There's plenty of room for innovation in the mobile game ad space.<p>I actually do like the strategy of making the ads part of an achievement system for the game. This would work especially well for localized ads. For example, if you reach a certain level on a game, get $2 off your sandwich at Subway. This allows for brand exposure and funnels people into the physical stores.
My wife stopped letting our son play Angry Birds on her phone because of the scantily clad ladies advertising "meet sexy singles in your area". When will Adblock Plus port to Android?
Probably the only way to really make ad-supported gameplay a reality would be to flip the model up-side down: Design the game around the ad itself.<p>We've seen a few of these (the Burger King Xbox games come to mind). Some of them are actually fun to play.<p>Unfortunately, this sort of work doesn't come cheap.
So their only solution is to move the intrusive ads to being part of achievements, and thus cheapening them in the eyes of the players?<p>Sorry, but in my eyes, that's actually worse.
Josh from Tap.Me here. We are taking a game design approach to solve this problem in a no-popup or banner ad way. More Google AdSense. Here is why we are doing it right: <a href="http://tap.me/wp/2011/05/game-flow-and-in-game-advertising/" rel="nofollow">http://tap.me/wp/2011/05/game-flow-and-in-game-advertising/</a><p>We think the players should have the fun they are there to have and will appreciate it when brands add value to that experience vs. get in their way.
Strange to me that people are talking about better ways to serve ads in games and apps instead of alternative revenue streams to ads. Ads suck no matter how you position them in your app.
Frankly I don't really see why the article focused on mobile games. The argument against in-game ads being distractions can be applied to advertising in general: billboards on the highway, commercials during tv shows, newspapers filled with page long ads, etc.<p>however kipp does sound like a good idea - but it might require heavy changes from developers to their game mechanics.
I don't get why it's broken? Any numbers/data to share? Why does Angry Birds contain ads if they're broken? Honestly, not trying to be a dick, just trying to understand the problem.