CNET: Advertisers to go gaga over gaming

The Yankee Group reports that advertisers are beginning to consider electronic games to be an important medium, especially for reaching elusive young men. The research firm predicts that U.S. companies will spend more than a quarter billion dollars on game ads, excluding web gaming ads, four years from now. Marketers spent only about $10 million on in-game ads in 2003.

Gaming firm Massive yesterday announced the launch of a video game advertising placement service, helping match marketers to upcoming gaming efforts. Massive also provides an ad network that can provide tracking for ad views in some games.

American gamers numbered about 108 million in 2003, and they spent more than $70 a piece for games. By 2008, when Yankee believes advertisers will start opening up their budgets to gaming, the market is predicted to number 126 million people in the U.S. Spending on in-game ads in 2003 was only $10 million. Yankee predicted that in addition to in-game ads, more advertisers will engage in advergames, producing and distributing their own games.