WildTangent said today it has scored a significant new customer for its BrandBoost ad platform for social games. It is now teaming up with Playdom to integrate ads into Playdom’s popular Facebook game, Tiki Farm.
BrandBoost will give Playdom’s gamers rewards such as virtual items and premium social games whenever the gamer agrees to view a video ad from inside the game. This is a big deal is since most social games are free-to-play and are monetized through virtual goods sales. But this ad-based revenue model could help balance that virtual goods model. About 85 percent of gamers told Nielsen in a survey that they would prefer not to pay for digital games. By bringing in brand advertising, WildTangent can help get around hurdles with the stingiest of players.
Playdom is one of the fast-growing social gaming companies, with tons of assets to oversee.