Research by Eyeblaster and WildTangent Demonstrates Power of Video Ads Targeted to Gamers; Overwhelming Majority of Gamers Are Happy to Watch a Short Video Ad in Exchange for Free Game Plays

Business Wire, Oct 17, 2005

NEW YORK -- Eyeblaster, for years the leader in rich media advertising technology worldwide, today announced the findings of a survey conducted with WildTangent, a leading online game publisher, which demonstrate that an overwhelming majority of gamers respond favorably to video ads and are happy to watch a video ad in exchange for free gaming time.

"The scope of this survey leaves little doubt about the conclusion that video ads are the perfect match for advertisers who want to target the gaming audience. Advertisers who want to engage these users will be especially interested in the results of this study," said Gal Trifon, Eyeblaster's President and CEO. "These results support our multiple initiatives into the gaming market, where we will be focusing many of our efforts in the coming months."

"Offering video ads with Eyeblaster is unique in that advertisers are truly delivering value to gamers by giving them a free trial of our top selling downloadable games," said Bill Clifford, GM of Advertising Platforms at WildTangent, Inc. "When the creative is relevant and entertaining, the value of this brand impression is unmatched elsewhere on the web."

The companies conducted the survey, which featured more than 1,000 respondents, from June 15 through August 31 of this year. During this time the survey ran along with five different ads from three verticals: electronics, entertainment, and gaming. Over the course of the survey, these ads were served more than 125,000 times. On average, roughly 14 percent of these video ads were played in full, while 22 percent were played at least half-way through. Roughly 66 percent of the respondents were male.

Some of the survey highlights include:

Statement 1: I would watch a short video ad in exchange for free game plays

--Overall 78% of respondents would watch a short video ad in exchange for free game plays.

--In the 18-34 age range, this percentage jumps to 85%.

--Among 18-34 year old males, 90% would watch a video ad in exchange for free game plays.

--In contrast, 75% of females in the same age range would watch a video ad in exchange for free game plays.

Statement 2: I don't mind watching a short video ad before my game starts

--Overall, 71% of respondents wouldn't mind watching a short video ad before their game starts.

--Males (73%) were more likely than females (66%) to answer positively to this statement.

--Females 18-34(73%) were significantly more likely to answer positively to this question over females below the age of 18 (61%).

--However, females below the age of 18 were still more likely to strongly agree or agree then to strongly disagree or disagree with the statement.

Statement 3: I will return to WildTangent to play other free games

--93% of respondents said they would return to WildTangent to play other free games.

--The responses were consistent across all segments. However, 18-34 year olds were the most likely to return to WildTangent answering positively 96% of the time.

--The highest indexing segments were males 18-34 (97%) and males 35-54 (95%).

"A very strong validation of this advertising model is demonstrated by the fact that more than 97 percent of the hard to reach category of males 18-34 surveyed would return to WildTangent to play free games after viewing an ad," said Gal Trifon, Eyeblaster's President and CEO. "Pre-roll video is an extremely effective means of reaching these consumers, who are overwhelmingly utilizing broadband connections and are among the savviest of all users on the web today."

Eyeblaster is establishing itself as a key partner for game developers and game publishers, leveraging its cutting edge technology to provide tools for "in game" and "around game" rich media advertisements. Eyeblaster's ACM digital ad server enables advertisers to create and run the same video ad both in the game and on any website, enabling better, more efficient utilization of video assets.

About WildTangent

WildTangent, based in Redmond, Wash., is the leading publisher of online and downloadable games. Founded in 1998, the company produces and aggregates the Internet's top selling downloadable games and reaches millions of gamers through the WildTangent Games Network. WildTangent can be found online at http://www.wildtangent.com.

About Eyeblaster

Eyeblaster is the global leader in rich media ad technology and a worldwide provider of unified digital marketing solutions. Eyeblaster provides interactive agencies, advertisers and publishers the first single solution to create, deliver and manage all forms of digital advertising through one powerful web dashboard. The Eyeblaster platform enables clients to deliver communications across multiple digital channels with 100% user control and no reliance on a 'middleman vendor' anywhere in the campaign process. Eyeblaster, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in New York, with offices in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Detroit, London, Barcelona, Hamburg, Tokyo, Sao Paolo and Sydney, with product development facilities in Israel. Learn more at www.eyeblaster.com.