There is no doubt that demographics make advertising through games (“advergaming”) a promising marketing tool. Proof of advergaming's success is its ability to start a dialogue with consumers. Advergaming immerses your targeted audience in your company's brand.

Some of the world’s most recognized brands are increasingly turning to games for advertising for:

EFFECTIVE BRAND DEVELOPMENT:
Integrating brand messages within games successfully builds product recognition. It forms buyer perceptions, creates behavioral associations and builds brand loyalty. Powerful brand messages can be delivered by making the brand itself interactive.

STICKINESS:
The average gamer spends 5 to 7 minutes on an advergame site, approximately 14 times the amount of time spent watching a television commercial. During that period, the user is clearly an active receiver of marketing messages, whereas a television viewer may leave the room during a commercial break.

FLEXIBILE CONTENT:
Games can be used independently or combined into contests, sweepstakes or larger marketing campaigns.

IMMEDIATE INFORMATION GATHERING:
Advergaming gives an ad a lot more depth. Consumers are interacting with something that has value to them and they will register to play a game, log in to a database to play against each other, and come back frequently to check scores. They will continue to interact with the brand, offering marketers an ongoing opportunity to gather data. Game play allow companies to gain instant access to important statistics, such as the how many people are playing a game, the average play time, and number of times a user logs in and posts scores. Companies can also survey users to determine brand recall and positive brand impressions.

COST SAVINGS:
Unlike the hard sell of television, radio, print, and banner ads, advergaming is alluring, if not downright addictive. And, online game development is much more cost effective and produces more targeted results than the more traditional advertising methods.

No matter how it is tailored, the key to successful advergaming is setting clear goals. With over ten years' experience in the online gaming business, we offer valuable insight in effectively reaching specific target audiences.

ONLINE GAMING STATISTICS:

Nielsen NetRatings:
One in three online people visit an online game site to play or download a game. 41 percent of people who frequent online game sites are women, and 43 percent are between the ages 25 to 49. The single highest user group was women ages 35-49. They declare online game sites to be the "stickiest" category of Web sites. Online gamers spent more time playing games than other Web users on sports or news sites.

ScoreNetworks:
On average, 8.9 percent of players at the Top 10 gaming sites are African American, 4.2 percent are Asian and 79.3 percent are white. About 35 percent of players on those sites earn $50,000 to $100,000 annually, while 16.2 percent take home more than $100,000.

AOL Study:
Female gamers over 40 spend the most hours per week playing online games – 9.1 hours or 41% of their online time. Females under 40 log 6.2 hours. Women enjoy word and puzzle games. They play to relieve stress and to chat with other online gamers. 49% of women over 40 prefer Word and puzzle games 27% prefers casino, 16% arcade, 7% trivia, and 1% sports games. Men spend 6.1 hours or 26% of their online time playing games. Teens spend 7.4 hours per week playing games.

DFC Intelligence (6/30/04):
DFC Intelligence estimates that the online game industry in 2003 was $1.9 billlion, with well over 50% of the revenue coming from Asia and barely 10% of the revenue from Europe.  By 2006 DFC forecasts revenue growing to $5.2 billion with continued steady growth so that worldwide online game revenue reaches $9.8 billion by 2009.  By 2009, DFC forecasts that Asia will still be the largest market, but Europe with forecasted 2009 online game revenue of $2.2 billion will be the fastest growing.

The main drivers of growth for the online game business are 1) increased consumer usage and 2) more average per consumer revenue from what DFC defines as casual and moderate gamers.  Casual and moderate gamers are expected to go from 65% of usage in 2003 to 73% of online game usage by 2009.  About 62% of online game revenue in 2009 is forecasted to come from casual and moderate gamers.  By 2009, console online games are forecasted to account for only 17% of usage, but 30% of online game revenue.