Video games are a fast growing source of entertainment for people of all ages. Every person can find a video game that he or she is interested in, because of this, advertising in video games has become a necessity for marketing companies. They have the resources and the money to pay companies like Massive to feature their ad in a video game. Using this method, every person that plays that game will see that advertisement. There are two main ways to advertise in a video game, static in-game advertising, or dynamic in-game advertising. Dynamic in-game advertising is more efficient and effective. Therefore, dynamic in-game advertising is more effective than static in-game advertising.
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In-game advertising is the advertising of ads in computer and video games. According to JJ Richards from the Microsoft Corporation “Research in North America indicates that in-game advertising is highly successful for brands” (Par 8). In the game industry, in-game advertising is used to even out the cost for making the game. For advertisers however, in-game advertising offers an opportunity to target the 18-34 male age group who spend more time playing video games then they do watching television. If the advertisers can get this age group and more to look at their ads, it will give them more money. This means that video game advertising is effective for advertisers.
There are two types of advertising in video games, static in-game advertising and dynamic in-game advertising. Static in-game advertising is a method of advertising that allows marketers to place their ad in a video game, but they cannot change the ad, or remove it from the game. Although, this method lets all the gamers see their ad, it has been permanently coded into the game. Therefore, if the ad goes out of date, or the product is no longer sold, the advertisement will still remain in that video game. This is a major disadvantage if, the marketers are having an event with a certain product, and the event only lasts till a certain date. Therefore, if the marketers wanted to pay for static advertising in a video game, that advertisement would have to be a logo of a product that would not change, and would always remain up to date. Also, if the advertisers wanted to track which players were looking at the ad, and for how long, Static in-game advertising would be ineffective. Ed Bartlett from imediaconnection writes, “It is currently impossible to accurately track ad viewing metrics, or to update or switch off campaigns” (Par 10). This proves that the modifications that can be made with dynamic in-game advertising make it more effective.
Dynamic advertising is a much smarter and efficient method of in-game advertising. Instead of the permanent form of static in-game advertising, dynamic advertising works with an internet connection. Most games today, allow for the player to play online. Because of this, dynamic advertising was made, and used in many of the next generation console games. Michael Goodman, Yankee Group’s director for digital entertainment said, “When I play the game today, I see one ad, and when I play the game three weeks from now, there are completely different ads in the game” ( Par 15).Not only does the player notice the ads, it helps with the feeling of the game. Advertisements change in the real world, so changing up the scenery in the game world will make it feel more realistic. Now that technology has developed further to enable online play, marketers and advertisers can use it to their advantage. It allows marketers to change their advertisements whenever the need, or want to. A company spokesperson from Sony explains that “Online games mean greater flexibility for advertisers as to when, where and how long to advertise” (Par 2). This means that the advertisers will have more control over their advertisements. This in turn makes dynamic in-game advertising even more effective.
Because dynamic advertising is online, now advertisers can know how long a player looks at their ad, and from what angle. The in-game key metrics available to advertisers are, impressions, time of exposure, day part and geography. This means that the advertisers can get statistics on how well their ad played in the video game, and use the information to their advantage. Advertisers can put food, or drink advertisements into a video game to target an audience. Although the player doesn’t yearn for the food or beverage, their impulses tell them to go out and buy the product. This is a clever strategy advertisers use to get to the audience. The only disadvantage of dynamic in-game advertising is that a lot of games can be played offline as well. Because of this, players can play offline and avoid the advertisements, and the advertisers will not get the research they need.
Even though advertisers have the freedom to put any ad into a video game, they still have to think about the audience. If the advertisers want their ad to be in a game, it has to make the player feel as though he or she really is in the game. An article from the Economist Newspaper states, “Billboards look wrong in a fantasy adventure, but they make sports games, or those set in modern times, seem more realistic” (73). This takes away from the gaming experience for the player. Advertisers have to be smart and actually put brand logos in the game that are relevant to the game. This not only pleases the player, it pleases the game industry to know that this ad helped players get fully engrossed in their game.
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Since the development of dynamic in-game advertising, static in-game advertising has not been used as much. The video game industry has been relying on mainly dynamic in-game advertising, because it is more effective. Dynamic in-game advertising works, and because of that, static in-game advertising will most likely never be used again. Dynamic in-game advertising has more potential, because advertisements are not the only thing that they can change. An article in the Economist Newspaper says, “As well as appealing to mobile phones and clothes, it also has huge potential for promoting films, another possibility is to update the music in games too, and promote new singles” (73). This means that advertisements are not the only things that can be changed using dynamic in-game advertising. This opens a door to endless possibilities that dynamic in-game advertising can do. So, not only is dynamic in-game advertising effective when it comes to advertisements, it is effective when it comes to other products as well.
All of this research proves that dynamic in-game advertising is more effective than static in-game advertising. With technology today, static in-game advertising is obsolete. Which means, dynamic in-game advertising is more effective that static in-game advertising.
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