Abstract des Autors

This chapter reports a recent research study involving a sports video game which sought to provide an overview on the use of in-game advertising, consumer attitudes towards the practice, and an empirical test to assess its effectiveness in terms of brand recall and recognition. Intervening variables such as attitude towards advertising in general and in-game advertising in particular, brand familiarity, and experience with gaming was also considered. A sample of 32 participants was asked to engage in video game play of a relatively new sports game and complete a series of measures examining attitudes, recall and recognition of in-game advertising. Findings supported all hypotheses with the exception of the hypothesis predicting a positive relationship between attitude toward in-game advertising and advertising effectiveness in terms of recall and recognition. User factors such as age, game experience, game likeability, and item specific factors such as characteristics of the display panel and relevance of the product to the game were found to play an important role in improving advertising effectiveness. Contrary to earlier studies, attitude towards in-game advertising was lower than expected, especially amongst the experienced game players.