EGames Plays Online Ad Card with Conducent

Brandweek, July 19, 1999 by Sloane Lucas

PC games publisher eGames has inked a deal with technology firm Conducent to imbed Conducent's proprietary ad-serving technology into the game company's various download and retail game offerings.

The game software sits on each player's desktop and serves stored ads to players. Every time a game user logs on to the Net, the ads are updated and tracking information is sent back to Conducent's server.

Among the distributors of Conducent's technology is Lycos, which has been offering Conducent-enhanced downloads and which this week will beef up its offerings with the new enhanced eGames software.

Lycos benefits not only from ad revenue but from enhancing user experience and increasing ad reach in the attractive games category "It's one of the hottest growth areas on the Web," said Travis Ebel, business development manager with Lycos.

Harrisburg, Pa.-based Conducent is aiming at distributing its technology to as many major sites as possible. "Our technology is being adopted by major portals as standard," said Edwin Miller, Conducent's vice president of marketing and business development.

It's eGames, though, who may come out the bigger winner by adopting Conducent's technology. According to Bill Acheson, vice president of sales and marketing for eGames, in addition to gaining ad revenue from Conducent's advertisers, eGames can go to its own retailers and e-tailers, sell them advertising space, and not only realize ad revenue but drive users back to the stores where they purchased the games, hopefully to get more eGames product.

According to eGames, about 8 million of its games will be sold or downloaded as demos during the holiday shopping season this year. The Langhorne, Pa.-based firm says more than 48,000 demo versions of the games--like those available at Lycos--are currently downloaded each month. Among the more popular titles: 3D Frog Man and MahJongg Master.

Founded in 1996, Conducent is currently partnered with over 25 software publishers and distributors. Conducent provides its technology free to software developers in exchange for receiving a piece of the ad revenue that the developers generate.