Games, games, games…

Some of us are more addicted to them than others, but the fact is we all play them. Whether we have an avatar in a virtual world (Second Life, Habbo Hotel, Gaia, World of Warcraft) or we just play solitaire out of boredom, we all play games.

Lately, there has been a lot buzz around in-game advertising and games in advertising. Recently I’ve visited an event organized by an in-game advertising company, and after seeing some good examples I was more convinced that it really does work. Also, the new measurement tools are being developed so there is a way of actually estimating how many people had a chance to see the advertised product even when the game was passed on to friends or played with friends.

Here are some stats that you will hopefully find useful in case you are considering games advertising.More than one in six (15%) European gamers spend in excess of 14 hours playing video games per week, which is less than the time spent surfing the internet, watching TV or listening to music, but accounts for a greater proportion of time when compared to watching DVDs, listening to the radio or reading books or magazines.

Of the 3,575 UK-based gamers surveyed, 52% said they had seen an in-game ad during the past 12 months. Of these, 33% said they would be either quite likely or very likely to buy a product they had seen advertised while playing, and 64% said that they felt positively towards the brand. It also revealed that the majority of gamers do not see in-game ads as intrusive, although 14% said that ads ruined the gaming experience.

So the notion I wanted to leave you with after reading this post is: are we integrating games in our media strategies just to make clients happy because there is a trend of keeping consumers engaged through games, or because game is a really relevant solution for the product and the target audience?