靠游戏赚钱已经不是什么鲜事，但操作手法却可以千变万化，最直接的途径是出售游戏，因为游戏本身已经明码标价，所以开发商可以很清楚地把握营收情况。不过这并不是吸金的唯一对策，更何况还有那么多免费游戏已经是唾手可得。

这样一来，开发商就得另谋出路，考虑广告赞助模式。

kiip-logo

所以有不少公司开始游说电子游戏开发商在产品中植入广告，Kiip就是其中之一，该公司近日募集了30万美元作为游戏广告战略资金。Kiip这家刚起步的手机游戏广告公司由19岁的少年企业家Brian Wong创办，Wong是世界上已获得风险投资、最年轻的企业创始人之一。

Brian Wong

Kiip的成立很低调，所以暂时无法得知该公司究竟与哪些游戏开发商进行了合作，不过有消息称Kiip每月活跃用户中的受众已超200万人。

尽管今年初Flurry Analytics的调查报告称该公司的虚拟商品交易额已增长了80%，但虚拟商品模式并非Kiip关注的重点。这一点有别于其他提供游戏内置付费模式的公司，比如说Play Span（该公司在今年8月集资1800万美元）。Kiip的其他潜在对手还包括Adknowledge，该公司在今年9月推出了一个提供游戏营收解决方案的服务平台。

当然，最大的问题还在于，究竟有多少用户会去关注游戏中的广告，不管怎么说广告永远要和曝光率挂钩。据今年的一项调查表明，美国和英国共有1亿左右的社交游戏用户，仅Zynga一家游戏公司的每月平均活跃用户就有6500万人。所以从这一点上看，Kiip的游戏内置广告应该不难收获大批受众。

另外，据eMarketer的调查显示，今年社交游戏的广告投入也创下了新纪录，全世界发行商今年在社交游戏和应用中的广告投入有望超过2.2亿美元，预计2011年还将增长到2.93亿美元。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译）

Kiip raised $300,000 for in-game ads
 
Making money from games is nothing new, and it can be done in a lot of different ways. To be straight up, selling your game is the most direct route. You know what you’re getting because you price the game. But it’s not always possible to make money, especially when there are a number of other games being offered for free.

That leaves game developers with the option of advertising.

No shocker, therefore, that companies are lining up to provide those ads to video-game developers. One of those companies is Kiip, which raised $300,000 in funding. This mobile gaming ad startup was founded by teen entrepreneur Brian Wong, who at the age of 19, is one of the youngest founders to receive venture capital. 

As the startup is in stealth mode, there’s little information about which game developers it’s partnered with. But reports say it has an audience of more than two million active users monthly.

The company does not seem to be focusing on the virtual goods model, despite an 80% increase in the overall sales of virtual goods in games, reported earlier this year by Flurry Analytics. This may distinguish them from other in-game monetization companies, such as Play Span, which recently raised $18 million in a Series C round, in August of this year. Another potential competitor is Adknowledge, which released a monetizaiton platform for game in September of this year.

Of course, the big issue for any advertising-based model is how many people will be looking at the ads. After all, ads are all about exposure. As it turns out, there are some 100 million people in America and the U.K., who regularly play social games, according to a study conducted this year. A single company, like Zynga, can reach an estimated average of 65 million daily active users.

So it seems like Kiip could easily reach a broad audience with their ads.

They are also walking into an area where cash is being spent, hand over fist. Spending on ads inside social games is at a record high, this year. It is likely that publishers will spend upwards of $220 million worldwide, to advertise in social games and applications in 2010, according to research conducted by eMarketer. In 2011 this is expected to increase to $293 million.（source:vatornews）