San Jose, November 7:

Online game provider Shockwave.com today will begin offering advertisers a way to insert ads within the games themselves. While it’s believed to be the first such invasion in Web-based games, it’s only one of a growing number of venues advertisers are using to reach its shifting and fleeting audiences.

The traditional pillars of advertising in print and television media have eroded in recent years as people — especially the elusive demographic of young men — have instead spent more time on video games and on the Internet.

Hence, the ad creep, whether loudly from the walls of sportsfields, subtly from the strategic product placements within films or annoyingly from the pop-up ads all over the Internet. There’s no respite even when people use their TV, digital video recorders to skip TV commercials: earlier this year, banner-like ads started appearing during the fast forwarding.

Ads are also showing up in console video games.

It was only a matter of time then that in-game advertmsements would arrive in the world of casual Web-based games. The often addictive genre of action, puzzle, and card games attracted nearly 56 million unique visitors in September, according to comScore Media Metrix, a research firm.

Already, advertising revenue from online games, including the more hard-core multiplayer games, is projected to grow to $1.1 billion by 2008, up from between $450 million and $550 million last year, according to the Yankee Group research firm.

Shockwave.com, a division of San Francisco-based AtomShockwave Corp, wants to capitalise on the growing migration of advertising dollars to the Internet. “There’s such a huge demand right now from brand advertisers,” said Dave Williams, chief marketing officer of AtomShockwave, “And this is a huge audience and an engaged audience.” Shockwave.com hosts more than 200 games and claims its 20 million visitors to the site last month played more than 25 million game sessions.

The advertising network to be launched today will allow marketers to insert their images or brand names inside the games. They’ll be able to track the ‘impressions’ or viewing times each ad gets — a key advertising metric — as well as tailor their ads to geographic markets.

SBC Communications Inc, Sprint Nextel Corp and Sony Corp’s Sony Pictures are among the first companies planning to use Shockwave.com’s new advertising feature.

Shockwave.com plans to start ad insertions with action games, where the landscape, say of a racing game, or sport, lends itself to billboard-like advertisements.