New in-game advertising agency launches

As the number of advertisers looking to games as a way of reaching their target audience continues to rise, a new in-game advertising agency has officially opened its doors.

Engage In-Game Advertising, based in San Francisco, is seeking clients both regionally and locally on a market-by-market basis. The company will also work with other agencies such as Massive, IGA Partners and Double Fusion to target consumers in specific locations.

According to Engage, the amount of time 18-34 year old males spend watching television is down 12 per cent, while the number of hours spent playing videogames is up 20 per cent.

"Since it's a relatively new medium, many companies are unaware of the promotional reach and creative flexibility video game advertising can provide when trying to target the elusive 18 to 34 year old male audience," said business development VP David Smith.

"When done correctly - and the in-game ads contextually support the game environment - we're finding gamers are in favour of videogame advertising because it enhances the realism of the game play. As a result, our clients are discovering that in-game advertising is connecting well with their key customers."

Engage has already launched its first campaign, which placed adverts for fast food chain Subway on in-game billboards in Valve's Counter-Strike, which is powered by the IGA Partners Radial Network. The adverts were seen by around 31,000 gamers in target areas such as San Francisco, Sacramento and Las Vegas in the three weeks after launch, making for 19,000 hours of exposure.

"Not only was the campaign incredibly effective in connecting with our target audience, but it was cost effective as well," said Subway's Shawn Hazeghazam.

"Our post-campaign survey showed a 94 per cent ad recall among our target audience. For every penny we paid, our brand received one minute of exposure. This in-game program really delivered for us, at a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising mediums."