If it’s online, Google is going to find a way to derive advertising revenue from it. So, it was only a matter of time before Google found its way into online gaming, a market where the term “billions” is regularly thrown around by even the most conservative analysts.
Today, Google announced the launch of Google AdSense for Games, a flavor of AdSense built on Google’s AdScape Media acquisition that allows advertisers and content producers to place ads within the content of online games.
Google AdSense for Games enters the market behind Yahoo! games and Microsoft games, both of whom have a respectable lead in this potentially lucrative ad model.
But, that’s a familiar position for Google.
The service, currently in beta, offers a variety of traditional AdSense ad units:
“As a beta user of AdSense for Games, you can display video ads, image ads, or text ads within your online games to earn revenue. You’ll be able to show these ads in placements you define, such as interstitial frames before a game, after a level change, or when a game is over.”
What’s more, there are already a number of well-known companies participating, like Konami, mochimedia, and Zynga, which took on an additional $29 million in funding in July. Titles highlighted include Dance Dance Revolution, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Karaoke Revolution to name a few.
But just how well integrated are the ads? Google has provided the following demonstration of the service in action:
Content providers who are interested in participating in the program may apply if they have a minimum of 500,000 game plays with 80% of their traffic from the U.S. or the U.K.
Entering a market where Yahoo! and Microsoft already have a firm foothold is not out of character for Google. Nor is succeeding with that strategy. Clearly, it’s a position from which they’ve managed to win, time and time again. It will be interesting to see if Google’s series of come-from-behind victories remains consistent in the world of online gaming.
