• by April 28, 2006

There could be a lot of green in online gaming, in case you didn't realize it. Branded entertainment, product placements, and sponsorships within online multiplayer video games and console games are getting hotter. There has always been potential in this space, but with the rise of in-game ad networks specifically built to manage in-game ad placement on a nearly dynamic basis, activity in this segment is hitting a fever pitch.

And that pitch is growing more intense with this week's news that Microsoft is about to snap up Massive Inc., an in-game ad network that's also a pioneer of sorts in building in-game opportunities and working with advertisers.

According to the Yankee Group, in-game advertising could be the next big opportunity in advertising, with the market expected to grow to $732 million by 2010. The typical video game costs nearly $10 million to produce. And a survey by MarketingSherpa finds that 27 percent of marketers plan to up their spending on in-game ads this year.

Still, James Belcher, the senior analyst at eMarketer who tracks the online gaming segment, is reluctant to put a size on the in-game advertising market. "This market is just getting started, and you have a lot of people who were burned by online advertising as a whole, so you're going to have some hesitancy with the model," says Belcher. Though he also maintains that one of the reasons that Massive was able to be acquired so quickly is because the company put its service in a context that advertisers understand. "They do it just like television," he notes, which is to say Massive breaks things down by daypart, something advertisers get instinctively. "You have to wonder [though] what the recoil point will be," and just how much is too much when it comes to in-game ads.

Belcher doesn't necessarily think that Nintendo or Sony will look at acquiring in-game ad networks though, but Electronic Arts, the world's largest software publisher, is already involved in a big way.

For Microsoft, acquiring Massive is "a smart move," Belcher says. "Not only does it promise to monetize their existing gaming network, but they can rationalize it as a way to keep subscriber fees down." Microsoft's Xbox Live gaming network has 1 million subscribers.

Shifting to food for a moment. Boy, those Food Network people sure know how to throw a good party. Last Friday, the foodies celebrated the winner of "The Next Food Network Star," who gets a 6-episode pilot on the Network. Turns out Guy Fieri is the winner of the competition and will debut in his series on Sunday, June 25 at 10 a.m. EST.

Guy owns three restaurants in California, this here Minute learned from his aunt, who attended the party last week at Bar Americain, Bobby Flay's new place. Flay and his wife, the actress Stephanie March, were on hand, along with network executives and other Food Network stars like Dave Lieberman, Emeril Lagasse, and Marc Summers.

Notably, The Food Network reports that nearly 1 million online videos were viewed during the just-ended six week season of "The Next Food Network Star" show. The videos were available online at FoodNetwork.com and included highlights from the show, advice from Food Network chefs, a peek behind the scenes of the competition, and the contestant's audition tapes.

Too, "The Next Food Network Star" content delivered more than 3.5 million page views. When audiences were asked to choose the winner of the popular show by the Internet or by phone during the week preceding the April 23 finale, over 675,000 votes were cast on FoodNetwork.com and via text messaging.

"While many media companies talk about convergence, at Scripps we make a concerted effort to encourage our audiences to participate in our programming both on-air and online," said Beth Higbee, senior vice president, Scripps Networks Interactive, in a statement. "As a result we are building loyal audiences in whatever media they choose to access. Each offers different benefits, so more and more of our audiences are migrating back and forth between on-air and online, where we can capture them for advertisers."