Sony, Future U.S. Take Advertisers To The Qore

Qore in game ad sony and Future USAdvertisers in search of 20- to-35-year old males now have the option of adding content on the PlayStation Network to their media mix, as Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) and Future U.S. have partnered to launch Qore, a downloadable branded entertainment module for the PlayStation 3. Initial content sponsors include Burger King, Universal Pictures and Activision.

According to Susan Panico, senior director of the PlayStation Network, Qore gets to the "core" of PlayStation 3 gamers' interests, by combining original HD video content with movie trailers, exclusive game demos and console customization themes. Gamers connect their consoles to the PlayStation Network via an Ethernet cord, and can download the first issue of Qore for $2.99 on June 5. Subsequent modules will be available on the first Thursday of every month, with special, subscription-based pricing available.

Each issue has six available ad spots, including sponsorship of the download area where gamers will find demos, trailers and console themes, as well as 15-second interstitials between content segments. Burger King, for example, took ownership of the download section for the first three issues, while Activision and Universal Pictures chose to create content around the "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith" game and "The Incredible Hulk" movie, respectively.

"We sold out the inventory for the first issue within a week, and that was before it even had a name," said Simon Whitcombe, Future's publishing director, games and sports group. "Companies like Burger King wanted to be involved because they recognized it as the first opportunity to associate their brand with an editorial product on the console."

While the initial units were sold on a pre-paid sponsorship basis, Whitcombe said that future placements would likely be sold by CPM--and possibly even geo- or demographically targeted--as the PlayStation Network lends itself to audience segmentation since users create profiles when they first join.

When asked whether gamers might balk at paying for what could be considered advertorial, both Panico and Whitcombe were confident that Qore would be seen as some of the most valuable, "must-have" content the PlayStation Network had to offer.

"One of the great things that Future has done is make the advertising the content," Panico said. "We don't think people will feel like the ads are being thrown in their face because they're integrated and relevant. With something like the exclusive movie trailer for 'The Incredible Hulk,' it's content that the audience is ravenous for."

Future U.S. currently publishes PlayStation: The Official Magazine, in addition to male-oriented titles like PC Gamer, Future Snowboarding, and Maximum PC, so the San Francisco-based publishing company seemed like a natural incubation studio for Qore's content. Writers, editors and video production staff from the Future Distributed Media Initiative (FDMI) will work with SCEA and PlayStation Network team members to produce the content, as well as place the ads for each issue.

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