Will the era of video advertising open for stationary game consoles?

Video advertisements that are played while covering all screen contents, such as TV advertisements, are becoming common in video transmission platforms such as YouTube. Video advertisements such as TV advertisements can be viewed on stationary game consoles.

Advertising is the most efficient and convenient means of monetization in game apps for smartphones. Advertisements appear almost as a matter of course in game apps and browser games, but there are almost no ads only on the only stationary game console. It is said that game console developers and game development studios were afraid that an unsightly advertising experience would destroy user engagement. However, by using a platform called playerWON, which is under development, it is now possible to run video advertisements such as TV commercials in titles for stationary game consoles.

PlayerOne is an advertising platform owned and operated by Simulmedia, which develops advertising technology for TV. With PlayerOne, gamers can get exclusive in-game benefits in exchange for watching 15 or 30 second video ads. Simulmedia Vice President Dave Madden said that the company has signed a contract with some of the world’s largest game studios, including EA and Hi-Rez Studios. He also claimed that by using Player One to place advertisements on gamers, advertisers would be able to promote the younger generation than ever before.

According to Simulmedia, the company has been testing PlayerOne for more than a year, and video ads played on this platform are basically those that have passed their own investigations among those played as TV commercials. Game developers can use PlayerOne to add video advertisements in the game and set the rewards for playing the advertisement. Simulmedia informs the game side that it can check whether the video advertisement has been played through the advertisement server, and if the playback is confirmed, it can provide a reward to the game side. In addition, in-game currency or skins that can be used in-game are provided as rewards.

In addition, according to a simulation media test conducted for over a year, gamers said that up to 10 video advertisements are played per day, just as gamers are willing to play video advertisements delivered through Player One to obtain free perks.

In fact, the title used in the PlayerOne test is SMITE. In the Player One test held at Smite, users who received free game privileges by playing video ads increased their playing time by 22% and the likelihood of paying in-game by 11%, compared to users who did not play video ads. it turns out to be

Madden said that while the number of game users and game play time is explosively increasing due to the increase in free games that can be played on PC or stationary games such as Call of Duty, Apex Legends and Roblox, more than 90% of gamers play basic play free games. With free-to-play games gaining popularity, he argued, games are in a stage where they need to find new revenue streams.

He is continuously building a system for delivering video advertisements through Player One, and he aimed to grow the advertising market for stationary game consoles, which is still in its infancy. In addition, the number of titles corresponding to Player One is expected to increase to 12 by the end of 2021.

On the other hand, user backlash against advertisements appearing in the game can also be expected. In the past, EA posted full-screen ads in the game, but gamers complained a lot, and the test was stopped due to user criticism of the virtual reality game that announced the test for displaying ads. Related information can be found here.