Mochi's Mascot

Mochi Media, which tracks web gaming traffic, has established the first advertising network to offer dynamically inserted ads in free online games, reports AdWeek.
The service, MochiAds, is giving advertisers access to the ballooning global community of independent game makers "who don't have contracts with [the likes of game giant] Electronic Arts," said Mochi Media CEO Jameson Hsu.

"It's like [Google] AdSense," noted Mike Geiger, director of interactive production, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, adding that Goodby has MochiAds in mind for several 2007 media campaigns. One reason, he explained, is that it offers advertisers an "exclusive, non-intrusive" environment where online players - estimated to exceed 150 million worldwide, per the International Game Developers Association - pay "full attention to the ad because they're waiting for the game to load."

Ad revenues in online gaming are expected to reach nearly $500 million by 2008, up from $200 million in 2004, per researcher IDC.