[casual_games] FW: Gaming Insider: Big Money Gets Behind Casual Games

[Matthew Ford]

I thought this might be useful to the group. This is a pretty good mailing
list IMO.
 
Big Money Gets Behind Casual Games
by Shankar Gupta, Friday, July 20, 2007 

 
<http://mediapst.adbureau.net/adclick/acc_random=072056199/SITE=EMAIL/AREA=G
AMINGINSIDER/AAMSZ=TOWER/GUID=072056199/QUAL=0>  LOTS OF NEWS FOR CASUAL
games lovers this week. For one, a study by Macrovision found that 83%
percent of gamers surveyed would be willing to watch a 30-second ad in
exchange for free gameplay. 


That's a good sign for the longevity of the 30-second spot, as DVR
penetration increases and more online advertisers switch to shorter ads to
avoid abusing consumer attention. 


Couple that with two major announcements from two major players in the
interactive space, both made at casual games conference Casual Connect.
Google's Dean of Games Bernie Stolar and in-game ad team manager Greg
Schaffer said that "Adsense for Games" will be coming soon, while
Microsoft's general manager of casual games said that casual games will be a
"central part" of Microsoft's gaming strategy. And major media companies
(assuming Google and Microsoft aren't major media companies) are getting
into the act, too: Viacom is committing $100 million to acquire a portfolio
of Web sites dedicated to casual games. 


It's been the conventional wisdom for a while now that casual games are a
huge opportunity for marketers to reach an affluent audience that eschews
30-second TV spots with their DVRs. But even better than conventional wisdom
is conventional wisdom with huge amounts of money behind it. Microsoft,
Google and Viacom are the kind of players to take the casual games space
from the hot new thing to a money-making institution. So, advertisers who
aren't looking at casual games as a medium for their products should get
started. Today. 

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Matthew Ford
matthew at fordfam dot com and www dot fordfam dot com
 
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