Abstract
Studies have shown that in-game advertisements can be effective. However, these studies typically examine single player scenarios. This study aimed to investigate the effects of social dynamics on brand awareness of in-game advertisements in sports video games. Two studies were conducted with soccer and basketball simulation games. In each study, participants were split into two groups where they either played against a computer-controlled opponent or against another player. For both studies, independent-samples t-tests were conducted to compare the recall rates between both groups. Both studies showed similar findings where respondents in the single player group reported higher recall and recognition rates when compared to respondents in the multi-player group. These findings suggest that the social environment can affect the effectiveness of in-game advertisements.
Highlights
The computer and video game business is a major industry
There was a significant difference in the recall rate with respondents in Experimental Group 1 reporting a higher unaided recall rate (M = .89, SD = 1.45) when compared to respondents in Experimental Group 2 (M = .10, SD = .32; t (9) = 1.60, p = .07)
The results showed that respondents in the single player group were able to recall more brands than respondents in the multi-player group
Summary
In 2018, video game sales in the United States exceeded US$43.4 billion. While gamers come from all age groups, they generally belong to younger age groups with an average age of about 33 years (Entertainment Software Association, 2019). Many organisations have viewed product placements in video games or in-game advertisements as a viable new platform in marketing communications. This is especially so with organisations keen to access the younger demographic segment of the market (Chaney, Lin, & Chaney, 2004; Cianfrone, Trail, Zhang, & Lutz, 2008; Clavio, Kraft, & Pedersen, 2009; Leng, Quah, & Zainuddin, 2010)
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