Videogames-as-a-service: converting freemium- to paying-users through pop-up advertisement value

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.

Driving Consumer Value Co-creation and Purchase Intention by Social Media Advertising Value

“…This study contributes to the current literature by presenting a comprehensive framework that illustrates how social media advertising antecedents drive value co-creation behavior which further leads to enhanced e-WOM and purchase intention. Overall, our results validate the finding of the previous studies, indicating that the four dimensions of entertainment, aesthetic appeal, interactivity, and trendiness, of social media advertising, reflect a holistic experience within social media ads ( Ducoffe, 1996 ; Tran et al, 2020 ; Hussain et al, 2021 ). As expected, social media advertising value dimensions significantly enhance consumers’ intention to engage with social media advertising and enhance consumers’ involvement in the co-creation process.…”

“…Overall, our results validate the finding of the previous studies, indicating that the four dimensions of entertainment, aesthetic appeal, interactivity, and trendiness, of social media advertising, reflect a holistic experience within social media ads (Ducoffe, 1996;Tran et al, 2020;Hussain et al, 2021). As expected, social media advertising value dimensions significantly enhance consumers' intention to engage with social media advertising and enhance consumers' involvement in the co-creation process.…”

“…Then, the significant effect of aesthetic appeal on perceived advertising value is remarkably meaningful as findings from prior studies suggested that aesthetic elements play a vital role in affecting consumers’ preferences and behavior toward a wide range of things such as web pages, advertising, physical products, and packages ( Jiang et al, 2016 ; Balaji and Roy, 2017 ). This means that aesthetic appealing aspects of the advertising such as intricate textures, color variations, and dissimilar shapes or sizes enhance customers’ ability to engage with the ad and therefore provoke higher perceived advertising value ( Hussain et al, 2021 ). Similarly, our results also showed that ad-related entertainment exerts a significant, positive effect on users’ perceived advertising value of social media ads ( Martins et al, 2019 ).…”

Value creation or value destruction: Conceptualizing the experiential nature of value‐in‐use

“…Woodall (2003) have provided a comprehensive construction of the customer value: net value, marketing value, sales value, rational value, and driven value for the customers. The debate on customer value became more prominent after service‐dominant logic (S‐D logic) evolution (Hussain et al, 2021). It has enhanced the conceptualization of value shaping processes shifting the paradigms towards the customers' side (Hakanen & Jaakkola, 2012; Heinonen et al, 2013; Vargo & Lusch, 2004).…”

Do pop-up ads in online videogames influence children’s inspired-to behavior?

“…To assess the advertising value of ads, Ducoffe’s advertising model has been tested and applied on various platforms including traditional advertising (Logan, 2013), web-based advertising (Lin and Hung, 2009), mobile advertising (Kim, 2020), social-media advertising (Van-Tien Dao et al , 2014), smartphone advertising (Martins et al , 2019; Kim and Han, 2014) and pop-up ads in O-VGs (Abbasi et al , 2021a; Hussain et al , 2021). Despite its vast application in various domains, its effectiveness in children’s advertising is largely ignored, which is the focus of this study.…”