Social games such as Farmville and its ilk suck in loyal, engaged followers, making advertisers salivate.

Mashable insists free, addictive and accessible gaming is the next great frontier for advertisers, who are seeking to tame the savage beast into a cash cow.

The story says social games are potential advertising gold because they encourage engagement and interactivity in a way a banner ad never could. For instance, advertisers would rather have you willingly mess around with branded characters and objects than have you gloss over a banner ad.

Also, audiences for the larger games dwarf prime time TV, with Farmville’s 30 million daily players obliterating ratings numbers from the likes of Monday Night Football and Dancing with the Stars.

What social games do you play, and what sorts of ads do you notice while playing?

6 Reasons Why Social Games Are the Next Advertising Frontier [Mashable]

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