Pain: an experiment of in-game advertising
Have you tried the newest PSN downloadable title, Pain? If you have, you'll have noticed the abundance of billboards that litter the virtual city. While currently focused on SCEA games, such as Buzz for PS2 and the upcoming High Velocity Bowling for PSN, there are plans to start infusing real advertising into the game. Thanks to Sony's partnership with Nielsen, advertisers will now be able to track how often their ads will be seen by gamers.
"You can imagine people like Lionsgate, who publish Blu-ray movies, getting involved. Media, creative agencies and brands all want to be involved in this program," Darlene Kindle, director of Sony's in-game advertising unit, told Adweek.
There's a high price of entry to advertise in Pain: $30 CPM (cost per thousand), which rivals costs of traditional advertising, such as ads found in newspapers and magazines. The CPM will rise and lower, depending on how many views are tracked through in-game metrics. However, with such a targeted demographic, advertisers may find this to be quite a lucrative offer. Sony's hoping in-game advertising to become a success, with twenty games planned to have in-game advertising by the end of next year.
[Via GameDaily]
