Reuters reports that marketing types aren't quite as enthusiastic about the prospects of in-game advertising as they have been in the past. This new marketing channel has been hyped for over a decade now, but it's shown little growth, certainly not the explosion that was predicted around the time that Munch started drinking SoBe.
Projected growth estimates for in-game advertising vary, with several experts suggesting that ad spending there will top $100 million this year, and grow to around $1 billion in 2011.
That may sound like a big number, but when you place it within the context of $150 billion annual advertising spending, it's peanuts. The figure should be alot higher, considering that video games are now supposed to be bigger than film.
Sports games continue to lead the pack, probably because advertising is so prevalent in real world sporting events that its inclusion within video games does little to affect immersion.
"I have been saying ever since we took over Take Two that I thought in-game advertising was a very limited opportunity that applied mostly to the sports business, and I remain of that belief," he said. "It's a detail. It exists, it can be profitable, we'd be happy to have it. It's just not going to move the dial."
I find this tough to believe. Advertisers just need to get more creative. Just look what Guitar Hero is doing for music sales.
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