A new form of advertising has appeared in Pokémon GO. It’s not an advert or a special event, but a new sponsored research system.

Detailed on Twitter by user Leek Duck, Sponsored PokéStops now give the player sponsored Field Research tasks. Highlighted in purple, they offer a normal selection of rewards.

These tasks are brand new. They’re simple to complete tasks with decent rewards like Stardust or Rare Candy.

It’s a new feature to help bring foot traffic to Pokémon GO’s sponsors and might help attract new ones.

The tasks themselves seem to be new and not seen in the standard selection, but they’re not particularly different in their style.

Personally, I’m pretty OK with this. It does give a greater incentive to frequently visit a sponsored PokéStop. That’s what the sponsors want, after all. And it’s far less intrusive than banner ads or video interruptions, the kind of thing all other mobile games seem to love.

I guess it’s time to make regular stops by the Starbucks.