• by Jameson Hsu , February 12, 2009

Web-based online gaming sites are visited by a third of all Internet users from all over the globe.

From traditional games like chess or checkers to more unique titles like "Fancy Pants Adventure," there is a constant flow of entertaining games to play online. These games appeal to teens, moms and seniors alike who fuel the enormous demand throughout the world to play them. In parallel with this trend, game advertising technology has emerged enabling advertisers to reach the engaged gaming audience with rich, targeted ads that allow independent game developers to make money.

Unlike core games and PC games which are distributed via retail channels and downloaded respectively, online games roam freely about the Web and are playable without download and for free across thousands of sites. This creates a model where online games can reach millions of people each month across thousands of sites, while providing websites with free content to engage and retain visitors.

In the past, popular games, like other viral content, were played anywhere on the Web, but without the mechanisms for advertisers to easily target elusive demographics at scale across the Web without significant investment and work.

With the advent of embedded pre-game and inter-level video ad units for online games, ads are now able to live inside popular, viral games as they travel the Web. Online games have emerged as one of the most attractive advertising mediums, as around-game ads for the platform have been shown to engender much higher levels of user engagement than similar online advertising mediums. These ads, which show as pre-game trailers or interstitial ads in games, command impressive 1 to 3 percent click-through rates. This is due to the ads' placement directly in front of engaged consumers.

For advertisers seeking to capitalize on the distributed online gaming phenomenon, there are a few key areas to consider to get the maximum value from the games you advertise in: Who's playing online games, best practices for reaching your targeted audiences, and who stands to benefit the most from online game advertising.

Who's playing online games?

Due to their easy accessibility, online games are being played across every audience demographic. They are particularly popular with teens, moms and adults ages 18-34. Sports, adventure, and puzzle games are particularly popular with teenage audiences, but Sudoku and match-3 games are very popular with moms and older women. There are also topical games, such as the multitude of games that were created with election themes, which reach audiences interested in the topic across multiple demographics.

How do I reach my core demographic through online games?

Many advertisers reach their audience by choosing a Web site that their target demographic visits. Online games enable advertisers to target by game category, game set, or a group of websites that match their target demographics. Online games are spread virally across Facebook pages, blogs, and other sites where consumers spend their time. The ads follow the games as they spread across the Web, making games a powerful medium to reach fickle audiences that divide their time across a variety of websites. Advertisers also can gather data based on where and when games are being played, providing rich data about where your potential audience is spending their time.

What types of advertisements are the most successful in online games?

Video ads tend to outperform static, text-based or banner ads. Online gamers are typically relaxed and seeking entertainment through games. While we have seen advertisers from a wide range of industries run successful campaigns with our ads, the consistent thread has been that the ads are engaging and add to the entertainment experience. Some of the industries that have quickly seen companies take advantage of online game advertising are entertainment, consumer packaged goods and retail focused brands.

How do I measure and optimize my campaign?

As with other forms of online advertising, there are now sophisticated ways to measure campaigns in a distributed gaming environment. Campaigns should provide data on where games are played, how many people are playing them and the duration of time they watched your ad. Campaigns can be tuned based off of high-performing domains or set of games, and be quickly adjusted just like any other online campaign. Campaign data shows that long-form video ads such as movie trailers are often viewed in their entirety and with a high click-through and engagement rate. Not only do these analytics tools track campaign delivery statistics, they allow provide marketers with valuable insights on what domains their ad is particularly popular on and where a receptive audience is spending time.

With the economy continuing to cause strains on advertising and marketing budgets, now is a great time to consider allocating some of your advertising budget to online games. The online game audience is growing explosively and the medium has been shown to be more effective at engaging people than many other online advertising formats. Keeping the points mentioned above in mind, online games offer a great opportunity to reach an audience that is becoming increasingly elusive through the ever-increasing forms of media and entertainment.