In graphic detail: Gamers are warming up to in-game ads

By Alexander Lee

The in-game advertising industry has grown in fits and starts, with some advertisers balking at the current lack of premium inventory available in the space. But new data from Comscore shows that more gamers than ever are ready and willing to consume ads alongside their games.

Marketers have long been wary about entering the gaming space due to concerns that the average gamer is turned off by brand involvement. This is a misconception. The reality is that today’s gaming audience is media-savvy and is growing more comfortable with the presence of real brands inside games. As free-to-play games become the norm, gamers are increasingly embracing the value exchange of advertising attention for free gaming content.

For Comscore’s 2023 State of Gaming report, the media measurement and analytics company questioned gamers about their attitudes toward advertisements in games, as well as ads alongside livestreamed gaming content. The data was collected from a November 2022 poll of more than 4,000 gamers in the U.S. aged 18 to 65.

The report comes out today — but Digiday got a sneak peek. Check out some of the key takeaways below.

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Mobile gamers are more likely to be amenable to ads than their PC or console counterparts, Comscore’s survey found. This is simply because mobile gamers have been exposed to ads more often. Mobile games are more often free-to-play, and thus much more heavily monetized than games on other hardware platforms. In fact, in 2023, many gamers would be surprised to see a mobile game without ads.

Mobile gaming ads are also more likely to be rewarded than ads on other platforms, which gamers prefer — more on that below.

Still, the data is encouraging for advertisers across platforms. The overwhelming majority of gamers feel positive or neutral about advertisements — 69 percent of console gamers, 65 percent of PC gamers and 74 percent of mobile gamers, to be specific — and some experts are confident that these numbers will continue to tilt in ads’ favor as PC and console gamers grow more accustomed to their presence.

“Ads on mobile games are not necessarily new; it’s something that has been pretty well established, and so I think people are used to seeing advertising in mobile gaming,” said Samantha Lim, svp of gaming strategy and innovation at Publicis. “So my hope is that, as ads appear on other devices, that receptivity will start to slowly increase as well.”

The majority of gamers feel that six to …read more

Source:: Digiday