$681 million in US in-game ads by 2013 - Study

The Department of Commerce said today that the US gross domestic product shrank only 1 percent between April and June, a figure substantially less than the 6.4 percent contraction that occurred between January and March. The report portends well for the hard-hit game industry, as it indicates the global recession, which has curtailed consumer spending, may be easing.

The spending recovery will apparently be accompanied by an influx of in-game ads, according to new findings by eMarketer. The digital media-oriented market research firm predicts that in-game marketing in the US will increase to $681 million by 2013, a $278 million increase over the $403 million spend in 2008.

eMarketer also found that advertisers will increasingly look to Internet-based games as the predominant venue to spend marketing dollars, with 75 percent of the total going to online games by 2013. The market research firm believes the primary cause for growth is the increasing quality of browser-based Web games, which have benefited from broadband Internet proliferation and a general uptick in the average consumer's PC performance.

The marketing firm also noted that gamers have "largely accepted" the value proposition of playing a free game online in exchange for looking at ads.