New Street Media, a pioneer in in-game advertising has recently signed a deal with Setanta to deliver ads in Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer 2009.

With over 14 years of digital strategy experience, New Street Media delivers game based marketing strategies across every digital platforms including OC, Console, mobile and iTV.  Sentanta Sports is a leading sports broadcaster with nine channels in the UK, Ireland, North America and Australia.  Their digital content is available to more the 50 million homes worldwide.

The PES 2009 title, which is set for an October 17th release date, is widely regarded as the premier online soccer game, and will feature Setanta ads throughout the game via static perimeter board advertising.  The Setanta/New Street Media deal is not limited strictly to actual in-game advertising, but extends to various PES events slated to take place throughout the year, where Setanta advertising will also receive high profile treatment.  PES competitions and PESfan.com and PESRanksings.com will also feature Sentanta ads.

Jon Murphy, PES Team Leader for Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH, commented,“We are delighted to be working with such a prominent brand in the football world and hope this will be the start of a longer partnership”

“This is a truly symbiotic relationship, where the partnership delivers extra value to both parties’ audiences. Successful in-game advertising campaigns need to consider the gamer and add value to the gameplay experience and give something back to the gamer!” said New Street Media’s Managing Director, Maryam Bazargan

Setanta’s Online Marketing and Acquisition Manager, Ben Carter said:“Setanta is always looking for new ways of reaching our core target audience of sports fans and so this was an obvious partnership for us, given Pro Evolution Soccer’s strength and position in the football games market.”

While there’s been some waves in the in-game advertising sphere over the past few weeks, most notably Google, Konami and New Street Media seem to be headed in the right direction with this one.  Gamers are certainly a fickle bunch, and often a bit put off by in-game ads, but if the advertising context mirrors the game content and ads an even more ‘real world’ feel to the game play, who could oppose it?