IGA Worldwide to Underwrite In-Game Advertising Effectiveness Research Study to be conducted by BASES/Nielsen Entertainment

A press release was issued to bring out the details and goals of this project.

IGA Worldwide to Underwrite In-Game Advertising Effectiveness Research Study to be conducted by BASES/Nielsen Entertainment

Goal is to Deliver New Insights on the Effectiveness of Videogame Advertising

Tuesday 19th June/...
IGA Worldwide is leading an intensive U.S. study on the effectiveness of in-game advertising with the support of global video game publishers: Electronic Arts, Activision and international agencies Organic, Inc. and PHD, both part of the Omnicom Group. EA and Activision games for this study have not been announced. This research will examine the integration of brand advertising into multiple genres of PC based video games. The study will be conducted by BASES and Nielsen Entertainment, business units of The Nielsen Company.

“The in-game advertising industry, in particular dynamic ads, is growing at a faster clip than online advertising did* and there is pent up demand among advertisers wanting to jump into this new medium,” said Justin Townsend, CEO, IGA Worldwide. “We are looking to drive growth and accountability across the industry, as well as helping advertisers to make intelligent decisions with their ad dollars.”

By 2010, the global videogame industry – comprising console, PC, online and mobile – is projected to be nearly $50 billion.** To support this growth, the industry needs deeper insight into the effectiveness of in-game advertising and consumer experience. This research will be conducted during June 2007 with results in August 2007.

“As people have shifted away from must-see TV to must-play videogames, many of the leading consumer brands that we work with are interested in video-game-based advertising; but the industry needs to better track effectiveness to help justify the marketing investment,” said Rick Corteville, Executive Director of Media at Organic. “We are pleased to be working with the top names in the industry to support this much-needed research study.”

“As an agency that takes a holistic view of the media landscape, we have always had interest in the gaming space with successful campaigns in our client portfolio. In this new paradigm however, there remains a series of questions surrounding how best to optimize the video game space for media consumption. By participating in this study with IGA, EA and Activision, we hope to assist in discovering answers to those questions”, said Craig Daitch, Director of Interactive Strategy for PHD.

The research will leverage BASES state-of-the-art online e-Panels and other trusted methodologies that include the best in industry security, global reach and video testing capabilities. The study will look at a myriad of variables including, but not limited to, ad clutter, size of ad, elapsed exposure time, frequency, gamer experience, genres and game levels, and the testing will be conducted using PC-based games among 2,000 video game consumers. To support this intensive analysis, each respondent’s passive in-game advertising exposure will be collected via IGA technology. BASES and Nielsen Entertainment will correlate respondent level ad exposure to pre- and post-survey responses and provide a comprehensive view of consumer brand awareness, exposure to advertising and advertising effectiveness.

The following objectives for the study have been set:

* Support in-game advertising opportunities: To test and determine the significant factors of in-game ads, including size on screen, time exposed to the ad and angle of view across multiple advertising formats and game genres
* Deliver new insights between brands, consumers and the medium: Uncover fresh data on consumer brand engagement in games and other forms of media and entertainment

This research comes at a time when the global $1.4 trillion*** media and advertising industries are experiencing a period of rapid change as consumers continue to incorporate new interactive entertainment platforms such as videogames into their media choices. Advertisers already are making significant investments in the in-game space to reach these highly engaged audiences. The validation of in-game advertising’s effectiveness will help drive the growth of ad dollars into the videogame sector.

As the largest in-game ad network, IGA Worldwide continues to add top videogame titles and landmark brands, and will have expanded its consumer reach to more than 20 million unique users by the end of 2007.

Footnotes:

* Veronis Suhler “Communications Industry Forecast,” 2006; eMarketer “Videogame Advertising – Getting to the Next Level,” March 2007; Forrester Research Company presentation on in-game advertising 2Q06

** PricewaterhouseCoopers “Global Entertainment and Media Outlook,” June 2006

*** PricewaterhouseCoopers “Global Entertainment and Media Outlook,” June 2006