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In-Game Ads Really Work

Disclaimer: I work at Massive, but the opinions expressed here are solely my own views and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.

Today Massive released a study revealing that in-game advertising is surprisingly effective. It was conducted by Nielsen Entertainment and examined various ad campaigns that ran in games that use Massive. The study found:

• Average brand familiarity increased 64%
• Average brand rating increased 37%
• Average purchase consideration raised 41%
• Average ad recall increased 41%
• Average ad rating increased 69%

Before digging in further, here’s how the study was conducted. Over 600 North American gamers were recruited and divided into two groups - a control group and a test group. They both played the same game (Need for Speed, Carbon). The control group played the game but was NOT shown ads. The test group played the game (on Xbox 360 or PC) and was shown ads. Then the same questions were given to both groups. The questions asked gamers about the ads and brands included in the study. The difference between the two groups is what we considered “lift”. So when we say “brand familiarity increased x%” we mean that users in the test group were x% more familiar with the brand than users in the control group.

With that out of the way, here’s what some of our different types of advertisers saw:

• Automotive advertisers achieved a 69% increase in purchase consideration among likely car buyers.
• A consumer packaged goods (CPG) client saw a 71% increase among gamers who considered their snack food a “cool brand”. Among males 18-24 brand familiarity rose 63%.
• A fast-food restaurant ad saw its rating (those who liked it a lot vs. liked it a little) rise 39%.
• A technology tools client saw a 70% increase in brand rating.

I’m really glad our company is sharing data like this with the public and I’m glad the research was done by Nielsen - they’re getting increasingly involved with this market (see my recent post on their GamePlay metrics) and have a lot of experience conducting studies like this. While I would have liked to see the study conducted across more games, I’m impressed that there were so many participants - over 600 in total and over 300 in each group. This is a VERY large sample set for a study of this nature. I’m also excited that the study was conducted across both Xbox 360 and PC gamers.

Related: Massive In-Game Ad Effectiveness Study (Aug-8)