Media analyst Screen Digest has predicted that in five years time, in-game advertising will be worth $1 billion, turning it into an irresistible prospect for businesses. Audience media habits and the “unique advantages of dynamic in-game advertising” will drive videogames to become 1% of all digital media marketing by 2014, according to the report.
“There are many ways in which advertising can help evolve business models for video games and we have only just begun to explore that potential,” says number cruncher Martin Sorrell. “Given gaming is now a mainstream leisure interest, in-game deserves the same consideration as mobile and social media.”
Maybe it’s just me, but the projection of $1 billion by five years seems a little … low. We’ll see how it goes, but one would expect videogames to be exploited far quicker than that, especially with Activision in this industry. You can bet they’ll welcome the rise of in-game advertising with open arses.
It is inevitable that videogames will be sucked into the world of advertising in the game way everything else has. We can hope and pray that it’s kept tasteful, but we’re asking for a lot.
