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USA Today?s gaming re-launch aims to drive mobile advertising

Daily newspaper USA Today has re-launched its gaming platform in an effort to drive more mobile engagement and offer a centralized experience for its advertisers.

The new platform, launched in part with gaming developer Arkadium, will multiply USA Today?s gaming presence by 11 times, by offering a larger variety of games. The implementation will be sure to give advertisers more wiggle room in developing and executing their ad content. 

?The games solution that we've launched allows for amazing flexibility in terms of our advertising capabilities,? said John Geddes, director of gaming, entertainment and events at Gannett Digital, New York. ?Whether embedding specific games or game clusters into appropriate editorial stories, series, or sections or allowing for a marketer to sponsor specific games, categories, or the entire games destination, we have a lot more advertising options today than we did prior to our platform expansion.

?By integrating games into some of our editorial and advertising products, USA Today will be able to drive considerably more engagement,? he said.

Interaction via gaming
Users can visit games.usatoday.com and will be met with a mobile-optimized site and a multitude of games to choose from, such as Space Hunt, Trizzle, Find-O-Vision, Freecell Solitaire, Klondike Solitaire, Eggz Blast and more.

USA Today?s expansion of a digital content area is something that USA Today has traditionally done very well, specifically with puzzles such as crosswords and Sudoku, Mr. Geddes said. 

Gannett Digital executives saw an opportunity to leverage USA Today?s brand credibility in this space by offering a much larger portfolio that included more contemporary and mobile-friendly games.

Gaming developer Arkadium provides USA Today with the capability to deliver HTML5 games to mobile Web users. For smartphones, the experience translates to roughly about 22 games and a few more on tablet. The number of games optimized for a mobile experience will continue to grow.

Gannett, the parent company to other publications, such as The Arizona Republic and the Indianapolis Star, plans to continue to expand gaming solutions across its other brands. 

Multitasking media
Media sectors are able to leverage their established presence by integrating other interactive offerings to their mobile users.

The New York Times? new NYTCooking mobile application and Web site delivers recipes from the Times? archives along with instructional video demonstrations and hopes to compete in an already-crowded space with a combination of technology and content.  

Channeling Apple?s new software update iOS 8, NYT Cooking utilizes various tools to encourage the hobby of cooking and promote its own recipes. The recipe category is well developed on mobile, with Pinterest serving as one popular option as well as an app from Epicurious and others (see story).  

Similarly, Hearst Corporation?s Seventeen Magazine recently released a mobile application to provide editorial content alongside a virtual photo booth, created by photo-editing app Aviary, to transform ordinary selfies into magazine covers. 

Fans can become Seventeen cover stars using Aviary?s custom stickers. By implementing this tool into the app, Seventeen fits in with its audience of young female consumers who are constantly taking selfies on their smartphones and sharing them (see story). 

Mobile Web and app interactivity is able to drive more engagement, which not only pleases consumers but also sets up a convenient opportunity for advertisers, as mobile usage only continues to grow. 

?USA Today understands and appreciates the fact that games and puzzles drive some pretty impressive engagement metrics,? Mr. Geddes said. ?Obviously, marketers want to position their messaging and leverage their presence in areas with consistently high engagement.?

Final Take
Caitlyn Bohannon is an editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York