The gaming industry earned $57 billion in revenue according to the DFC Intelligence in 2010 and data-driven marketing managers are capitalizing on it with in-game advertising.

First off, in-game advertising refers to the use of computer and video games as a medium in which to deliver advertising. A pretty straight forward idea with lots of potential.

Social Times reports, “apart from increasing brand awareness and purchase intent, in-game ads trigger users to more readily engage with sponsored media. According to 85 studies from Microsoft’s in-game ad serving company for PC and Xbox 360 called Massive, in-game ads were found to increase purchase intent by 24%, brand recommendation by 23% and overall brand rating by 32%.”

As for our own results, Levelwing ran a campaign with in-game advertising for a large brand last year. The ads were included on NBA 2K10, Madden NFL 10 and NHL 10 and the results spoke for themselves.

• More than 95 % of gamers were aware of the brand on an aided basis.

• Seventy-eight percent of gamers who were exposed to the ads recalled them.

• After seeing the in-game ads, two-thirds of gamers felt more positively about the brand.

• More than half of all gamers who recalled the in-game ads said that they took at least one post-ad action. Of these actions, 29% visited the brand’s website and 23% told a friend about the ads in the game.

In-Game Advertising for Mobile

Within the in-game advertising vertical is the growing opportunity for mobile in-game advertising. Marketing Vox has reported that PopCap Games and Information Solutions Group found that more than half (52%) of 2,425 US and UK mobile phone owners surveyed have played a game on a mobile phone at some time in the past.

• 33% of respondents had played a game on their mobile phone handset in the past month, qualifying them as “mobile phone gamers”

• 24.6% had played in the past week, qualifying them as “avid mobile phone gamers.”

The results are clear that in-game advertising, whether in an effort to boost brand awareness in a game console situation, or to trigger social actions within the mobile platform is not only a growing industry, but a great opportunity for data-driven marketers.

Image Source: en.gamers.com