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.

中文翻译：

---

电子游戏即服务：通过弹出广告价值将免费增值用户转化为付费用户

目的

尽管电子游戏文献正在蓬勃发展，但关于出现在电子游戏中的弹出式广告的有效性知之甚少。因此，为了解决这一差距，本研究旨在探索弹出式广告作为提示玩家感知的广告价值及其随后安装广告视频游戏的意图的重要工具。

设计/方法/方法

为了构建分析框架，作者采用并扩展了 Ducoffe 的广告价值模型，将先前研究中在很大程度上被忽视的视觉/音频美学视频游戏组件结合起来。使用自我管理的调查，从 321 名在线游戏玩家那里收集了数据。作者使用基于偏最小二乘法的结构方程模型 (PLS-SEM) 测试了该模型。

发现

结果表明，与弹出广告相关的激励、娱乐、可信度、个性化、音频美学和刺激显着影响用户感知的广告价值。反过来，我们发现感知的广告价值会影响玩家安装广告视频游戏的意图。

研究限制/影响

尽管调查结果证实了弹出式广告被视为信息性和/或娱乐性的重要性，但它们也强调了个性化广告、广告相关激励和音频美感的价值，这会影响游戏玩家安装广告视频游戏的意图。

实际影响

这项研究提高了对基于视频游戏的服务的管理理解，预计这对基于免费增值的视频游戏营销人员和开发人员特别有用。

原创性/价值

通过扩展 Ducoffe 的广告价值模型，作者将所提出的框架应用于基于在线视频游戏的弹出广告上下文，并探索用户感知的弹出广告价值对其安装广告视频游戏的意图的影响。