The in-game advertising market in China is expected to double
this year from last year's level as advertisers are exploring
marketing opportunities on the increasingly popular gaming
platforms.
Revenues from the in-game advertising, or IGA, will reach 250
million yuan (US$35 million), comparing to last year's 120 million
yuan, Shanghai-based consultancy iResearch said yesterday in a
report.
"The value of IGA is being recognized by more and more
marketers, while the game operators are creating more ads
inventories in their games to diversify their revenue stream," the
report noted, estimating that the IGA market will exceed the
one-billion-yuan mark in 2011.
Currently the IGA spending comes mostly from transport, daily
necessities and fast consumer goods sectors.
For instance, Shanghai Volkswagen, a joint venture between
Volkswagen and the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation,
integrated its Polo series into an online car racing game to let
the players drive the virtual sedan and get a good idea of their
product.
Most used
The Chinese IGA market last year was led by Tencent Inc, which
acquires players through its instant messaging service QQ, the most
used IM in China. It made 20 million yuan from IGA.
More than 120 million Web users in China have played at least
one title in the past year, with an average of 7.3 hours spent on
games every week. Twenty-one percent of them played more than 10
hours a week, according to figures from the China Internet Network
Information Center.
(Shanghai Daily February 20, 2008)
