Google to put ads in online games

DALLAS - Google Inc., aiming to expand beyond Internet-search ads, introduced technology to insert commercial spots into online video games.

Google is working with game makers including Konami Corp. and Demand Media Inc. and advertisers Sprint Nextel Corp. and Esurance Inc. to test the system, said Ryan Hayward, a Google manager, in a blog post yesterday. The video, image, and text ads can appear when a player begins or completes a game or level.

The technology is one of Google's attempts to find new sources of revenue beyond the ads it places alongside search results, which made up almost all of its $16.6 billion in sales last year. US ad sales for Web games will more than double to $478 million by 2012, according to researcher EMarketer Inc.

"Online games are still a bit of a Wild West," with few rules governing how advertisers should place their spots without irritating players, said Paul Verna, an analyst at New York-based EMarketer. Google's system could help organize the market and help it grow, he said.

About 200 million people worldwide play games online, Google said, citing Reston, Va.-based researcher ComScore Inc. Google bought Adscape Media Inc. last year to get the game-ad technology.