Why People Don't Advertise in Home

Written by: Kapow

According to a report by Brandweek, advertisers are largely ignoring PlayStation Home, opting to pursue opportunities on Xbox Live instead. Ad agency Publicis Denuo's John Rafferty told the site that "from moment one, it kind of felt clunky. And once you got through that, there wasn't much there."

Jack Buser, director of PlayStation Home, argues that it offers "a chance to cut through the noise and actively engage directly with a large, targeted, and highly desirable consumer base." However, it appears that advertisers that want to work with Sony are interested in pursuing a different relationship -- one with the PlayStation Network itself.

This year Sony sat out Engage, and it seems that all’s quiet on the Home front. The product has disappointed both users and advertisers. In fact, Red Bull remains one of the few non-endemic advertisers to carve out space in the world. According to some digital buyers, Home exemplifies Sony’s slow-footed nature when it comes to embracing advertising.

Sony says that PlayStation Network, which launched three years ago, has 40 million users globally, compared to 20 million paid subscribers for the older Xbox Live. Meanwhile Home, which debuted in December 2008, just passed 11 million users globally.

“I don’t see how it’s relevant to the casual or hardcore market,” said Leigh Alexander, news director of gaming site Gamasutra. Alexander explained that Home was developed during a period of intense hype around virtual worlds—where many were predicting that average adults would socialize via avatars with people across the globe and even gather virtually to watch movies and play games. But most people remain satisfied with reality-based social networks like Facebook. “Everyone was looking into making the Web more 3-D,” she said.
“One of the lessons we are learning on the Web—users want to do things as quickly and easily as possible even if that means static Web pages.”

Thus, Home is a nonstarter for many buyers, especially when PlayStation often demands labor-intensive six-figure deals. “There’s just a huge barrier to entry for advertisers,” said Denuo’s Rafferty, who added that after an early push, he’s heard little from the Sony sales team regarding Home.

Courtesy of Joystiq and Brandweek. Hit the Brandweek link for the full story