Advergaming: The Future of Marketing to Kids Online

There’s no denying the influential capabilities of kids over their parents’ purchases. Last year alone, according to the US Department of Agriculture and Packaged foods, Americans spent over $115 billion on food, clothing, and entertainment for their children.

Nearly 33 million kids and teens ages 3-17 are regular Internet users, and that number is said to grow to nearly 38 million by 2008. So what are all these kids doing online, anyway? Playing games. According to Harris Interactive, between 72% and 81% of kids ages 8-18 are participating in online gaming. Marketers are tapping in on this by combining advertising with gaming to create “advergaming.”

In a study done by Kaiser Family Foundation of 96 food brands targeted at kids, over 70% had games on their website. In five minutes, you can search for treasure in the Lucky Charms forest, design a crazy face with Fruit Roll-Ups or be a Pepsi racecar driver.

“Online games are something that kids are very familiar with, it’s understandable why marketers would want to use this as a technique,” said Debra Aho Willliamson, eMarketer senior analyst.

With the number of young Internet users rising and so many kids and teens gaming online, “advergaming” has plenty of room to grow.