EA sees "buckets of money" in cross-platform ads

Advertisers will begin to see "buckets of money" once cross-platform advertising for game brands becomes established, according to EA's new senior vice president of global media sales, Dave Madden.

Speaking to Forbes, Madden predicted that the advertising industry was already moving away from the traditional TV model and towards the video games market.

"Brands and advertisers doing stuff in sports on TV want to go to where gamers are playing and IPs like FIFA, Need for Speed, or Madden are perfect for them because they're engaging games that are available everywhere consumers are gaming," said Madden. "We're making it easier for advertisers to plan and buy across our catalogue."

Madden is currently leading efforts to allow adverts to be run dynamically across multiple platforms - from traditional consoles to smartphones and social networks. The instant access to detailed user data is also seen as a major draw for advertisers.

"With EA's audience, there are more gamers playing the same game across multiple games during prime time than a network is going to get with a hit show," said Madden. "This will unlock bigger and bigger budgets. Advertisers want to place buys and know what the results are going to be. And we'll be able to show them results."

"It's already happening today, it's just a matter of scale and standardising the media to make the metrics more like traditional media so advertisers can understand the numbers," said Madden. "That's when you're going to see buckets of money."