How Advertisers Can Engage In-Game Audiences and Compete With a ‘Cup of Tea’

I’ll start with full disclosure: I’m an American. Based in the UK. This essentially means I have had to happily accept the Brits’ obsession with the holy cup of tea to be allowed to live here.

Long before the advent of streaming, a phenomenon called TV Pickup would sometimes occur during big primetime shows or sporting events in the UK. The second the ad break started, millions of people would simultaneously rush into their kitchens to make a cup of tea. This would create a huge surge in demand that would temporarily disrupt the electricity supply for everyone.

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Of course, the power companies learned how to effectively predict demand, but TV Pickup also forced advertisers to rethink how best to leverage the primetime broadcast advertising opportunity and accelerated the adoption of ad formats such as sponsorship and product placement.

NEW AD FORMATS, FAMILIAR CHALLENGES

Fast-forward to 2021 and there is a clear surge in demand around gaming as a way for brands to access hard-to-reach audiences. And the biggest audience in town is found playing mobile games; over 2.7 billion people globally. This completely dwarfs the audience numbers for even the biggest broadcast events today, such as:

• the Super Bowl (96.4 million), or
• the FIFA World Cup Final (517 million).

Mobile games as a media channel is particularly interesting to advertisers because of the diversity of audiences that play mobile games. The gender split is equal and reaches all ages. For example, the average age of the Super Swiper (likes casual games such as Candy Crush or Words With Friends), is 50 years old and 64% female according to Activision Blizzard Media.

At the same time mobile games also offer advertisers unrivaled access to high-value cord-cutting audiences with Gen-Z audiences, the highest users of gaming apps.

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With mobile advertising, here, the equivalent impact of TV Pickup is multiplied with differing consumer behaviors towards ads including multi-screening, skipping ads or blocking them altogether.

Mobile advertising in games has been around for well over a decade, but it has almost exclusively been used for performance marketing. Ad formats such as banners and interstitial ads, appear in the equivalent of an ad break. But rather than dashing to the kitchen, they put their phone down and look away or worse still, they get frustrated and quit the game for good.

This scenario doesn’t work for anyone. At best the advertiser’s campaign is considered annoying and the impact on player retention screws the monetization of the free-to-play game the ads are meant to enable for game developers.

But, one format that overcomes these challenges is in-game advertising where revenue is forecast to hit $56B in 2024.

Native in-game advertising enables brands to seamlessly integrate ads within the real-time game environment, creating authentic brand experiences which crucially don’t frustrate players. Think of branded beauty products in a styling salon game, logos on playing chips in a c***** game, or branded energy drinks in a battle royale game.

In-game brand ads connect advertisers with consumers and engage players at their happiest – playing games. Brands can reach and target diverse player personas of all demographics and across all game genres from hypercasual to action and sports titles.

CURSE OF THE CLICK

Game developers have always had an uneasy relationship with in-game advertising. On the one hand, it means can monetize their free-to-play game and pay the bills, but always at the risk of impacting player experience – interrupting play or promoting a competing game.

So, it’s no surprise then that developers are more enthusiastic about native in-game ad units. In fact, our in-game advertising industry data shows that 46% of mobile game developers see in-game ads as a key monetization key opportunity for 202. Inventory across all genres is rapidly growing.

Yet, despite the creative potential of in-game advertising many marketers still only see in-game advertising through a performance marketing lens.

The legacy of click-through rates which helped digital advertising rise to prominence, risks in-game formats are seen as just another display channel.

But the true potential of in-game advertising is about connecting brands and players, creating targeted brand experiences and engaging new audiences.

And you can’t measure that with a click.

Viewability metrics are the baseline measurement for in-game advertising. Was my ad seen? And for now long?

But advertisers need comparable metrics.

And while ads may be placed in-game on billboards, posters or the side of a bus just like DOOH, then games are of course 2and 3D environments. Players will approach the ad from different angles. There may be other objects in view. And all of this is happening in real-time.

The nascent native in-game advertising industry needs to align on viewability measurement standards and ensure they are comparative with other display channels to help the buy-side understand the value of in-game advertising. We are co-chairing a working group at IAB UK which is looking at this very challenge and requires collaboration by all stakeholders to achieve scale for in-game advertising.

Of course, it doesn’t stop at counting impressions. To unlock the true potential then brand impact and effectiveness also need to be measured.

I’ve no doubt this will happen in time, but while we wait, who’s up for a nice cup of tea?