Valve and IGA ink Counter-Strike ad deal

In-game ad firm IGA Worldwide has signed an agreement with developer Valve to provide adverts in online shooter Counter-Strike.

The companies believe the deal is one of the largest in-game ad deals of its kind, which hopes to take advantage of Counter-Strike's five billion player minutes per month.

"This exclusive agreement between IGA Worldwide and Valve adds significant value to our network and provides brands with a sure-fire way to reach millions of consumers with high impact advertising, and with highly measurable results," said Justin Townsend, CEO of IGA.

"We have created a new mass-reach advertising channel where we can deliver targeted 'above the line' advertising creatives to the living rooms of highly engaged, hard to reach demographics, yet with the measurability of below the line mediums such as online," he added.

"As the world's premier online action game, Counter-Strike's player minutes exceed its closest competitor by more than 100 per cent," said Doug Lombardi, marketing director for Valve.

"Additionally, Counter-Strike rivals many of the current top ten watched shows on American televisions. For instance, a top ranked, one hour, weekly program garners 20 million viewers and results in approximately 4.8 billion viewer minutes per month.

Conversely, Counter-Strike generates over 5 billion player minutes in the same period of time. And, nobody fast-forwards through any part of Counter-Strike," added Lombardi.