In a move that’s sure to inflate the insertion fee of in-game advertising, a new report suggests that the total reach of video games goes beyond that of retail sales numbers. Much like the pass-along factor of print magazines, the research takes into account multi-player game sessions, rentals, used game sales, and pass-around.
“Retail sales capture only a portion of the total audience playing individual game titles,” said Michael Dowling in a statement to Reuters. Therefore, game publishers should theoretically be able to raise the price of advertising.
For example, Activision’s Call of Duty 3 sold 2 million units as of last month. But the report claims the game was played by 9 million people, a 4.5 increase. Electronic Arts sold more than 6 million copies of Madden NFL 2007, but the study found that 14 million people actually played the game.
Regardless, in-game ads may prove less effective than desired as one behavioural research company found. After all, gaming is a lot more active than say, reading or watching something on TV. Who has time to stop and smell the marketing roses when they’re trying to frag a buddy?
{"source":"https:\/\/gigaom.com\/2007\/03\/22\/report-video-games-audience-reach-more-than-originally-thought\/wijax\/49e8740702c6da9341d50357217fb629","varname":"wijax_8481fe8bbf497b1c288c2b3ebe43ae01","title_element":"header","title_class":"widget-title","title_before":"%3Cheader%20class%3D%22widget-title%22%3E","title_after":"%3C%2Fheader%3E"}