Role and Types Of Advertising In The Video Game Industry

Advertising has a major role to play both in the success and failure of a product in the gaming industry. Yes, nothing new, it is common to every field, every industry and to every product. Thus, video games should be taken as any other product and need to be advertised in a manner that the potential consumers know exactly what the product is before they actually decide upon buying that product, which here is a video game.

In recent years, even the video game industry has realized the importance of advertising and start relying all the more vigorously oan it for growth. Also, with buyers becoming more alert and connected and the world of gaming encountering rapid technological upgrades, the video game publishers will just keep on harnessing the potential of advertising.

The advertising market for video games, however still in its early stage, has become gigantic over the past decade. This growth in the market is creating some crucial job opportunities for the advertising experts with expertise in the video game industry. For anyone who wants to make a career in video game advertising, must enroll for an advertising course that incorporates teaching various parts of a brand’s marketing system.

Now let’s see what is the current scenario for advertising in the video game industry-

Interstitial ads

These are full screen advertisements that cover the interface of their host application. These advertisements are normally displayed at natural transition points in the flow of an application. A few examples here include- between activities or during a pause between different game levels. These advertisements give users the choice to either view the advertisement or close it and return to their host application. The direct call to action and the full screen size are some of the attributes that make these types of advertisements one of the most effective ways of video game promotions.

Reward-based ads

Also called by the name ‘Incentivized Advertising’, the name says it all. The Reward based advertising offer its player an in-game currency. This type of ads market has grown substantially, owing to the popularity of smart-phones and in-app purchases. The advertisements shown here are either game-based or random and not customized to the player’s preferences. Also, keep in mind that these types of ads work in particular set-ups, where the reward or the incentive is sufficiently great for the gamer to need to make a purchase.

Native Ads

Native advertising is the latest trends in the video game industry, the types have reaped a lot of attention after these have been utilized as a part of US presidential campaigns in the year 2008 and 2012. Coming back to video game industry, native advertising is as useful as these are for other industries, as it offers the players with a real-life experience, which eventually make them more connected to the game. This connection between the gamer and the game lead to improved sales and hence the motive of the advertisement is achieved.

All the advertising types mentioned above reflect the fact that the traditional advertising model has grown from a ‘one-size-fits-all’ methodology to a more personalized and engaging one. Video games are no longer seen as the product for youngsters and young adults alone, in fact, the latest studies show that the average gamer today is 35 years old. Moreover, it’s not the men who dominate this gaming zone, there is a significant increase in the number of female players and this increase is growing and will grow over the next few years.

To put it plainly, the gaming industry has become a mainstream medium for entertainment, mainly because of the creative ways by which they are being advertised to the world.