Video games have always attracted a very valuable audience for advertisers: the 18-34 male demographic. And yet companies still don't look to games for advertising revenues in the same way they do with television or the web.
DFC Intelligence's new Advertising and Video Games report (purchasable here) notes, "It is clear that as an advertising medium, video games are underutilized. The amount of advertising revenue flowing into video games pales in comparison to other media. Particularly, when compared to the amount of leisure time accounted for by games."
That said, DFC does forecast steady advertising growth in games over the next several years, eventually reaching $7.2 billion globally in 2016. DFC said the North American advertising in games market totaled $1 billion in North America in 2010 - this includes in-game advertising, around-game advertising, and advergames. That figure is expected to double to over $2 billion by 2014.
So what's changing to entice more advertising in games? It appears that the move to online gaming has made it more attractive for advertisers to include games in their spends.
"Video games have reached beyond adolescent males into a mainstream entertainment medium that touches every segment of the population," said DFC analyst Michael Goodman, lead researcher for the report. "Despite this, advertisers continue to under utilize video games as an advertising vehicle. This is slowly changing as more games go online."
Goodman continued, "Consumers are inundated with advertising, and marketers’ messages are lost in the clutter. Video games, with their high degree of immersion and interactivity, are a natural solution for building brand awareness and influencing purchase decisions."
DFC added that it's not really in-game advertising that's expected to drive growth, but around-game advertising. Advergames are gaining steam as well. By 2016, advergames and around-game advertising are expected to account for about 78% of total game advertising revenue, DFC said.
