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

Ali Hussain (Department of Management and Humanities, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar, Malaysia)
Amir Zaib Abbasi (Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology, Islamabad Campus, Islamabad, Pakistan)
Linda D. Hollebeek (Montpellier Business School, University of Montpellier, Montpellier Research in Management, Montpellier, France and Department of Business Administration, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia)
Carsten D. Schultz (Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, University of Hagen, Hagen, Germany)
Ding Hooi Ting (Department of Management and Humanities, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar, Malaysia)
Bradley Wilson (Facultad de Administracion, Universidad de los Andes, Bogota, Colombia and Department of Marketing and Services Management, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany)

Journal of Services Marketing

ISSN: 0887-6045

Article publication date: 26 August 2021

Issue publication date: 19 May 2022

1675

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.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Funding: This work was supported under the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS), Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia [FRGS/1/2019/SS06/UTP/02/1].

Citation

Hussain, A., Abbasi, A.Z., Hollebeek, L.D., Schultz, C.D., Ting, D.H. and Wilson, B. (2022), "Videogames-as-a-service: converting freemium- to paying-users through pop-up advertisement value", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 36 No. 3, pp. 398-415. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-05-2020-0164

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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