Brands game for a broader audience
By Simon Fuller. Moving mainstream. We turned the brand-e spotlight on in-game advertising recently with a look at how the medium has become bigger, better… and increasingly attractive to brands. But many still perceive console and PC games as the domain of the young male.
“Gaming is one of the fastest growing global entertainment forms and marketers recognise the unique opportunities it presents to reach the Holy Grail of advertising – the elusive male 18-to-34 demographic who spend less time watching TV and more time playing video games,” concedes JJ Richards, general manager at specialist in-game ad network Massive.
But the play is changing.
“The video game player demographic has historically been young males playing strictly on gaming consoles,” says Noam Korin, vp of advertising sales, Europe, for in-game ad outfit Double Fusion. “This isn’t the case anymore. New game platforms – for example, online casual games, handheld systems and gaming-focused mobile devices – can provide video game experiences similar to consoles, and have helped transcend the stereotypical gaming audience.”
This shift in tech has also been echoed by a change in game types. It’s not just about bloodthirsty shoot ‘em-ups and complicated MMORGS. Inclusive titles on family-friendly consoles like Nintendo’s Wii and casual games like the karaoke simulation SingStar are opening up gaming – and gaming ads – to new demographics.
“The audience is surprisingly broad,” says Ed Bartlett, vp for Europe at in-game ad network IGA Worldwide. “Initially we specifically targeted 18-to-34 males year-old males, since this is the core demographic for many ad-relevant games, as well as a very hard to reach audience for advertisers. However, as we have grown the network with more and more games, naturally the demographic we cover has also broadened. Gaming is such a mainstream pastime nowadays, you’re just as likely to find a 35-year-old woman playing as you are a 10-year-old boy.”
In fact, it looks like the tide is turning on gender, with a recent eMarketer report finding that when it came to PC games, 29% of the total gamers were women aged 25 to 54 – the largest percentage of any of the groups in the study. It’s info like this that might give existing in-game marketers, or those put off by assumptions about just who plays these games, pause for thought.
