Yahoo! to offer ad-supported games
Games portal plans to introduce 400 titles by the end of the year
Yahoo! Games has announced its intention to offer its users more than 400 ad-supported titles by the end of 2008, working with Double Fusion and NeoEdge to provide pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll advertisements into the games catalogue.
The company hopes to capitalise on the female 35 to 54 demographic for which the portal is most popular, allowing free games for users but keeping the option of ad-free titles for paid downloads.
"In game advertising is a win-win for Yahoo! Games, our partners and our users," said Kyle Laughlin, head of games at Yahoo! "Yahoo! Games will safely and simply monetize our games experience while providing the best and most popular games free to game enthusiasts."
Titles to be released for free under the deal include games from PopCap, Big Fish Games and I-Play, among others.