First Time Research Connects What Consumers See in-Game with What
They Buy In-Store
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Sep 14, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) today revealed results from a study
conducted by The Nielsen Company which shows the degree to which brand
advertisements within video games can boost real life sales. The study,
commissioned by EA on behalf of Gatorade, shows that in-game advertising
increased household dollars spent on Gatorade by 24%, and offered a
return on investment of $3.11.
The study focused on households that purchased at least one of six EA
SPORTS(TM) titles: NHL(R) 09, NHL 10, NBA LIVE 07, NBA LIVE 08, NBA LIVE 09
and NBA Street Homecourt. Gatorade had a variety of product
placements within the games including arena signs, players' water
bottles, score updates and other call outs.
The study was based on Nielsen's US Homescan panel of more than 100,000
households, representative of the US population, including a subset of
Homescan homes that scanned video game UPC (Universal Product Codes)
barcodes. The scanned barcodes were matched to a reference library of
more than 14,000 video game titles. Nielsen compared the households that
purchased at least one of the studied games before and after Gatorade
branding was integrated into the games (the test group) with households
that didn't purchase one of the games (the control group).
These test and control group homes are projected out to the broad
Homescan panel by matching them with the larger Homescan household
universe based on similar purchase patterns and demographics in order to
achieve a statistically reliable sample. Finally, the sales impact of
Gatorade advertising was measured by analyzing and comparing Gatorade
purchase behavior between the households that had and hadn't purchased
the games that carried Gatorade advertising.
This is the first time that this type of sales lift analysis has been
done for advertising within video games. The study is the result of work
undertaken by EA and The Nielsen Company to help marketers better
understand the potential of advertising in this space.
"Nielsen's study is a milestone for interactive entertainment," said
Elizabeth Harz, Senior Vice President of Global Media Sales at EA. "For
the first time, advertisers are able to link the value of their in-game
marketing or sponsorship to actual sales. Now brands can feel confident
adding gaming as a core media channel for their advertising."
"Video games are a deeply engaging consumer experience," added Gerardo
Guzman, Director, Media Product Leadership for The Nielsen Company.
"Bringing our industry accepted ad effectiveness understanding to video
games is another way to help marketers understand how consumers respond
to advertising across different environments. This should help optimize
the impact of and derive a return on media investments. In this case the
story is simple - dollars put into video game product placement result
in more retail dollars."
About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is
a leading global interactive entertainment software company. Founded in
1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive
software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, wireless
devices and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under
four brand names: EA SPORTS(TM), EA(TM), EA Mobile(TM) and POGO(TM). In fiscal 2010,
EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.7 billion and had 27 titles that sold
more than one million units. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com.
More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can
be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.
EA, EA SPORTS, EA Mobile and POGO are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc.
NHL and NBA are trademarks of their respective owners and used with
permission.
SOURCE: Electronic Arts Inc.
EA Corporate Communications
Holly Rockwood, 650-628-7323
hrockwood@ea.com
Copyright Business Wire 2010