Nielsen Adds Videogame Ad Rating Service

Thanks to Mediapost.com for their article discussing the attempt by TV rating arbiters Nielsen to move into the videogame market, launching the Nielsen Video Game Service, intended to calculate "the data and metrics that will enable video game marketers to pitch advertisers on the value of 'in-game ad exposure.'" The service, backed by publisher Activision, who is "eager to cultivate a video game advertising marketplace", launched alongside a survey that "claims 27 percent of active male gamers noticed ads in the last video game they played", and further revealed statistics claiming "52 percent of heavy gamers saying they like games to contain real products and 70 percent saying that the placement of real products makes the games more 'genuine.'"

Comments

The Man takes an interest.

[b0r0din]

Once games start getting rated for advertisement and demographics are launched against the gaming community, it's a full sign The Man has taken a vested interest in the video game agenda. We can expect even more annoying advertisements put at the bottom of future console games. Maybe even some popups. Heaven knows there aren't enough goddamn advertisements everywhere else. Reminds of the Diamond Age by Neil Stephenson where people who got optical implants committed suicide because they kept getting spammed, literally to death, by ads.

Pure BS

[*weasel]

Clearly the pitch from the publishers will be: "It'll help us defray costs and let us get more, better games to market for a lower cost to the consumer!"

Not that there's any chance of that happening.
I might give a purely ad-supported free game a shot. Similarly to how I'm not philosophically opposed to catching such 'free' content from TV/radio broadcasting.

But this new craze of putting ads in consumer-funded-content is pure BS. Product placement shots in films haven't kept the price of tickets from going up. The ads thrown in amongst the trailers at the movies haven't kept ticket prices from going up. The ever-increasing quantity of ads in magazines and papers haven't kept their prices from going up.

Of course, no-one's started voting with their wallet just yet - so why should advertisers and publishers care?

Re:Pure BS

[Pizzop]

Completely true, this is pure bullshit. If you ever play SSX 3, look at the beginner courses. There's ad's all over. 7-Up dn-L Honda Element. Shit, you jump over one. How much less did the game cost me since EA got sponsors? Nothing less, not one dime cheaper. "For sports games it's different..." Not this sports game, I don't see any Burton Boards, and Think Boots, and Spyder Race Suits. Now don't look at this as a rant to just rip on SSX-3, I love the game. It's more pointing out how this is already happening, and this shit isn't going to drop the price of video games, it's going either keep the costs the same (and allow for BIGGER profits for the parent companies of the game producers), OR it's going to raise costs, because companies will need to meet the exact standards of the company whose product the are slipping into the video game ("That lighting makes it look bad," "That isn't the right color red," and "Can you possibly make that sign take up 1/3rd the screen?") Complete Crap, one more industry I'm going to lose faith in before I become a hermit.

I really, really hate in-game ads.

[josh glaser]

I mean, sometimes it is actually cool to have a real product (wouldn't GTA be cooler with real cars?), but most game advertising doesn't make sense. A billboard along a racetrack or ads along a stadium, well, they kinda make sense, and I guess I could put up with them (I don't play many sports games anyway) but most game ads are crap. You'll find big ads for completely unrelated products plastered all over the levels, and worse still, sometimes integrated into the gameplay. Remember in Super Monkey Ball, how you picked up Dole bananas? Hmm...I kinda have mixed feelings on that. I mean, it's kinda funny, and not too out of place (except when they have the Dole logo on the floor of the level). Remember San Fransisco Rush? In one of the various sequels, I remember how you had to find cans of Mountain Dew that were hidden in the levels. That's just kinda dumb, and it's going to get worse. It's like product placement in movies: I've paid for the entertainment, I don't want ads.

MMOG Advertising

[wigginz]

I recently read an interview with the lead designer of the Lineage MMORPG series sees the future of online games headed. He mentions that the subscription based model needs to go away and be replaced by in-game advertising revenue (among other sources). Article can be found here. Warning: the article just briefly mentions this; it's mainly about the game itself.

I can't wait until I get my Nike chain mail boots.

Re:Genuine products do work yes

[GTRacer]

I don't know about other gamers, but as a racing game junkie, I must admit I'm a sponsor/logo whore. I like playing racing games featuring signage and imagery of real racing-related and otherwise-relevant brands.

I get slightly annoyed at "fake" branding where the dev or pub couldn't secure licensing for real cars/tracks/race oil, etc.

I get more annoyed at racing games with little or no branding, if the equivalent RL series or race type would be so. I know street racing is different and that's fine.

I have absolutely no problem with in-game adverts in other genres as long as it makes sense. Or is done humorously. Who wouldn't like to fire up an FPS with the "Quiznos Rats" as targets?

That all said, I do find excessive brand-plugging during interviews to be VERY annoying.

GTRacer
- Yes, that GTRacer

Re:Genuine products do work yes

[Jackazz]

The problem is getting multiple sponserships. If they make the stats of the STP car better than the stats of the Penzoil car, Penzoil gets angry and doesn't sign the contract. Nobody wants to be seen as having the inferior product. that is why you see product lines in games, like good, better, best golf clubs from callaway.

the only way to avoid this is when you license from the governing body, like EA gets a license from the NBA to use all the names of the teams and players (which are trademarked by the NBA not the teams I would guess).