The Games People Play: Resigned To Carry More Ads

Online game players are both very aware of the presence of in-game advertising, and are resigned to the fact that it is destined to grow more prevalent as the medium matures. Those are some of the conclusions drawn from the first quarter 2006 edition of a comScore Networks tracking study on the behavior and attitude of online gamers. Findings of the so-called Players study, also found that while the majority of gamers find in-game advertising benign a higher percentage of "medium" or "light" game users may be turned off by the presence of advertising. Only 15 percent of "heavy" users said they were unlikely to play games that have ads in them, vs. 21 percent of "light/medium" users.

That could be an important factor influencing the growth of the medium, which appears destined for more clutter. Among the 800 gamers surveyed by comScore 46 percent of heavy users and 39 percent of "light/medium" users said more ads are "inevitable." Only a fraction of these users said the presence of in-game ads make them "consider buying the product/service" (see table below) raising questions about the efficacy of the medium for advertisers.

Game sites reached 71.6 million consumers during April 2006, nearly 50 percent of the Internet universe, according to comScore's data. Among them, 25 percent are deemed heavy gamers (people who play 15 or more ours a week on two ore more game platforms). About 17 percent of gamers fall into the coveted 18- to 24-year-old demo, while 23 percent are ages 35 to 44. Games tend to be in higher income homes and are equally split along gender lines.

Attitudes Toward In-Game Advertising

 

Heavy Gamers

Light/ Medium Gamers

These ads make me consider buying the product/service

17%

9%

This type of advertising is inevitable and will be in all or most games of the future

46%

39%


Source: comScore Marketing Solutions. Base = 800 gamers, February 13 - 27
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