Windows 7: Massive and comScore Announce Breakthrough In-Game Ads

News Press Release
Massive and comScore Announce Breakthrough In-Game Advertising Research Methodology

AdEffx Action Lift for Gaming approach measures effectiveness of in-game advertising on online consumer behavior.

REDMOND, Wash., and RESTON, Va. — Nov. 12, 2009 — For the first time ever, advertisers will now be able to see the direct impact that in-game advertisements have on consumer online behavior, thanks to a new research collaboration between Massive Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corp., and comScore Inc. Through an innovative methodology developed by the two companies, advertisers will get an inside look at the degree to which in-game ads motivate gamers to visit Web sites, conduct brand-related search queries and engage in other online actions, something that previously had gone unmeasured.

“We know from 85-plus independently verified post-campaign studies that in-game advertising increases brand engagement,” said JJ Richards, general manager of Massive, the creator of a leading network for dynamic video game advertising. “But what we didn’t know was the correlation between in-game ads and consumer action. Through this collaboration with comScore, we will also now be able to measure those consumer actions that result from in-game ads. We think this has the potential to literally ‘change the game’ for both advertisers and publishers who want to improve the effectiveness of their in-game ad efforts.”

AdEffx Action Lift for Gaming matches in-game console ad serving data from Massive with comScore’s third-party, post-campaign panel data to track and measure in-game advertising effectiveness. By combining Microsoft’s proprietary, non-personally identifying Anonymous ID data, which is common across Xbox LIVE and Microsoft Web properties (known as Windows Live ID), with user data from comScore’s panel of 2 million Internet users worldwide, comScore can determine if panelists who saw in-game advertising subsequently visited a brand’s Web site, searched brand-related terms or engaged in other online behaviors important to advertisers.