Analysts expect in-game ad spending to reach $1 billion

Analysts at Screen Digest estimate we'll be seeing a lot more virtual billboards as companies throw greater sums of money at in-game advertising. A lot more. The UK-based firm suggests that spending on in-game ads will push beyond a $1 billion by 2014, accounting for about one and a half percent of total global advertising dollars spent.

This is despite what the firm refers to as "short term softness" of in-game ad spending so far in 2009. In fact, the company believes in its gilded heart that virtual billboards are here to stay, as they help reach groups of people who are "increasingly hard to reach via other media." So, listen rookie, those bullets the enemy are using are very real, so keep your head down behind that fallen Pepsi billboard over there and bring me a soda.

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/05/26/an...ach-1-billion/