I came across an interesting article recently about how comScore plans to track the effectiveness of in-game ads on video gamers’ online behaviors. Advertising on consumer video-game consoles such as Xbox and PlayStation 3 is becoming a popular trend, popular enough that comScore sees value in conducting a study to gauge its effectiveness. For the first time, comScore has partnered with a video-game provider, Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE system, to track the results of advertising on online search.

In order to conduct the study, comScore and Microsoft had to combine anonymous user IDs with online profiles. They have already performed several trials, and, so far, results have shown significant increases to the advertiser’s website and brand searches online.

This study is just another sign of the fragmentation of media advertising. In today’s marketplace, advertisers are utilizing multiple media channels in order to obtain the same reach they once had in only a few media sources years ago. And as the concentration of consumers in any one media channel continues to decline, the number of media channels will continue to grow. With the status of the economy still unknown, advertisers are going to continue to shift funds to media channels that are easily tracked and that generate a high ROI for their businesses. With this new study from comScore showing positive results, we may start to see an influx of advertisers in the video-game space, especially those trying to reach the demographic of video gamers.