Obama Pays Over $44k for In-Game Advertising

Presidential candidate Barack Obama, who raised over $100 million in September alone, paid over $44,000 to Massive Incorporated for his in-game advertising campaign.

With only five days left until the United States chooses its next President, Barack Obama seems to be pulling out all the stops when it comes to his campaign. And while both he and John McCain are hitting the campaign trail with monster-truck force during this last week before Election Day, Obama is doing more to sway the minds of the young and the technologically savvy.

After raising over $100 million in September alone, Obama had some serious coin to spend on advertising. While much of this went towards more "traditional" advertising, like paying CBS, NBC, FOX and other networks $1 million each to run his 30-minute infomercial last night before the rest of Game 5 of the World Series, funds were also diverted to advertising on game consoles and handheld devices.

Earlier this month, Obama’s campaign released an iPhone App which urged voters to go to the polls for Obama on November 4 as well as spread the word about Obama and his policies. After attempting to lock down the iPhone vote, Obama also launched an advertising campaign through the popular console title Burnout : Paradise.

While the Obama campaign has reportedly spent over $200 million on TV advertising, the Burnout ad campaign only cost him a paltry $44,465.78. The ads, which have run in several battleground states for the last several months, are the work of Massive Incorporated, a Microsoft-owned advertising firm which specializes in in-game advertising, handles all in-game billboards and advertising for Burnout : Paradise, an Electronic Arts title. Massive also handles in-game advertising for other publishers, including 2K Games, Konami, Microsoft Game Studios and Activision.

As reported earlier this month by Tom’s Guide, companies like Massive and Electronic Arts view advertising by a political personality like the rest of the media : good business and a solid source of income. “Like most television, radio and print outlets, we accept advertising from credible political candidates," said Holly Rockwood, director of corporate communications at Electronic Arts."Like political spots on the television networks, these ads do not reflect the political policies of EA or the opinions of its development teams.”

With the game industry’s constant growth when it comes to revenue and unit sales, politicians advertising in a AAA-title is likely a trend that we will continue to see in the coming years, especially during election years. While the Obama campaign seemed eager to work with Massive on in-game ads, the same offer was made to John McCain, who apparently declined the offer.