brands should be excited by in-game ads

It was estimated that 227,000,000 people in the US would play video games by 2022. 46% of these were women. Advertisers have a great opportunity with game revenues expected to exceed $285 billion by 2027.

Businesses have the chance to reach a wide range of people with diverse tastes through in-game advertising. In-game advertising can promote almost any product and cater to any audience. Gaming has become a popular pastime.

In the past few decades, video games and advertising have made great strides. Celebrities and search marketers alike see the gaming market as a great way to reach their target audience. This article is part of a new series that focuses on why video gaming will be a major opportunity for advertisers in 2023.

What is a video game advertisement?

There are many types of advertisements that may have appeared if you have ever played video games on your phone, computer, consoles, Xbox, and Playstation. These ads could be in the form a short video playing between levels, a banner at bottom of the screen, or a player character wearing a branded shirt and driving a popular make or model of car. These are all examples of videogame ads.

Advertisements allow brands to reach new audiences and grow their communities, while game publishers can monetize their content with ads. This is particularly attractive for mobile game developers that offer freemium experiences, in which the game is played at no cost, but ads spots can be purchased in return for a fee.

It is worth looking into creating an in-game advertising campaign.

An in-game advertising campaign is a great way for advertisers and brands to diversify their marketing efforts beyond the usual scope. Gaming platforms have changed, and players now have their consoles at their fingertips, which means that they can run ad campaigns whenever they want.

Your brand can be more visible on low-competition platforms by running an in-game advertising campaign. Advertising on specific games can help you reach very targeted audiences. In-game advertising is a great way to reach a specific audience if your brand has a lot of potential. You can target the right audience by knowing who your typical gamer profile and what your campaign is targeting.

M&C Saatchi’s group managing director Natalie Cooke believes brands can engage gamers, especially when done well. She pointed out that Burger King engaged Elden Ring players in a way they wanted, encouraging them to use only fire- and flame-based weapons within the game. It was a challenge that streamers love to take on, and it felt real and in line with how gamers create content.

This is the best video game advertisement for most brands

Most people think of Playstation or Xbox when they hear “gaming consoles”. Although advertisers may place ads on these consoles, only 32% of the market share is represented by gamers. The demographic tends towards male-dominated.

In 2022, mobile games will be the most lucrative and low-hanging fruit. This platform is a great way to reach gamers of all ages, as it has the largest audience.

Also, mobile apps are the easiest and most efficient to set up. You can quickly create and deploy campaigns once you have a clear picture of your audience and the mobile games they are playing. Mobile campaigns are best measured by impressions, clicks, and video completion rates.

Brands can reap the benefits of mobile advertising through mobile games

Despite the reach and depth of engagement, marketers are slow to tap into this attention pool with advertising within games accounting for less that 6% of total digital ads spend.

Changes in gamers’ perceptions of gaming and technological advancements in how ads can be seamlessly integrated into games are helping to reduce consumer resistance to ads being implemented in games.


1. Reach

Mobile gaming audiences are expected to exceed 3 billion by 2023. This is a large segment of the population that advertisers could reach. Mobile gaming ads are more cost-effective than traditional marketing methods.


2. Viewability

Banners, which are in-play ads, run throughout the game. Interstitials and rewarded ads play only during breaks. Ad tech companies are looking for ways to measure even faster-paced games. Advertisers will be able determine the number of views their ads get. In-game ads have become more appealing with the availability of measurement, extensive ad targeting capabilities and fraud protection.


3. Engagement

According to Tapjoy, 64% more consumers will engage with an in-app reward advertisement than a post on social media. Gamers feel that their money is being spent more effectively because of the in-game rewards. 70% of gamers surveyed indicated that they are open to trying new subscription products or services.


4. Safety of brands

Advertisers have the option to choose which game genre they wish their ads to appear in. Ad whitelists also prevent ads from being displayed in unsuitable environments.

Advertisers and brands who are interested in setting up in-game campaigns should consult an ad tech partner. They can help them navigate creative requirements and placements, cost, cost and other issues.

In-game advertisements

Knowing your target audience

Brands that want to create mobile ads in-game for their games must first consider the target audience. Are they busy moms playing Candy Crush? Where are they located? What other activities do they have besides playing games? Advertising a product or service? Which platforms are you going to advertise on? Snapchat? Apple? Discord? Twitch? Think about the audience you are targeting and where they are playing.

Another factor to consider is the game title when advertising in games. Candy Crush users are typically over 30 while Fortnite players tend to be under 18. Younger Asians love DOTA and League of Legends. Counterstrike players tend to be European and North American males aged 20-30. If a brand wants to advertise its product, service or game, they must ensure that they are using the right game titles. Your target audience is over 40-year-old women. You’d waste your advertising budget if your banner appeared in Fortnite. This is because your target demographic won’t see it. Before creating a campaign, it is important to consider what games your target demographic plays.

When planning an in-game advertising campaign, contextualization is crucial. Understanding your market and the game space is crucial to understanding how players will react to the ads. Brands who are aware of the market they are advertising in will have greater success. Brands must also take into account the motivations of the people they advertise to. Do they play to have fun? Are they playing to compete with their friends? Are they playing games for fun and willing to watch ads to get more power?

Understanding player motivations

Game Refinery identified eight archetypes of player to help advertisers narrow their audience. These archetypes are not mandatory for creating an ad campaign. However, it is helpful to identify the type of player you will be targeting, their interaction with the game, and any other products or services they might have. These are the eight archetypes:

Profite from any app-specific first-party data

First-party data refers to information that game developers and marketers get directly from their customers. This data is often gathered from customers and players who convert, acquire, or play within an app. This information is used by companies to create content and ads that are relevant to players’ interests.

Data from second parties can also be collected directly. However, instead of being used directly, the data is transferred to a partner. The third-party data is collected from outside sources. These data are gathered from various sources, analyzed, segmented, and sold to different companies.

Since the introduction of Apple’s ATT (App Tracking Transparency), first-party data has been invaluable because it is all that advertisers can rely upon. Primarily because it is more accurate (it comes direct from the consumer), advertisers are able to collect the exact data that they need for specific campaigns and it can be managed in real-time so platforms and advertisers can learn and adjust accordingly.

First-party data can be used to create highly targeted messages and target people who are interested in your product or services.

Brands can create campaigns that encourage people to interact with their ads by researching the intentions of your audience and answering these questions. Gaming is different from any other channel. It’s interactive 100% of the time. It is always live. It’s a high-attention inventory. It’s many things that traditional advertising isn’t. Therefore, the rules of traditional media planning may not apply to in-game advertisement,” Julia Rast, Director, Global Solutions and Innovation at media company Xaxis, says.

Measure success using an in-game advertising strategy

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), recognizing that it can be difficult to navigate the maze of videogame advertising, recently convened a group industry stakeholders to create new standards for measurement and viewability for in-game ads.

Anzu also announced a partnership with Oracle Moat to measure in-game ads’ viewability across inventory. Anzu describes this collaboration as “first to-market.” In-game ads can often be in the form of billboards or buildings and are therefore difficult to measure. Anzu’s built-in Ray Casting features send out waves of light from the player’s point of view that help determine how long ads are visible, how many ads can be seen and other important metrics.

The current success of an ad is usually measured in terms its viewability. This is determined by how long it stays up on the screen, how many times it was viewed, how fast it moves across the screen and the lighting conditions at the time.

Banner ads can be measured by clicks, downloads or purchases. It is important to note that clicks can be interpreted as failure if the expandable or banner ad interrupts gameplay.

Rewarded ads are a good option if a brand is looking to increase impressions and viewability. They have the highest viewability rates, because they are tied to game rewards.

Another way to measure success in-game is through surveys. In exchange for an incentive, the surveys are sent out to players. This is an easy and effective way to get players to complete surveys. However, advertisers should take into account the game(s), the native language of most of the players, the title of the games, and whether players are truthful with their answers.

Developers, platforms and advertisers are constantly learning about how to create experiences for gamers as gaming technology evolves. While viewability is a great way to measure success, technology will evolve and other KPIs can be used to show more clarity about effectiveness. Brands should concentrate on awareness and viewability for now.

The post Ingame Ads: Why Brands Should Be Excited was first published on Search Engine Land.

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