In a move toward placing strategic advertisements into more of the activities people do online, Microsoft (MSFT) is buying the leader in the field, Massive Inc. which incorporates ads into online gaming and looking at other areas like shopping and social networking.
Currently, online ads that are incorporated into quizzes and games, comprise almost 10 percent of the online ad revenue for last year, coming in at over a billion dollars of the $12.5 billion total spent and is expected to grow in the years ahead. This is according to a report released last week by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Massive Inc. specializes in embedding advertisements into online video games interactively, which has some great potential with its core demographic.
This is especially effective in sports games which lend themselves to this type of ad because of the scenery, stadiums or car-racing stadiums that are built for that in real-life also. Ads are placed in the same places in the digital world.
One of the interesting things about this idea is that it can also offer different ads at various times of the day that would coincide with more interest; for example pizza ads presented at the right times when people would want to have one.
The technology must be used wisely though as it has been so far been received with mixed reviews. Users want the ads to be used in an authentic way that adds to the game play, if they do it right the users like it, if not, they rebel.
Online marketers may not fit into the strategy with Massive as it's probably looking for bigger advertisers. They do have smaller competitors like Double Fusion Inc., IGA Worldwide Inc. and Atom Entertainment Inc. which also deliver online ads through gaming. It could be that there is something with them that a smaller online marketer could work with.
Have you used them? How have they worked for you?
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