Live Gamer Turns BrandPort and GamerDNA Acquisitions Into Ad Branch
ADOTAS – While video game consoles have proven quite popular over the last three decades in the United States, Western Europe and Japan, they haven’t made much of a dent in other Southeastern Asian countries or Eastern Europe, notes Live Gamer President and cofounder Andrew Schneider.
No surprise then that social gaming via the Internet has long been popular in these regions, though broadband assisted the proliferation of software piracy. Interestingly, all the way back in 2001 a Korean company attempted to circumvent piracy introduced a free game in which users were charged for upgrades such as virtual items
Talk about being ahead of the curve — with the rise of social gaming, and casual gaming in particular, such a monetization strategy has become quite common. It can be credited for Zynga’s $1 billion IPO filing and is the backbone of Live Gamer’s Elements microtransaction platform for game publishers. The platform interacts with 96 million gamers monthly across 200 countries.
Through tools like Element, game publishers are able to convert a 5% of monthly users to paid ones that spend $5 to $7 each (10% to 15% hardcore gamers, those that devote a significant amount of their time to playing typically more complicated video games, who on average spend $30 a month). But they’re missing out on monetizing 95% of gamers — which is where advertising comes in.
Through the acquisitions of DNA Media and Brandport, Live Gamer has launched Live Gamer Media, offering targeted rich media and value-exchange capabilities within games.
In particular, Brandport, rebranded as AdElements, offers a value exchange model along the lines of SocialVibe — gamers can receive credits good for virtual items by opting into watching video ads. Ad Elements allows publishers to offer multiple videos a day and reward different amounts of credits.
“The majority of users don’t want to take out their credit cards,” Schneider admits.
In addition, the video ads can feature companion banners and calls to action following the ads (e.g., surveys, social sharing). Not surprising for value exchange advertising, AdElements boasts high brand recall (90%) and engagement rates: over 90% completion and 5% click-through rates.
Within months, GamerDNA hopped up from 20th slot to the fifth in terms of ad networks targeting gamers, according to comScore. Currently the network reaches 49 million uniques a month for advertisers spanning from game developer Blizzard to retailer Best Buy, serving customized rich media ads.
In particular, the network offers the ability “target trendsetters among the gaming community,” Schneider says. You can’t stop hearing about the importance of reaching influencers these days, and especially among the hardcore gamers this can be infinitesimally valuable for promoting products.
Reader Comments.
Gamer dna really sucks and the technology is all smoke and mirrors.. Good luck with that acquisition
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