Online gaming site Shockwave.com has launched a new gaming platform that will soon give advertisers a chance to insert live ads in the games.
Through Shockwave.com Immersive Network, marketers can insert their brand names or images in the games and track the viewing times each ad receives. The network can deliver a minimum of 10 million to 12 million impressions per month, the company said.
The effort is likely the first for ads to be integrated into Web-based games.
Switch Wakeboarding is the first game that incorporates in-game ads. Additional games will be added to the network over the next few months. Brands including SBC Communications, Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp. and Sony Corp.’s Sony Pictures are among the first that plan to use Shockwave.com’s new advertising service.
“The Shockwave.com Immersive Network will offer advertisers new opportunities to reach one of the largest and most active gaming communities,” said Dave Williams, general manager of Shockwave.com, in a statement. “Placing the right advertising within the correct context will add to the realism and entertainment of the gaming experience at Shockwave.com. We’re in the enviable position of being able to offer powerful integrated advertising opportunities and a huge, engaged audience.”
Shockwave.com said it plans to slip in ads that gamers would typically expect to see in real life.
The latest news from Shockwave.com shows how marketers are being lured more and more to video games as a growing advertising medium. Video game advertising is projected to grow to $800 million in 2009 from $120 million last year (November PROMO 2005).
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