Independent in-game ad network IGA Worldwide has received $25 million in series-B funding from several top-tier investors, including GE/NBC Universal's Peacock Equity and KTB Ventures.
Existing investors include Easton Capital, Morgenthaler Ventures, Intel Capital and DN Capital. Justin Townsend, IGA's CEO, said the latest round of funding "will allow IGA to further expand its
global in-game advertising footprint."
While predictions vary regarding the growth of in-game advertising, most researchers agree it will be significant. eMarketer predicts the market will reach
an astounding $2 billion by 2010, while the Yankee Group makes the more modest estimate of $971.3 million by 2011. Parks Associates, meanwhile, projects in-game advertising to exceed $800 million by
2012.
"The gaming industry is one of the major focuses for our fund and has high growth potential that can shape the future of the new media advertising industry," said Thomas Byrne, Managing
Director and Group Head, Peacock Equity.
IGA has already delivered in-game ads for a long list of brands, including 20th Century Fox, Ben Sherman, Discovery, FHM, Hawaiian Airlines, Intel, Jeep,
MTV, and T-Mobile.
In January, the company upgraded its ad-serving platform to support ads in flash-based games and also offer new tracking and targeting controls. With the revamp, IGA branched
out from PC-based games to serve ads into other platforms. The new targeting controls included geo-targeting down to the city level, while the tracking controls allow for monitoring of static in-game
ads--such as product placement hard-coded into games.
Google recently sent industry tongues wagging when, following its $23 million acquisition of AdScape Media in February, it filed in the U.S.
and Europe to covertly monitor how users play online games. Little is known about the search giant's designs on in-game advertising, but no one doubts the company's ability to make waves wherever it
likes.
In an effort to further mainstream the in-game ad business, IGA recently teamed up to underwrite a research study by BASES and Nielsen Entertainment. IGA and its peers contend that in-game
ads are highly effective because they can measure, based on game-play patterns, how many times a player actually views an ad in a given amount of time. Exactly how that translates into a brand
impression is what Nielsen is presently exploring.