Google’s AdSense Off to the Games

Google has launched technology to insert advertisements into online video games and boost revenue from the booming gaming sector.

The software, called AdSense for Games, is in beta testing and allows video, image or text advertisements to placed at the start, end or change of level in an online game.

The advertisers are charged on a cost-per-impression or cost-per-click basis with revenue being split between Google and game developers or publishers, it said.

Google is working with game makers including Konami Corp and Demand Media, run by former MySpace Chairman Richard Rosenblatt, as well as advertisers like Sprint Nextel and Sony Pictures.

Data by comScore indicates that over a quarter of Internet users, or about 200 million people, play games online with their ranks growing by 17 percent annually.