(CBS) – Advertisements are just about everywhere these days. Sponsorships, billboards, and product placement ads are raking in the cash for video game producers.

The final frontier of commercial-free gaming has been crossed.  For example, “Swagger Player of the Game presented by Old Spice deororant.”  That’s in the video football game, Madden 11 from EA Games.

Spokeswoman Joy Taylor said ads are part of the fastest growing segment in her company because not just boys gamers these days:

“With the introduction of the Wii and mobile and social, the audience has really expanded pretty exponentially.  So now you’re seeing teen girls, moms, seniors that are participating as well.”

Villanova advertising professor Bill Cowen thinks many of the ads are ignored by users.

“We’re not sure how much advertising that the consumer will withstand from a promotional standpoint, meaning will they actually look, or are they overloaded by messages and they don’t have an affect?”

But a recent study suggested a well-placed ad within a video game can be just as effective, if not more so, than an ad on television.

Reported by KYW’s Mike Dougherty