Discovery, Sony and Others Sponsor Free WildTangent Game Time

Online video game provider WildTangent Inc. has signed on a number of new advertisers to sponsor otherwise paid game sessions.

Discovery Networks, Sony Pictures, Johnson and Johnson’s Acuvue, KIA, Suzuki Motors, and Warner Bros. will sponsor playing time for users of the WildTangent Games Network in exchange for viewing ad content.

“A consumer can buy the game for 20 bucks, or pay to play with tokens, or they can choose to have that game session brought to them for free by the sponsor, and typically the advertiser is running a spot,” said Dave Madden, EVP of sales, marketing and business development at WildTangent.

In the standard “WildCoins” pay-for-play model, WildTangent charges players $0.25-$1.50 per game session, which lasts 24 hours.

Advertisements from sponsors vary from standard 30-second video spots to full length video movie previews.

“We really believe that by bringing the game play down to a per-session consumption, it’s opened up the game media for advertisers in a better way,” says Madden. “It’s a big growth engine for us.”