Sports and In-Game Advertising

Two industry experts discuss the potential for hawking products via athletics-themed massively multiplayer online games

by David Radd

If two things are ubiquitous in modern life, it's sports and advertising. As anyone who likes (or dislikes) sports can attest it'd be impossible to turn on the television and not flip through and find some sort of televised sporting event [There are even a couple channels covering it 24/7, in case you didn't hear. - Ed.]. Advertising is also omnipresent. No matter where you look, someone or some company is marketing something; it's inescapable.

It shouldn't be too surprising, therefore, that the mixing of sports and advertising is common as well. Sports figures are all over advertising, hawking things like apparel and drinks to products completely unrelated to their athletic endeavors, such as watches and cars. Similarly, advertising in sports is present at all levels of professional competition. It runs from the obvious (billboards in stadiums, sponsors on soccer jerseys and plastered over race cars) to the more subtle (sponsored segments on TV, the "official" apparel worn on the sidelines of every NFL sideline).

While sports and ads make a good mix, do ads and sports videogames make a good mix? There are plenty of examples right now, but what form is it going to take in the future? And what is the potential of Sports MMOs? We chatted with Sean Mackay, Director of Community Development for Netamin and Julie Shumaker, Double Fusion's VP of Worldwide Sales, to find out.

Will UBO become a word like ESPN?

One recent example of advertising in sports games can be found in Netamin's Ultimate Baseball Online. The

deal with Double Fusion will allow the developer to continue to offer UBO for free. It will also give Double Fusion unique opportunities to present before their advertising partners.

"For us, [Double Fusion is] going to enhance the business model," said Mackay. "They're the largest independent in-game advertising company and for our part, they had a lot of sponsors already lined up. DF focuses on broader product sponsorship deals. For example, players will be sponsored; they'll be trying to achieve a level to where they'll be sponsored. Players can also get enhancements from in-game advertisers and discounts and things of that nature."

"I think the big attraction with UBO is that baseball itself is something that's easy to sell; baseball already has plenty of advertising," he continued. "You don't have to explain a billboard in the outfield or a cut scene that plays between innings. We have a different array of billboards, both still and animated, and we have a scoreboard that will be shown at various moments. There's also the scorecard that could be sponsored, maybe something in the dugouts. The game is already set up for stuff like that. Maybe in the future, we'll create a stadium for a sponsor."

"We're keeping the gameplay at a premium, and we're going to ask that sponsors not impede on that. The typical UBO player plays about 3 hours a day, so ad placements usually take about 15 seconds or so, but over the course of the game, there are plenty of opportunities for people to see ads. Things like in between actions and refreshes are when those advertisements stream in."

"I think the big picture for us is that... we're quite excited about the 'advanced casual' game space. It is for people who are into immersive gameplay and aren't at their console and are looking to compete online," commented Shumaker. "Not only are the gamers excited, but this is a non-licensed sports title... this is great for marketers who want to tap into the sports space but don't have league rights."

Console in-game ads space heating up

UBO and the Double Fusion fueled sponsorship is probably not what most people first think of when it comes to in-game advertising in sports titles. Indeed, primary among sports titles (and perhaps primary among in-game ads) are games like those from EA Sports and their partner IGA along with 2K Sports and Double Fusion. Selling things like billboards, sponsored "transition"