Customizable content: interest in personalized and product-driven on-line games is growing among vendors, as well as consumers of all ages.(backdrop)

Q How exactly would you define a custom-published game?

A Games that tie to brands and, for the most part, are provided free to consumers are what we refer to as custom published. Typically brought to you by advertisers, the game tends to be more of a vignette of a full game, as opposed to a 40-hour experience. It's essentially an interactive commercial for a specific product or group of products. If you're playing a Toyota game, for example, the star of the game is a Toyota car; the consumer chooses the model and the color. It's broadcast on the Internet for the target audience the advertiser wants to reach. Product placement is just the tip of the iceberg. The company gets a big bang for its investment with the campaign.

Q What is the potential audience for custom-published games on-line?

A Consumers are increasingly savvy in their media habits. Today, they are much more empowered to make decisions about how they are going to spend their time, instead of just sitting there, forced to watch a 30-second commercial. So the efficacy of traditional advertising is dwindling, and advertisers have to figure out how to communicate and build relationships with their customers in environments where the customers want to be. Gaming is booming among many important demographics that advertisers are trying to reach. If you look at how young men, teenagers, and middle-aged women are spending their time, it's increasingly with games and less so with television. In fact, the Neilson ratings in the fall of 2003 showed a steep decline in males aged 18 to 34 watching prime-time TV, and the number one culprit, ahead of DVR and DVD playing, was video games.

Q How can companies take advantage of this recent sea change in consumer habits?

A It's understood among marketers that games and the Web are taking up an increasingly large portion of consumers' media and entertainment habits. Yet, it's not the easiest medium through which to reach people. A typical retail video game can take years to make, and early in the development cycle, it becomes fairly rigid in terms of what can be done for an advertiser.

Q Which advertisers already have invested in custom-published games?