New Site Targets Video Gamers

A new Time Warner venture, GameTap, offers computer users an opportunity to play hundreds of games on demand and gives advertisers another platform to reach computer users ages 18 to 49, The New York Times reports. The budget for the launch is estimated at more than $50 million through the end of next year. GameTap is available to subscribers who download and install software from gametap.com.

The campaign is indicative of the growing allure of gaming to advertisers, agencies and media companies eager to capitalize on the increasing amount of time that consumers are devoting to what is known as casual gaming, playing short games that fill time or sharpen skills. A recent Double Fusion and Nielsen Interactive Entertainment study found that In-game campaigns result in a 60 percent increase in awareness for a new product. In July, In-game ad developer Massive Inc. launched its first full-motion video and audio ads in a major videogame release. More recently, The Jack Myers Media Business Report 2006 Marketing and Advertising Spending Forecast predicted that the fastest growing media segment will be in-game advertising.

The goal is for GameTap to attract 1.5 million to 2 million subscribers in two to three years, said Dan Riess, who leads new product development for Turner Broadcasting and also heads marketing for GameTap.

A major part of the launch campaign will appear online, in banner and text ads on Web sites like AOL, iVillage and MTV. Starting on Oct. 27, GameTap will buy enough advertising space on yahoo.com to create so-called roadblocks, where GameTap pitches will seem omnipresent.

As for the traditional elements of the campaign, television commercials will appear on networks owned by Time Warner as well as other networks like Comedy Central, MTV, mtvU and VH1. Similarly, print advertisements will run in magazines owned by Time Warner like Entertainment Weekly and Sports Illustrated as well as in others like Blender, Cargo, FHM, GamePro, Giant, Maxim and Rolling Stone.