• DM News, Tuesday, January 22, 2008 2:30 PM

Despite predictions of huge growth in the use of advertising in videogames, in-game ad usage has stayed fairly flat year-over-year, according to Forrester Research. One observation is that marketers haven't yet found a good use of the medium. "The marketer hasn't felt like there was a clear value to the advertising that they were doing," says Shar VanBoskirk, principal analyst at Forrester Research.

But for marketers looking to reach a younger, male audience, video games are quite viable. Massive--an in-game advertising network that was recently purchased by Microsoft--saw a 250% lift in revenue in the second half of 2007. The firm plans to have advertising in about 60 new games this year and is working with Nielsen on ways to measure the value of in-game ads.

In-game advertisers expect to see better integration with ads in other channels. Sony is integrating gaming with movies, music, and an online social community. Its military game SOCOM, the winner of a tournament will receive a free Hummer.

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