GAS: Analysts On Acceptance Of In-Game Ads

In an analyst panel at today's Game Advertising Summit in San Francisco, a pair of analysts discussed some of the leading results of their research into in-game advertising, noting that large separate markets are already at play in the game advertising market. Firstly, Michael Cai of Parks Associates pointed out some key statistics from some of his recent research, particularly citing research on whether consumers would like to see ads in games as long as it helps enhance game play. Interestingly, in the 18-34 male market, 29% strongly agree with that statement, and 25% strongly disagree, and for 35-54 females, 19% strongly agree and 35% strongly disagree - showing strong differences between 'core' and 'casual 'gamers. However, the difference is much less stark when responding to the statement: 'Seeing in-game ads may gave you chance to win prizes'. In that, for the 18-34 male, 38% strongly agree with the statement, and 23% strongly disagree. But for the 35-54 female, 35% strongly agree and 26% strongly disagree. Additional perspective was brought by Julie Ask from the Jupiterresearch analyst group, who noted that key consumers in the in-game ad demographic spend on average six hours per month playing games, compared to six hours listening to music, ten hours listening to the radio, sixteen hours watching TV, and seventeen hours going online. She also noted that, except for advergaming, teens were less responsive to online ads. In the Q&A, it was noted that car companies and lifestyle products are particularly important to the in-game ad market right now, and that "the learning curve is going to be steep".