In-game advertising refers to the placement of advertising collateral within and around online games. As both the traditional offline and online advertising spaces become increasingly cluttered, in-game advertising has begun to mature into a multi-million dollar global market. The influential Yankee Group estimates that spending on in-game ads will reach $92 million in 2008.

While overseas marketing companies have been quick to capitalise on this vast and powerfully targeting medium, South African companies have yet to start doing so in a meaningful way. This provides an excellent opportunity for South African advertising agencies to get the jump on competitors.

SkillPod Media .com is an online gaming company that provides free and skill games to some of the major South African web portals, like IOL, Ananzi and Aardvark. It also runs a network of international gaming sites in the form of its Skillpod brand, which delivers online games to thousands of consumers in the US, South Africa and the UK.

“We can give local ad agencies easy access to both local and international in-game advertising opportunities, says Mark van Diggelen, CEO of SkillPod Media . “As a South African organisation we understand the goals of their clients, and provide the skills, infrastructure and technology to assist them in gaining a powerful foothold in the in-game advertising market.”

Just how big is this burgeoning market, and what are the advantages of using in-game advertising as part of an online marketing strategy? The answer is, firstly, that it gives access to the elusive consumer sector that is fast abandoning traditional advertising channels: the 18- to 34-year old male market. Global research continues to show that this market is becoming increasingly difficult to reach. However, they can definitely be found playing games online.

It’s not only this market that online games appeal to, however. Internationally, 64% of all online gamers are women, according to Nielsen Entertainment’s annual Active Gamer Benchmark study. “Online games have huge appeal to women, particularly puzzles and word games,” notes van Diggelen. “What we’re finding is that if you want to reach women online, targeting the sites where they play games is the way to do it.”

As if this isn’t enough good news, in-game advertising is also the perfect way to reach teens online, according to a recent study by Forrester Research. It concludes that the most successful way of reaching teenagers is by means of in-game ad placement or brand specific “advergames”. The latter is where a game is created that contains elements of the client’s brand, with game objectives linked to the actual product.

Across the board, these active gamers spend a quarter of their leisure time playing games online, which is one of the reasons cited for the drop in television viewing rates. The web has long threatened to supplant television as the pastime of choice, and this is now becoming a reality. And it doesn’t take a marketing genius to realise that advertising needs to follow. In fact, corporate advertising surveys coming out of the US are showing that this is the first year in which many major corporations are allocating more of their ad spend to online advertising than to traditional offline methods.

Van Diggelen summarises the advantages of using in-game ads: “The message that comes across loud and clear is that online games are the perfect place to communicate with your audience. The focused nature of games makes them a tailor-made interface for connecting with people and exposing your brand.” He also points out that online games allow you to reinforce your message in an unprecedented way. “Our web site statistics show that 80% of our players return on a daily basis. In-game advertising is clearly an ideal opportunity to build that crucial relationship with your brand,” he says.

“As the foremost provider of online gaming in South Africa, SkillPod Media .com is the ideal media partner for local advertising agencies and marketing companies to start taking advantage of these opportunities with,” concludes van Diggelen.