Madhouse, the largest mobile ad network in China, has teamed up with Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS) – aka EA – to put live ads into the freemium versions of EA games in China, such as Need for Speed SHIFT 2 Unleashed (pictured above).
When we heard EA’s Mike Pagano talking on a panel recently in Beijing, he pointed out how his local team has four gaming titles fully localized – and free – for the China market. These come with possible in-app purchases (pictured below); and now they’ll also have the ads powered by Madhouse’s SmartMad ad network.
An example of the Madhouse 'SmartMad' live ads.
The “live ads” will be literally and technically dynamic – sometimes animated and full-screen (pictured right; for another of its clients, KFC) so that they’re not confined to a banner, and always able to learn users’ preferences for certain kinds of ads.
After the usual press release pleasantries, Madhouse’s COO, Dan Wong, said:
Our collaboration makes it possible for EA Mobile to reach an even broader segment of users by bringing down the end user cost.
By which he means: this kind of ad platform can make freemium a lot more lucrative for developers whilst also bringing down the cost for users. In China, with payment method issues on iOS, and, er… no paid app support at all on the Android Market, freemium is the (only?) way to go.
Rather confirming this, Jim Lee, the CEO of EA Mobile China, commented:
EA will invest heavily in developing the mobile games market in China, including the introduction of more and more free-to-play games powered by advertising.
Madhouse – along with its SmartMad platform – already has some big gaming names using its system in China, such as the localized versions of Rovio Mobile’s Angry Birds games.
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