A few weeks back, Adweek authored an article called Google Adsense: It’s In the Game. In addition to the witty title, the contents of the article were very interesting – Google is infiltrating their way into the world of online games with Adsense.
For some of us, this may not come as a surprise. The discussion of in-game advertising has been a mildly hot topic for the last few years. What’s interesting to me is to see how the placement of in-game ads evolve. In the article, a scenario is played out in which a gamer is playing online and has to wait for a 15-second ad spot before continuing. Seems like a hassle, right?
As far as I understand, Adsense for games will be integrated into free online games, which have been wildly popular in recent years. It’s hard to be upset with ads in a video game that you’re playing for no fee. After all, they have to make a revenue stream somehow. I think it’s a legit solution to bring some advertising dollars into a medium where millions of people are present. Whether or not advertising to intense gamers by interrupting their play will work is a different story.
