The global market for ads in video games is expected to grow from $3.1 billion in 2010 to $7.2 billion in 2016 as video games finally begin to reach their potential as an advertising medium driven by increased online play.
A new report from market researcher DFC Intelligence said that advertisers are spending more money in games via in-game ads, around-game ads, and advergames.
But Michael Goodman, the lead DFC researcher for the report, said that the video game medium remains underutilized when it comes to advertising. The amount of ad revenue flowing into video games pales in comparison to other media, considering that video games account for a huge share of leisure time. Video games ought to get a bigger share, based on their user engagement.
Video game advertising is expected to increase as more games go online and the engagement become less about a single user interacting with a game and/or ad and rather increasingly large audiences interacting with games, ads and each other.
DFC estimates that video game revenues on a worldwide basis will grow from $67 billion in 2010 to $81 billion by 2016.
The biggest growth area is delivering ads around games, such as when Facebook runs ads in the borders around social games. Advergames, or games created to deliver a specific ad message, are expected to grow as well. By 2016, advergames and around-game ads will account for 78 percent of game ad revenue.
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