Nick Eaton, the Microsoft reporter for Seattle Post-Intelligencer picked up on this case study that shows how well in-game advertising worked for the company’s Bing search engine.
According to Eaton, “Microsoft surprised itself when it took a look at a recent Bing ad campaign within Xbox 360 games.”
Integration with the content of the games is of the reasons the ads worked so well.
Massive (Microsoft’s video game advertising unit) recently ran a series of Bing ads in several Xbox video games, including “DJ Hero” and “NBA 2K10.” The ads were tailored for their audiences – those in “DJ Hero” jokingly advertised a Bing search for “noise ordinances” and those in “NBA 2K10” showed a search for “dunk videos.”
Kirsten Ward, director of digital advertising for Bing and MSN, said in the study that in-game advertising can deliver “definitive” returns on investment. Massive, for its part, saw double-digit year-on-year revenue growth during the poor advertising climate of 2009.