Massive Study Reveals In-Game Advertising Increases Average Brand Familiarity by Up to 64 Percent

Advertising within highly engaging gaming experience shown to have significant positive impact on purchase consideration, ad recall and “coolness” perception of brands.

NEW YORK.— Massive Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corp. and a leading network for video game advertising, today released research results that provide new insight into the impact of dynamic in-game advertising. Conducted by Nielsen Entertainment, a unit of The Nielsen Company, the research showed that ad campaigns from blue-chip brands that ran in the Massive network significantly improved key brand metrics between control and test groups.

Key results of the study revealed that, from control to test groups:
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Average brand familiarity increased by 64 percent
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Average brand rating increased by 37 percent
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Average purchase consideration increased by 41 percent
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Average ad recall increased by 41 percent
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Average ad rating increased by 69 percent

The study was executed with clients across several major advertising categories, including automotive, consumer packaged goods (CPG), quick service restaurant (QSR) and technology tools. Highlights of findings within these specific advertiser categories include the following:
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Automotive. The automakers included in the study achieved a 69 percent increase in purchase consideration among likely car buyers from control to test groups.
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CPG. The CPG client achieved a 71 percent increase among those who consider the snack food advertised a “cool brand” from control to test groups. Among the key demographic of males ages 18 to 24, brand familiarity rose 63 percent from control to test groups.
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QSR. A QSR ad featured in the Massive network saw its rating (those who “liked it a lot/liked it a little”) rise 39 percent from control to test groups.
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Technology tools. The technology client achieved a 70 percent increase in brand rating from control to test groups.

“The results of this research prove what we’ve seen in more limited studies over the past three years,” said Cory Van Arsdale, CEO of Massive. “As marketers struggle to stand out in cluttered media forms, the Massive network provides both a deeply engaged audience and sophisticated capabilities for creative execution and delivery, resulting in memorable, positive impressions among highly desirable demographics.”

Since the launch of the Massive network in October 2004, advertisers have embraced the ability to uniquely engage and target the growing gaming audience. More than 200 campaigns have run to date across the Massive network from a diverse roster of more than 100 advertising clients. As video games increase in importance as an advertising medium, Massive now offers marketers the same level of partnership and support they expect from traditional media forms, including detailed research on the effectiveness of specific ads and campaigns such as the study released today.

Methodology

For the Massive study, Nielsen Entertainment and Massive designed a methodology to test the effectiveness of the ad campaigns. More than 600 gamers across North America were recruited for the study and divided into a control group and a test group. Both the control group and the test group played the same game, “Need for Speed™ Carbon,” published by Electronic Arts Inc. The control group consisted of those who had played the game but were not exposed to ads delivered from Massive. The test group had played the game on a connected Xbox 360™ system or PC during the time the ad campaigns were live and had the opportunity to be exposed to the ads delivered by Massive. Both groups were asked the same set of questions about the ads and brands included in the study, and the differences in their responses were evaluated and classified as a lift in the particular branding metric measured.