Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , Combined video game software unit sales across the world’s three largest games markets grew 11% in 2008, totaling 409.9 million units vs. the 367.7 million units sold in 2007, according to the Top Global Markets report, writes Retailer Daily.
The integrated monthly report is from The NPD Group (US), GfK Chart-Track Limited (UK), and Enterbrain, Inc. (Japan).
The aggregate growth in the top 3 videogame markets are because of increases in the US and UK, with respective rises of 15% and 26%. Japan recorded a 13% decline in video game sales.
Read The Rest—>Double-Digit Growth for Video Game Software in 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , In-game ad vendor locks spate of exclusive ad deals with publishers who produce games for Sony’s PlayStation 3
In-game advertising vendor Double Fusion has locked a spate of exclusive ad deals with several publishers who produce games for Sony’s PlayStation 3 console.
Read The Rest—> Double Fusion Toggles Exclusive Ad Pacts
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , Google’s long-anticipated AdSense for Games has finally gone into beta.
Casual games publishers can display video, image and text ads in their online offerings. They can also define placements “such as interstitial frames before a game, after a level change, or when a game is over,” according to the AdSense blog (via MarketingVOX).
READ THE REST HERE AdSense for Games, Now Live in Beta – Media Buyer Planner
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , American gamers are getting older and more women are participating, skewing the stereotypical teen image. New data from the Entertainment Software Association found that even your grandmother may be enjoying a second life
by Helen Leggatt
The Entertainment Software Association’s (ESA) annual report found that women are almost as geeky as men when it comes to gaming. Forty-four percent of all gamers were found to be women over the age of 18, up from 38% last year.
And before you hark back to the stereotypical image of a teen lurking in a dark bedroom, think again. A staggering 26% of all gamers were over the age of 50 and the average age of gamers has risen from 33 to 35 in the last year.
“This new data underscores the fundamental principle that computer and video games are a mainstream entertainment form, which captures the imagination of every segment of our society,” said Michael D. Gallagher, CEO of the ESA, the U.S. association representing computer and video game publishers.
“With deeper market penetration and the broadening of our audience base, video games have incorporated themselves into America’s cultural and social fabric.”
Earlier this year, analysis of Dynamic Logic’s MarketNorm database revealed that, compared with younger women, those aged 45 and over were more likely to be respond to consumer product ads featured on gaming sites.
So, don’t be tempted to rule out in-game advertising if you are after a mature audience, because that Amazonian warrioress with a body to die for could be just the over-50 target you are after.
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , Source Article HERE
Activision shareholders are expected today to approve a merger with Vivendi Games in a deal that will shake up the gaming biz.
The deal, unveiled in December, valued the new Activision Blizzard at $18.9 billion – compared with Electronic Arts’ market capitalization, after Monday’s market close, of $14.1 billion, according to Yahoo Finance (via The Hollywood Reporter).
More telling is the fact that, while EA has been reporting losses, Activision Blizzard shows promise to be the most profitable gaming firm and to grow at a healthy pace.
“I don’t care about who is No. 1 and 2,” Hudson Square Research analyst Daniel Ernst said. “Earnings growth is what counts for investors.”
Activision Blizzard is brings together some of the hottest gaming franchises, such as Vivendi’s World of Warcraft and Activision’s Guitar Hero.
“What it does is create a truly global gaming company with reach in the U.S., Europe and Asia,” including in the fast-emerging Chinese market, Edward Williams, an analyst with BMO Capital Markets, is quoted as saying in Adweek. “It also creates a company that drives revenue from multiple streams, including the massively [multiplayer] online game category that is seeing the biggest growth.”
More Media Buyer Planner Content avialable HERE
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , By Monica Alleven
WirelessWeek – June 06, 2008
A word to advertisers: In all, 90.2% of the consumers exposed to ads on the Greystripe network have the power to make purchasing decisions for their families.
That’s just one of the bits of information the ad-supported mobile games and apps distributor is sharing with the world at large. The company today released some stats gleaned from its internal database of users, catalog partners and third-party research studies.
Greystripe said its 800+ games are the most popular among the 18- to 34-year-old age group, with U.S. consumers split 60% male and 40% female.
Of Greystripe’s GameJump users, 51% are the primary purchasing decision makers of the household, with another 39.2% sharing the responsibility. Greystripe’s ads also show a high click-through rate (CTR) of 10.1% worldwide – six times higher than those found in traditional mobile advertising such as banner ads, which have an average CTR of 1.5%, Greystripe said in a release announcing its findings.
Since the company launched GameJump and the AdWrap Catalog Program in 2006, more than 65 million ad-sponsored games have been downloaded, with the average gamer playing each game a total of 66 minutes.
Greystripe CEO Michael Change said the company has two main goals: creating the most engaging brand advertising experience and an amazing player experience, from download to game play. The more the company knows about its users, the more it can ensure they’re having fun with publishers’ games, he said.
Greystripe is gathering information about its users on everything from how much diet soda they consume to how often they go to the movies. Its Consumer Insights report is based on data gathered from GameJump.com, AdWrap Catalog Partners and independent studies by Dynamic Logic and Insight Express.
In-game advertising networks continue to conduct third-party research to assess ad effectiveness and deliver brand metrics to specific advertisers. Microsoft’s Massive recently commissioned Interpret to carry out such research for four brands advertising on its network of game ads, and the results indicate consumers like the ads and remember them.
The study evaluated separate campaigns for Adidas, a fast food restaurant brand, a global candy bar company, and an entertainment studio advertising a DVD release.
Massive continues to see lift across all client categories and game genres, said Alison Lange Engel, global marketing director at Massive. In cases where the ads are relevant to the game experience, gamers are inclined to view the integrations as a good thing, she said.
With Adidas, 73 percent of respondents agreed the ads enhanced the realism of the game “Major League Baseball 2K7″ from 2K Sports. In Electronic Arts’ “Need for Speed Carbon,” gamers agreed it made the environment feel more interactive.
Research reinforces the medium for advertisers. “We’re seeing that play out in key facets of the market. We have 270 global ad clients, and have seen clients increase the levels of investments following the research,” Lange Engel said.
Measured lift could be due to the nascent quality of the channel. “We’re seeing higher brand lift within [in-game ads] than other mediums. However it is hard to say whether these are higher than the brand lift [enjoyed] early in the development of other mediums,” said Ali Rana, an analyst at Dynamic Logic, a Millward Brown company.
The brand effectiveness of digital advertising has not fared well over time, according to Dynamic Logic data from earlier this year. In the space of three years, from Q4 2004 to Q3 2007, the lift in “brand message association” the company measured for all online ads fell from 4.3 percent to just 2.5 percent. The same downward trend has accompanied a more generalized metric: “brand awareness.”
Dynamic Logic is currently conducting research on in-game advertising, but was unable to provide an overall average for the brand effectiveness it’s measured for the category.
Massive has also had its impression count audited by Interactive Media Services group (ImServices), a move that aims to grant assurance to advertisers. The audit verifies the soundness of Massive’s process for measuring ad impressions. Impression counting in the in-game space has not been standardized, but a cumulative 10-second exposure to an ad at a viewable angle has become accepted among most ad networks.
The audit process took about a year. Massive granted ImServices access to its servers and data logs.
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , ESPN Enters Content Deal with Major League Gaming
Halo joins ESPN. Does that
make it a sport?
ESPN has entered a content agreement with Major League Gaming.
Under the deal, it will provide “extensive digital coverage” of MLG coverage in 2008, including “extensive streamed matches, pro player interviews, and scores and stats,” according to an MLG release.
In exchange, the MLG will host ESPN co-branded tournaments.
ESPN has also launched a competitive video gaming section on its site with news and video.
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , Gamers to see ads in ‘Madden’ game
Some other top video titles will also display virtual billboard
By Jessica Mintz
Updated: 2 hours, 39 minutes ago
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SEATTLE – In-game advertising company Massive Inc. will broker ads for some of Electronic Arts Inc.’s top video games this year, including the upcoming “Madden NFL 08″ for Xbox 360 and personal computers.
Massive, acquired by software maker Microsoft Corp. last year, said Wednesday it would begin serving dynamic ads to five new EA games — “Madden,” plus “Nascar 08,” “NHL 08″ and “Skate” for Microsoft’s Xbox 360, and “Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08″ for Xbox and PCs running Microsoft’s Windows operating system.
(MSNBC is a Microsoft – NBC Universal joint venture.)
New York-based Massive sells virtual billboard space to advertisers, then delivers ads over the Internet to PCs and Xbox 360 game consoles.
The company’s technology tracks the seconds gamers spend in sight of an ad, then charges marketers for every 10 seconds of exposure. Advertisers can redesign their billboards or stadium ads to match current marketing campaigns in the real world.
The company already delivers ads to two lower-profile EA titles, “Need for Speed Carbon” and “Def Jam Icon.”
Marketers around the world spent just $26.1 million on dynamic in-game advertising in 2006, according to estimates from Yankee Group, but the researchers project that figure will rise to $100 million this year and $645 million in 2010.
Cory Van Arsdale, Massive’s chief executive, said there is huge interest from marketers looking for ways to reach video games‘ sweet spot demographic: 18 to 34-year-old males, who, according to JupiterResearch, watch less TV than the average Web-connected American, but make up more than half of console gamers.
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , Google to Bring AdSense to Web-Based Casual Games…
Google to Bring AdSense to Web-Based Casual Games
Google is serious about casual gaming.
At last week’s Casual Connect conference in Seattle, Google’s “AdSense for Games” presentation made it clear the company “was actively optimizing AdSense to work with web-based casual games” with plans to move into PC and console games later on, according to GigaOM.
As it stands, AdSense cannot be properly integrated into Flash-based games and are instead marooned on the outer fringes of a webpage displaying a game.
With 1 in 4 web users visiting gaming sites, this is big news for game developers.
