The Gamification of Advertising: A Meta-Analysis

The gamification of advertising has evolved into an effective digital marketing strategy due to its playful and engaging nature. In the current research, we meta-analyze extant literature, visualize the distribution of effect sizes across all empirical studies, quantify the average size and heterogeneity of gamification effects in the literature, and examine the extent to which the diverging results can be explicated by categorical moderators. Our results indicate that advergaming and in-game advertising are efficacious in enhancing consumer experiences, showing reliable but small to moderate effects on psychological and behavioral responses. Our moderator analyses also provide insights into the variation of the gamification effect. Together, our results suggest that the gamification of advertising is a valid tool and thus holds much promise for future digital marketing strategies.