It looks like advertisements in videogames are starting to become the next big thing, now that Microsoft is planning to buy out Massive, a company that handles that area. Considering that Massive's clients include some rather large marketers, advertising in videogames looks to be very profitable.
Of course, advertisements in entertainment are not really a new thing. The strategy of product placement in television shows and movies has been around for a while. Plus, don't you sports buffs just love it when commentators go on their little "this highlight is brought to you by [insert company here], who [insert ad slogan here]" shtick?
Online, Salon.com and Rocketboom are both starting to experiment with marketers to create "immersive "advertisements (while trying to not turn off readers/viewers).
It just goes to show that no matter the type of media, we're likely to bump into advertising, even if we're already paying a price upfront. We all know that money makes the world go around. For all we know, Internet cafes will start requiring you to see an ad before you can start surfing the web. And don't expect legal movie downloads to always be ad-free, either.
Paul Colarusso @ Thu, 04/27/2006 - 7:25am
It's not surprising that advertisers are getting in where ever they can. The U.S. spends hundreds of billions of dollars each year on advertising. It's climbed to 1.04 percent of the gross domestic product. With this new wave of media technology, I think we are going to see a major boom in advertising. And advertisers are going to have to start looking to new models and venues for revenue.