Videogames-as-a-service: converting freemium- to paying-users through pop-up advertisement value
ISSN: 0887-6045
Article publication date: 26 August 2021
Issue publication date: 19 May 2022
Abstract
Purpose
Though the videogame literature is thriving, little remains known regarding the effectiveness of pop-up ads that appear in videogames. Addressing this gap, this study, therefore, aims to explore pop-up ads as an important tool to prompt gamer-perceived advertisement value and their subsequent intent to install the advertised videogame.
Design/methodology/approach
To frame the analyses, the authors adopt and extend Ducoffe’s advertising value model by incorporating the visual/audio aesthetic videogame components that are largely overlooked in prior research. Using a self-administered survey, data were collected from 321 online gamers. The authors tested the model by using partial-least-squares-based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).
Findings
The results indicate that pop-up ad-related incentives, entertainment, credibility, personalization, audio aesthetics and irritation significantly affect user-perceived ad value. In turn, perceived ad value was found to affect players’ intent to install the advertised videogame.
Research limitations/implications
Though the findings corroborate the importance of pop-up ads being perceived as informative and/or entertaining, they also emphasize the value of personalized ads, ad-related incentives and audio aesthetic, which impact gamers’ intent to install the advertised videogame.
Practical implications
This study advances managerial understanding of videogame-based services, which is expected to be particularly useful for freemium-based videogame marketers and developers.
Originality/value
By extending Ducoffe’s model of advertising value, the authors apply the proposed framework in the online videogaming-based pop-up ad context, and explore the effect of user-perceived pop-up ad value on their intent to install the advertised videogame.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Funding: This work was supported under the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS), Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia [FRGS/1/2019/SS06/UTP/02/1].
Citation
Hussain, A., Abbasi, A.Z., Hollebeek, L.D., Schultz, C.D., Ting, D.H. and Wilson, B. (2022), "Videogames-as-a-service: converting freemium- to paying-users through pop-up advertisement value", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 36 No. 3, pp. 398-415. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-05-2020-0164
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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