New Ad Venues, Increased Income
A third of the way through, 2006 is shaping up to be a banner(less) year. New forms of advertising, far surpassing the effectiveness of those of yesteryear are growing in popularity. (Ok, so we work in a medium where yesteryear is really only the year before, like yesterday is the day before today, but still…)
Blogads are becoming more popular and more lucrative, as 75,000 new blogs per day are coming into being. (I’m still looking for figures on those that become inactive daily.)
RSS ads — despite continuing controversy about when, whether, or if it should largely replace email — are rising, too.
And podcasts are marching along, with monetization via accompanying ads growing all the time.
So now Microsoft is buying Massive, the in-game advertising company for between $200 and $400 million dollars. With its fanatically popular Xbox, the rejuvenated giant of software should find a fine synergy there.
A much overused and ill-understood concept, it fits here. “The effect of two or more agents working together to produce an effect that is greater than the sum of the parts,” as one site defines it. Think of pushing a child on a swing in time with her rhythm.
That amplification is just the thing that will push gaming to new revenue heights. And gaming, let us not forget, is one of the highest income generating affiliate markets around.
Ads served within those games offer a double or triple whammy. The games are typically Internet-enabled, so the feeds are live and contextual. They hit the most active online segment — males between 18 and 34 (though females make up a large percentage of gamers, as well). And the ads, along with the games, have spinoff potential for music, movies, and other high revenue generating segments.
Me? I’m warming up my Microsoft Flight Simulator. ‘Cause 2006 is going to take off.