advertising efforts into the right people and areas. Advertisers will be able to look at the collated data and decide for themselves where they would like to place their adverts. They will also be able to see exactly how those ads are performing. What this means to you is: not a lot. If anything, you'll end up seeing more ads that you care about, rather than ignore. We imagine this will become most prominent with the launch of Home, as it provides a much larger scope for advertising than the PSN does currently. Overall though, if in-game advertising is something we have to put up with, then we'd rather it be for a product we want to buy. This partnership should increase the chances of that happening.
Splinter Cell: Dynamic Advertising Agent
Concerned reader and avid Splinter Cell fan, Carlos Birdsong, shares some interesting info about Double Agent."I was playing SCDA with some friends as a Merc and I saw a spy run under a truck that had a Comcast ad on it. I was out of grenades and told one of my teammates to toss a grenade under the comcast truck, only he didn't see it. Why? He saw what was by default a Hong Kong truck instead of the Comcast truck.While I think in game ads are cool when in context, I saw some Comcast signage as well, but this dynamic ad rendering can affect gameplay--subtle but interesting side effect."Dynamic ad placement in games is starting to become commonplace, and situations like this could be an unfortunate byproduct. Have any of you experienced similar problems? Do you think dynamic ads should be removed from multiplayer games where positioning is important, or at least made so every player sees the same thing?[Image via Mega64]
Core gamers have heavy impact on economy [update 1]
Definition: a heavy gamer (also known as core gamer) is one who buys eight or more games per year and plays at least 10 hours per week. Correlation: according to a recent study by Ziff Davis Games Group, heavy gamers spend notably more money than casual gamers (those who buy at most one game per year and play five or fewer hours per week). Some relative figures: Heavy gamers spent $710 on clothing over the last six months, nearly double that of casual gamers. That equates to approximately $1,420 annually. Heavy gamers spent $116 on DVDs over the last six months (or $232 annually), while casual gamers only shelled out $64. Similar trends hold for consumer electronics, online music downloads, athletic shoes, and CDs. Conclusion: heavy gamers, by way of their spending trends, have an impact on the economy as a whole. Companies who take notice of the trend will try to cater more to the gamer audience. The effect is a greater push for in-game advertising, but to what extent? Lest they forget, gamers hate in-game ads. Keep in mind that the converse ("those who spend a lot of money buy a lot of games") is not necessarily true. See Also:Picture it: special status for Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii console ownersEconomies of scale don't apply to virtual worlds?Joystiq's coverage on in-game advertising[Update 1: clarified some language in the conclusion.]
