Download Video Game Advertising Placement

VIDEO GAME ADVERTISING
THE NEW EDGE IN ADVERTISING
AMY COREY
STEPHANIE CRABILL
COM 452
DR. JUPAK
11/19/03
Introduction
Today consumers are bombarded with thousands of advertisements in one day to the
point that they, for the most part, cannot even completely recall an entire advertisement
seen. Advertisements are seen on television, in magazines, on billboards, on the side of
the road, in phone books, on the internet, and just about any other place you can think of,
and it is believed that because there is such advertisement clutter, many advertisements
are becoming less effective. However, there is an alternative media that is growing
rapidly and allows for advertisers to steal the consumer away into a world created
particularly for them for much more consecutive time than almost any other type of
advertising out there. This new alternative advertising is video game advertising and it is
the new place to be.
Two Types of Video Game Advertising:
Online Video Game Advertising: What this basically entails is companies creating
and making video games available to play online within their company website. This
type of advertising has taken off in just the last couple of years because of its’ ability to
draw people in and keep them there for ten to thirty minutes at a time playing the game,
allowing advertisers to actually interact with consumers.
In-Game Advertising: What this basically means is that companies who make video
games for say PlayStation2 or Gamecube, sell space within the actual game itself to
advertisers. The advertisers create a logo, line, or some other form of advertising they
want to use and it is placed in the game.
Video Game Advertising Placement
There are several basic places within a video game where advertising is typically sold and
placed. Trackside billboards, player sponsorship, vehicle signs, and event sponsorships
are the most common places where advertisements are placed within the games. An
example for In-Game advertising placement would be for example Ping, the golf club
company buying a player sponsorship for Tiger Woods, in the Tiger Woods 2003 video
game, and the word Ping or their emblem would be placed on Tiger’s visor in the game
itself on a specific hole or course. An example of online video game advertising would
be an online video game that Toyota has implemented on their website for their vehicle
the 4Runner in 2003. A player, which in Toyota’s hopes will become a consumer, is able
to go onto the website and create the SUV 4Runner that they desire choosing from
available options on the car. They can then drive that car, virtually, through different
terrains and atmospheres.
Costs and Packages
To create and implement an online video game for advertising purposes, it can cost
between $50,000 and $500,000 depending on how complex and involved the game will
be (Eng, 2002). This may seem high for an online video game, but when compared to
other medias and the time that the consumer is involved in versus cost of the ad, it is
actually really low. For example, a television commercial costs approximately $45 per
thousand minutes that the consumer is involved with it, and the online video game costs
approximately $7 per thousand minutes that a consumer is playing it, involved in it. So, a
television commercial costs six times more per thousand minutes that a consumer is
engaged with it than an online video game advertisement. For in game advertising if an
advertiser wanted to purchase a single full size trackside billboard it would cost about
$300-$1,000. Half boards are also available and to purchase a package of 20 trackside
boards it would cost about $2500.00-$4,000 depending on the popularity of the game.
Wall boards are sold in packages of about ten to thirty boards usually and run for about
$3000.00 on average for the package. These numbers are so cheap especially when one
considers the permanence that video game advertising offers. The average video game or
CDrom itself has a shelf life of about 50 years, and an average play lifetime of about five
years (Video Game Advertising, 2003). So if a consumer plays the same video game on
average for five years, imagine the number of times your $300 single billboard would be
seen if you were an advertiser. Also when compared to other forms of advertising,
advergames and video game advertising is extremely cheap. Just to give an idea of just
how cheap in comparison it is, here are some average numbers of costs of other medias to
keep in mind as you read more on the video game advertising. On average a thirty
second spot television commercial during prime time hour’s costs about $150,000 per
time it is run. For a show with almost guaranteed high rating points, like for example
E.R. on NBC, costs about $600,000 per time a commercial is run during its’
programming (Television Advertising, 2003).
Measurements
This type of advertising is absolutely revolutionary because it is so effective because of
the fact that it allows for almost perfect targeting. When a commercial is run, there is a
pretty good understanding of who will see the advertisement, but there is no guarantee.
When an advertisement is placed in a video game, it is pretty much guaranteed to a
science, that it is known who will see the advertisement. In 2000 it was reported that 145
million Americans said they play computer or video games. Twenty-eight percent of
video game players are under the age of 18, thirty percent are between ages 18 and 35,
and forty-two percent are over 35 years old (Video Game Advertising, 2003). About
96% of people who purchase video games for themselves are male, and have an average
income of around $69,000 (Video Game Advertising, 2003). One might say to this
information, okay so video games are popular, but they are only popular among a very
selected group of persons. Well, that would be incorrect. A study in 1999 found that
games, computer or video games, were the most popular fun activity, beating television
for the third year in a row (Video Game Advertising, 2003). Even though this form of
media is able to target specifically through placement, who will see their advertisement, it
is very difficult to measure exactly how many impressions you will get. Thus CPM and
GRP’s are not able to be directly calculated because there is no way to truly tell how
many times the consumer actually played the game, or how many friends played with
them, it is all based on targeting for who they know buys the games they place ads in.
The good side of this is that the cost is relatively cheap so there is not too much to lose.
Rules and Regulations
Usually the closing date for advertising is six months to one year prior to the scheduled
finish date for the game. The company holds the right to remove any ads that are in
excess and will not fit in the end, and there is no guarantee to the quality of the visual
image that the consumer actually sees. Payment is usually required up front and must be
paid upon agreement of purchase.
Companies That could Prosper
Just about any company could prosper from using video game advertising because the
options are so broad, from types of games to advertise in and types of ads to choose from
to place in the game. Advertisers who partake in this form of advertising feel that this is
a great way to keep their name in the market at a much lower cost than using any other
media available out there. Fox Sports network for example, after a major league baseball
game that can be seen on television, holds a virtual baseball batting game on the Fox
Sports web page, which they feel helps bring in a base of fans to the site that will keep
coming back. Ross Levinsohn, the senior vice president and general manager for
FoxSports.com says that they have registered over 100,000 people from the game played
on their website, and claims that these results are “exceedingly pleasing”. If we had to
chose specific groups of companies that we feel would prosper the most from this type of
advertising it would be sports companies, such as golf companies, or automotive
companies as well, because these two categories have the largest game selection and are
the most popular types of games played and purchased.
The Big Players
Two of the largest game companies that offer video game advertising currently are
Activision and Electronic Arts, better known as EA. Advertising space can be purchased
directly from a lot of companies, or can be purchased for advertisers by agencies such as
Games-advertising.com based in Bradenton Florida (contact # 813-641-2572)
Advantages
This new form of video game advertising was created and has been doing so well because
traditional online advertising is not doing so well anymore. According to Denise Garcia
of GartnerG2, four years ago the traditional online advertising grew by 100% annually,
and estimates show that it is only expected to grow by about 4.8 % next year (Eng, 2002).
Because traditional online advertisements such as banner ads, are becoming less effective
and less used companies are turning to video games advertisements because they are
believed to be effective and at the same time extremely cheap so that even if they do not
produce extreme results, or the results cannot exactly be measured, there is no great loss
in terms of cost. Video game advertising is considered to be so effective because of its’
ability to draw people in and keep them there for ten to thirty minutes at a time playing
the game, allowing advertisers to actually interact with consumers. When a consumer
sees a television commercial there is no way of telling if they actually paid attention or
cared, but when an advertisement is placed in a video game, you know the person who
sees the ad is intently focused on that game and nothing else. No other media has the
ability to do this.
References
Eng, Paul. Playing the Ad Game. ABC News.com. November 12, 2002, pages 1-3.
Television Advertising. Uploaded from the World Wide Web on 10/14/03 at 3:00pm
from: www.televisionadvertising.com
Video Game Advertising. Uploaded from the World Wide Web on 10/08/2003 at
1:00pm from: www.games-advertising.com