Ads in videogame apps: Analysis of the advertising children are exposed to when they play games on their phones

Authors

Abstract

The presence of commercial content in digital games played by children is an increasingly well-established phenomenon. The aim of this paper is to analyse the type of advertising that children aged 10 to 14 years are exposed to when they play videogame apps on their smartphones, and to monitor how they interact with them. Using a non-participatory digital observation method, the study asked a sample of 45 children to make a video recording of the smartphone screen they usually used, in order to log all the content they were exposed to while playing. Over the course of a week, almost 42 hours of recordings were made, providing a study sample of 974 ads from in-game apps. Content analysis was carried out on this sample. Among the main results was that the predominant advertising format was the phone display. The genre, type of product and advertising format receiving the highest click rates were action game apps, electronic devices and video-interstitials, respectively. However, more than 90% of the ads analysed did not result in any type of interaction, confirming that interaction with advertising in a favourable context such as video games is low.

Keywords

smartphone, advertising, apps, videogames, interaction, interruption

References

AARSAND, P. (2013). «Children’s digital gaming cultures». En: LEMISH, D. (ed.). The Routledge International Handbook of Children, Adolescents and Media. Nueva York: Routledge, 120-126.

ALSAWAIER, R. S. (2018). «The effect of gamification on motivation and engagement». The International Journal of Information and Learning Technology, 35 (1), 56-79. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJILT-02-2017-0009

AN, S. y KANG, H. (2014). «Advertising or games?: Advergames on the internet gaming sites targeting children». International Journal of Advertising, 33 (3), 509-532. https://doi.org/10.2501/IJA-33-3-509-532

ASOCIACIÓN AGENCIAS DE MEDIOS (AAM) (2020). Estudio Gamers: Comportamiento de los jugadores en Chile. Recuperado de https://aam.cl/estudio-gamers-2020-comportamiento-de-los-jugadores-en-chile/ [Fecha de consulta: 20/09/2021].

BAKARDJIEVA, M. (2005). Internet society: The Internet in everyday life. Londres: SAGE.

CABELLO, P.; CLARO, M.; ROJAS, R. y TRUCCO, M. (2020). «Children’s and adolescents’ digital access in Chile: The role of digital access modalities in digital uses and skills». Journal of Children and Media, 15 (2), 183-201. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2020.1744176

CHEN, Y.; ZHU, S.; XU, H. y ZHOU, Y. (2013). «Children’s Exposure to Mobile In-App Advertising: An Analysis of Content Appropriateness». En: Proceedings of the SocialCom 2013, International Conference on Social Computing Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Alexandria, VA: IEEE, 196-203. https://doi.org/10.1109/SocialCom.2013.36

FEIJOO, B.; FERNÁNDEZ-GÓMEZ, E. y SÁDABA, C. (2021). «El móvil como nuevo cuarto de juegos: Comparativa de la percepción del consumo de YouTube y videojuegos entre menores chilenos/as y sus padres/madres». Prisma Social, 34 (4), 6-164. Recuperado de https://revistaprismasocial.es/article/view/4327.

FEIJOO, B. y SÁDABA, C. (2020). «Is my kid that naive?: Parents’ perceptions of their children’s attitudes towards advertising on smartphones in Chile». Journal of Children and Media, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2020.1866626

FEIJOO, B.; SÁDABA, C. y BUGUEÑO, S. (2020). «Anuncios entre vídeos, juegos y fotos: Impacto publicitario que recibe el menor a través del teléfono móvil». Profesional de la Información, 29 (6). https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2020.nov.30

GÓMEZ-GARCÍA, S. y CARRILLO-VERA, J.-A. (2020). «El discurso de los newsgames frente a las noticias falsas y la desinformación: Cultura mediática y alfabetización digital». Prisma Social, 30, 22-46. Recuperado de https://revistaprismasocial.es/article/view/3751.

HANG, H. y AUTY, S. (2011). «Children playing branded video games: The impact of interactivity on product placement effectiveness». Journal of Consumer Psychology, 21 (1), 65-72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2010.09.004

IAB SPAIN (2018). Nuevos estándares de formatos publicitarios. Recuperado de https://iabspain.es/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/iab-spain_nuevos-estndares-de-publicidad-digital_v1_comentarios-pblicos.pdf [Fecha de consulta: 23/07/2021].

LEUNG, L. (2005). Virtual ethnicity: Race, resistance and the World Wide Web. Aldershot: Ashgate.

MALLINCKRODT, V. y MIZERSKI, D. (2007). «The Effects of Playing an Advergame on Young Children’s Perceptions, Preferences, and Requests». Journal of Advertising, 36 (2), 87-100. https://doi.org/10.2753/JOA0091-3367360206

MARTÍ-PELLÓN, D. y SAUNDERS, P. (2015). «Exposición infantil a anuncios en webs de juegos de Brasil y de España». Comunicar, 23 (45), 169-177. https://doi.org/10.3916/C45-2015-18

MARTÍNEZ, C. (2019). «The struggles of everyday life: How children view and engage with advertising in mobile games». Convergence, 25 (5-6), 848-867. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856517743665

MARTÍNEZ, C.; JARLBRO, G. y SANDBERG, H. (2013). «Children’s views and practices regarding online advertising». Nordicom Review, 34 (2), 107-122. https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2013-0057

MEYER, M.; ADKINS, V.; YUAN, N.; WEEKS, H. M.; CHANG, Y. L. y RADESKY, J. (2019). «Advertising in Young Children’s Apps: A Content Analysis». Journal of Developmental y Behavioral Pediatrics, 40 (1), 32-39. https://doi.org/10.1097/DBP.0000000000000622

MILLER, D. y SLATER, D. (2000). The internet: An ethnographic approach. Oxford: Berg.

NAIRN, A. (2008). «“It does my head in … buy it, buy it, buy it!”: The commercialization of UK children’s web sites». Young Consumers, 9 (4), 239-253. https://doi.org/10.1108/17473610810920461

NEWZOO (2019). Global Game Market Report 2019. Recuperado de https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-games-market-report-2019-light-version/ [Fecha de consulta: 7/09/2021].

O’DEA, S. (2021). «Penetration rate of smartphones in selected countries 2020». Statista. Recuperado de https://www.statista.com/statistics/539395/smartphone-penetration-worldwide-by-country/ [Fecha de consulta: 7/09/2021].

ÓLAFSSON, K.; LIVINGSTONE, S. y HADDON, L. (2014). Children’s Use of Online Technologies in Europe: A Review of the European Evidence Base. LSE: EU Kids Online. Recuperado de http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/60221/ [Fecha de consulta: 14/09/2021].

PIÑEIRO, J. (2013). Usos infantiles de Internet: Perspectivas e prospectivas. [Tesis doctoral]. Pontevedra: Universidad de Vigo.

RIFON, N. J.; TAYLOR QUILLIAM, P.; PAEK, H. J.; WATHERSPOON, L. J.; KIM, S. K. y SMREKER, K. C. (2014). «Age-Dependent Effects of Food Advergame Brand Integration and Interactivity». International Journal of Advertising, 33 (3), 475-508. https://doi.org/10.2501/IJA-33-3-475-508

STATISTA RESEARCH DEPARMENT (2021). «Worldwide mobile app revenues in 2014 to 2023». Statista. Recuperado de https://www.statista.com/statistics/269025/worldwide-mobile-app-revenue-forecast/ [Fecha de consulta: 7/09/2021].

TERLUTTER, R. y CAPELLA, L. (2013). «The gamification of advertising: Analysis and research directions of in-game advertising, advergames, and advertising in social network games». Journal of Advertising, 42 (2-3), 95-112. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2013.774610

TSANG, M. M.; HO, S. y LIANG, T. (2004). «Consumer attitudes toward mobile advertising: An empirical study». International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 8 (3), 65-78. https://doi.org/10.1080/10864415.2004.11044301

VALVI, A. C. y WEST, D. C. (2015). «Mobile Applications (Apps) in Advertising: A Grounded Theory of Effective Uses and Practices». En: KUBACKI, K. (ed.). Ideas in Marketing: Finding the New and Polishing the Old. Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Science. Cham: Springer, 349-352. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10951-0_132

VAN REIJMERSDAL, E. y BUIJZEN, M. (2012). «Effects of prominence, involvement, and persuasion knowledge on children’s cognitive and affective responses to advergames». Journal of Interactive Marketing, 26 (1), 33-42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2011.04.005

VANWESENBEECK, I.; WALRAVE, M. y POONNET, K. (2017). «Children and advergames: The role of product involvement, prior brand attitude, persuasion knowledge and game attitude in purchase intentions and changing attitudes». International Journal of Advertising, 36 (4), 520-541. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2016.1176637

WANG, B.; KIM, S. y MALTHOUSE, E. C. (2016). «Branded Apps and Mobile Platforms as New Tools for Advertising». En: The New Advertising: Branding, Content, and Consumer Relationships in the Data-driven Social Media Era. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1-40. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.3744.3042

WU, L. (2015). «Factors of continually using branded mobile apps: The central role of app engagement». International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, 9 (4), 303-320. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJIMA.2015.072884

WURMSER, Y. (2020). «The Majority of Americans’ Mobile Time Spent Takes Place in Apps». eMarketer. Recuperado de https://www.emarketer.com/content/the-majority-of-americans-mobile-time-spent-takes-place-in-apps [Fecha de consulta: 7/09/21].

YANG, H. C. (2013). «Bon Appétit for apps: Young American consumers’ acceptance of mobile applications». Journal of Computer Information Systems, 53 (3), 85-96.

Published

2022-07-15

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.