If you have been following this blog for a longer period of time, you might have noticed that the Sponsoo-Team likes to play a round or two of good old videogames. Maneuvering a hero through exciting adventures or beating a colleague in a heated FIFA-match is just too much of a good time to pass up on.
We share this passion with approximately 1.8 billion people worldwide, who play videogames on a regular basis.
The big player on the sports-games market, FIFA, has sold 7 million copies for Sony’s Playstation 4 alone! Those 7 million gamers often do not play the game at home alone – they invite friends over or hold their own FIFA-parties.
This engages even more people with the game. Professional players like Sponsoo-Athlete Tim Heckenkamp play for huge prize money on big stages which generates even more contacts for the sponsor.
This makes videogames an interesting object for advertising companies.
One can divide In-Game-advertising into three sub-genres.
“I am legend” – billboard in the game Battlefield 2124
Dynamic In-Game Advertising
With DIGA, advertising material can be inserted into free spaces like banners, advertising boards or posters in real-time. Important marketing-factors like geo-targeting, as well as the purposeful delivery of the material regarding time of day and target-group make Dynamic In-Game Advertising so appealing. The CPM of such activities is around 4-12 Dollar, depending on the placement and the games attractiveness.
“Barclays” advertisement in the game FIFA 16
Static In-Game Advertising :
The method of Static In-Game Advertising is a completely different story however. The advertising material is, as the name might imply, programmed directly into the game. A great example for this method is the previously mentioned sports-game FIFA. The companies contact the developing company before the release and have their materials implemented accordingly. Players of FIFA will now be confronted with the ads during the whole season. Whether it might be during a game of Ultimate Team, Pro Clubs or career mode, they can not escape from the advertisements.
The SIGA billing is mostly processed with a flat fee, which depends on the size of the game, the degree of integration and the projected sales numbers. When it comes down to FIFA, one can easily pay up to 500.000 dollars for advertising space along the sidelines.
Screenshot: MC Donald’s videogame
Advergaming:
Advergaming describes the method of programming a game simply to promote a brand or a specific product. The game will become more of an interactive advertisement, than a rewarding game. With advergaming, companies can connect with the costumer directly and on a digital basis. Advergaming is strongly connected to the static In-Game Advertising but requires way more programming effort and is quite expensive. Functional games can cost several million dollars if the releasing company wants to put the game on all platforms. Small apps and Flash-games can be developed for way less however.
Several e-Sport athletes present videogames on a big international stage. Sponsors can create a huge reach with In-Game Advertising. Please contact us via support@sponsoo.de or search through our database. We would be pleased to help you with the selection.
Viewer numbers are hard to estimate because it is difficult to gauge the popularity of a game before its release; however, advertiser risk can be partially mitigated through benchmark-based advertisement payments on game units sold or a refund agreement if a certain number of game sales are not reached.