Research Finds Value Exchange Ads Benefit Gamers, Developers And Marketers

In 2011, WildTangent introduced the BrandBoost ad platform that offered game developers an opportunity to place advertising in their games that run on the WildTangent Games service.  We described BrandBoost as ‘value exchange’ ads because they allowed advertisers to reward gamers for viewing ads with items valuable to them, such as in-game items or free game sessions.  As a company founded and run by gamers, we felt BrandBoost ads were the right way to advertise in freemium games, and the results of new research support our approach with BrandBoost.

Together with research and analytics firm IHS Technology, WildTangent released a whitepaper today showing growing acceptance of value exchange-style advertising amongst gamers. As a result, this drives broad benefits to developers and marketers alike. In addition to the graphic, here are a few of the key findings:

 

These results will be welcome news for both developers and marketers as they show greater numbers of gamers spending more time and becoming more engaged with games. This, in turn, creates greater revenue-earning opportunities for game developers when offering value exchange advertising in their games.

For years we’ve shown the effectiveness of BrandBoost ads in reaching gamers. Combining the growing appeal for value exchange ads in freemium gaming with higher levels of engagement for advertisers that sponsor value exchange ads, marketers will see massive potential to drive higher engagement and ROI.

It’s exciting to see these results and the potential that value exchange ads like BrandBoost’s have to help propel the gaming ecosystem.

To read the research, download the whitepaper here: http://www.wildtangent.com/Media/assets/IHS_WhitePaper_Value_Exchange-Advertising-in-Freemium-Games.pdf