Our Place in the Gaming Industry
It all began in 2006 when a gaming website owner, dissatisfied with quality of ads provided by ad networks, deployed a system to sell his banner space exclusively to quality gaming advertisers. A browser based game owner who was contacted as a potential advertiser proposed to use this system to sell his game's banner space. Word spread to other game site webmasters and Game Advertising Online was born.
Over the next few years GAO grew to become a major ad network in the independent gaming website and browser based games sector, reaching an audience of 50 million viewers per month through over 700 web sites. In 2010 GAO was recognized and acquired by United Business Media, becoming a sister business to Gamasutra and Game Developers Conference (GDC). Staying true to original vision of quality gaming ads for quality gaming sites, GAO is expanding its services to the global gaming industry.
Game Advertising the Way It's Meant to Be
People who visit gaming web sites are interested in games and entertainment, and that is the only subject we advertise. Banners displaying relevant gaming and entertainment-related ads generate high click-through rates and a positive user experience. Destination URL opens in new browser window to ensure user retention.
GAO employs strict quality standards. Each banner is human-tested for visual irritation, vulgarity, nudity, flash CPU usage and malware. We stay clear of online gambling and virtual gold sellers.
Flexibility to Match Your Revenue Model
Some publishers only work with GAO and we sell their site's entire banner inventory. Some publishers rotate GAO with other networks, such as AdSense. Some publishers conduct their own advertising sales and use GAO to fill unsold or remnant inventory.
GAO is designed to maximize revenue. Available campaigns are automatically prioritized according to eCPM they produce for the publisher's web site. Advertisers are encouraged to bid higher to gain more exposure on the publisher's web site. Whenever possible, GAO displays native language version of the banner to each viewer. All campaigns are fully paid gaming campaigns with no "default" or charity ads. GAO offers 100% inventory fill.
Any campaign that the publisher does not wish to run can be blocked instantly via the
publisher interface. Optional campaign review and approval functionality is available.