ARROVA and Hakuhodo DY Holdings Conduct Consumer Survey on In-Game Advertising

ARROVA Inc. (Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and President: Yusuke Kawai) and Hakuhodo DY Holdings Inc. (Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and President: Yasuo Nishiyama) conducted an "In-Game Advertising Survey" targeting 2,860 consumers aged 15-49 nationwide. The purpose was to understand media effectiveness and current consumer awareness and trends regarding advertising placed within game/metaverse service content.

The survey results revealed that advertisements displayed within game and metaverse content stimulate consumers' purchasing intent and strongly encourage word-ofmouth dissemination within communities. We are pleased to announce the key survey results that provide hints for corporate marketing measures.

"In-Game Advertising Survey" Excerpts:

Awareness of In-Game Advertising

Among users of "smartphone games," "game-based metaverses (Roblox, Fortnite, etc.)," and "social VR (VRChat, etc.)" (2,860 men and women aged 15-49 nationwide), we asked if they had seen in-game advertising (in-game ads*1 and out-game ads*2). The awareness of in-game advertising (sum of "definitely seen" and "think I've seen") was approximately 80% among "smartphone game" and "social VR" users, and approximately 50% among "game-based metaverse" users, confirming the high presence of in-game advertising.

*1 A general term for advertisements placed within the content space of services such as games and metaverses. This category includes advertisements displayed on walls, billboards, and buildings, corporate/brand advertisements in the form of character skins, vehicles, and items, and original world/event advertisements by corporations and brands.

*2 A general term for advertisements displayed on screens or scenes separated from the content when services such as games and metaverses are launched. This category includes pop-up window advertisements during game launch or loading, reward advertisements that offer items/currency for watching videos in-game, banner advertisements in game menu screens/lobbies, banner advertisements during gameplay, pop-up window advertisements during gameplay, and advertisements during stage transitions.

Deep Attitude Change Created by In-Game Advertising

In terms of attitude change after ad exposure, in-game advertising showed equal or greater effectiveness than traditional digital advertising. Particularly in "social VR," a high spread rate to acquaintances was confirmed.

This trend was similar for purchase arousal after ad exposure; "advertisements displayed on walls, billboards, and buildings (11.3%)" in "social VR" showed the highest score among all segments, approximately 1.7 times the score of "in-app banner advertisements (6.8%)" in "traditional digital advertising."

High "Acceptance" of In-Game Advertising

Regarding advertisements displayed on walls and billboards within game content, the percentage of users who felt they were "annoying or uncomfortable" was 11.3% for "smartphone game users," significantly lower than the 19.4% for general in-app pop-up advertisements during app launch. The percentage showing discomfort was 11.2% for "game-based metaverse users" and only 10.0% for "social VR users." Spatially arranged advertisements are considered more acceptable to users because they do not interrupt gameplay compared to in-app pop-up advertisements.

In addition to factors that do not interrupt play, reasons for the acceptance of in-game advertising varied among game users. For "smartphone game paying users," the agreement rate to "it's okay if ads are displayed as long as they match the game's worldview" was 65.7%, showing a tendency to accept ads that match the worldview. For "game-based metaverse paying users," the agreement rate to "it's okay to have ads if game operations continue" was high at 66.7%, indicating a deep understanding of the ad model that supports the free-to-play culture. For "social VR paying users," the agreement to "it's a good system to get items or currency by watching ads" was 66.5%. Also, high agreement to "it's okay if it matches the worldview" at 65.8% suggests that contextual appropriateness is key to acceptance. Furthermore, as a general trend, users with in-game purchase experience showed higher acceptance of advertising.

Persona of Consumers Exposed to In-Game Advertising

Analysis of demographics and behavioral patterns of consumers exposed to in-game advertising revealed clear persona differences for "smartphone games," "game-based metaverses," and "social VR," which are reported below.

[Smartphone Game In-Ad Exposure Layer] Mainly young male office workers who quickly enjoy games in their free time. They have high SNS browsing frequency but low purchasing tendency from SNS information and are easily influenced by mass media. Keywords: