Second Life, Statistics, Secret Sauce & IGA

A roundup of some of the interesting items I’ve seen over the past week or so:

Marketing in Second Life doesn’t work… here is why!
From GigaOm, this is a really insightful post. Although the survey referenced is quite small (only 200 respondents), and I find the survey’s assertion a bit odd (“72% disappointed with the activities of companies in Second Life”) – the results are to be expected.

Wait… what? Results are to be expected?

Right. Wagner makes some great points – seeing an advertiser’s presence, or interacting with them is an extremely opt-in experience. In SL you have to go out of your way to interact with many advertiser presences. And because many advertisers choose to set up shop on virtual islands, there’s little incentive to pay them a visit. Users are more likely to check out where everyone else is hanging out, and go there to join the party. As a result, many advertiser presences have been abandoned, leaving users with the impression that the advertiser is uninterested. For a world that values shared experiences and personal interaction so highly, this approach is doomed to failure.

In-Game Immersion: IGA and Massive execs sound off on the ad strategy’s evolution
Wow that’s a long title. Justin Townsend (CEO IGA), and Alison Lange (VP Marketing, Massive) contribute a lot of information – especially if you’re just getting up to speed on our industry thinks. However, for me it wasn’t the background that was most interesting, it was the statistics referenced:

  • 400 million eyeball hours are attributed to gaming, while only 143 million hours go towards watching television (unknown source).
  • 12% of “the male demographic” is watching less TV and have dedicated 20% more of their time to playing video games (“A Nielsen report”).
  • 40% of the gaming population is female, retirees and seniors are a growing demographic. And the late teen to 20-year-old age range is playing the same games as the 18-34 male demographic (Justin Townsend).

One request – if you’re going to spout off statistics like this, please give us some proper sources! Some of these claims are pretty amazing. Like – gaming accounts for 280% more eyeball time than TV?! Riiight. I’ll believe that when I can analyze the underlying study thank-you-very-much.

On a positive note – the gamer in me appreciates that everyone agrees in-game advertising can be most effective when it’s complimentary to the game experience and unobtrusive. In fact, Eric over at Marketing.fm posted about this in detail:

The Right Formula For In Game Advertising
According to Eric, the right formula for in-game advertising is:

(Information + Authenticity) + (Entertainment + Engagement) – Intrusiveness = Effectiveness

This is a really useful way to think about things and rings true to both the gamer and the professional in me. The example that Eric provides is also a good one. The Red Bull logo on the sides of creates isn’t disruptive to the gameplay experience – it dovetails with the game setting and seems like something you might naturally see piled up in a warehouse. The screenshot he uses isn’t from a Massive game, but certainly could be. The shot Eric uses is from an older game, Judge Dredd: Dredd vs Death. It was integrated by Hive Partners who were later acquired by IGA.

Speaking about IGA, they recently announced (pinky to mouth):

One Billion Ad Impressions Per Week…

In a press release released 3/20, IGA announced that it expects to hit several milestones in March:

  • 50 titles and 150+ countries in the IGA ad serving network.
  • 200 million impressions generated per week by end of March.
  • 10 millionth consumer expected to receive ad content by end of March.
  • CPM’s are higher than broadcast network primetime – reinforce premium of in-game advertising medium.
  • “This supports the general expectation that the market will grow by between 40 and 50 percent in 2007, with the latest market-size estimates for 2010 averaging $1.3 billion.” – Justin Townsend (CEO)

Wow! These are all great milestones! Congratulations.

Other reading:

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