This document discusses the opportunities for in-game brand-safe advertising in the gaming industry. It notes that while gaming is a major market, brand advertising budgets are not fully allocated to it yet. Programmatic in-game advertising can help unlock more brand dollars by ensuring reach, viewability, and brand safety. Mobile game developers can enable this by partnering with supply side platforms, implementing consent management, and considering how brand-safe their game content and environments are. With the right partnerships and strategies, blended in-game ads could significantly increase gaming companies' advertising revenue.

1. WHY SHOULD GAME
PUBLISHERS CARE ABOUT
BRAND-SAFE IN-GAME AD
EXPERIENCES
LEV KOMMISARCHIK
DIRECTOR OF MOBILE GAMES

2. GAMING BY NUMBERS
PART 1

3. Source | NewZoo
2021 GLOBAL GAMES MARKET
TOTAL REVENUES
$175BN
BREAKDOWN BY PLATFORMS
$35.9BN
-1.7% YoY
$49.2BN
-8.9% YoY
$90.7BN
+4.4% YoY
52%
28%
20%

4. 3.1 BILLION
GAMERS GLOBALLY
COVID-19 IMPACT: MORE PEOPLE ARE
PLAYING, MORE OFTEN AND FOR LONGER
8:27 HRS AV
SPENT GAMING PER WEEK
38.27% AV
DAU INCREASE
25M PCU
ALL-TIME PEAK IN THE
STORE’S HISTORY
32M AMA
LOL FINAL ECLIPSED CBS’ SUPER
BOWL XLVII LIVESTREAM
15M USERS
CALL OF DUTY: WARZONE
IN 3 DAYS (MARCH 2020)
Source DFC Intelligence, Limelight, Unity

5. GAMING IS BECOMING
THE CENTRAL HUB FOR
PEOPLE’S VIRTUAL
LIVES, AND
INCREASINGLY THEIR
REAL LIVES
MUSIC
TV & VIDEO
LIFESTYLE
SPORTS &
ESPORTS
Source | Activate analysis, Company sites, The Daily Californian,
Esports insider, iRacing, Slash Gear, South China Morning Post, The
Verge, WHYY

6. GLOBAL INTERNET USERS
PLAY VIDEO GAMES ACROSS DEVICES
ANY DEVICE
86.9%
SMARTPHONE
74.9%
PC
44.4%
CONSOLE
26.1%
TABLET
19.6%
CROSS-PLATFORM TREND
Source | GlobalWebIndex (Q3 2020)

7. Source | Microsoft, SuperData,
Statista
FREE-TO-PLAY FUTURE
F2P, OF TOTAL DIGITAL
REVENUE IN 2020
OF THE F2P MARKET
PC
$22.7BN
CONSOLE
$1.8BN
MOBILE
$73.8BN
$98.4BN
78%
YOY
INCREASE
9%

8. FORTNITE GENSHIN IMPACT PUBG MOBILE
ROBLOX HONOR OF KINGS APEX LEGENDS
350M
REGISTERED PLAYERS
$250M
BY THE END OF THE 1ST MONTH
$2BN
IN CONSUMER SPENDING
100M
DAILY ACTIVE USERS
100M
UNIQUE PLAYERS
770M
INSTALLS ON iOS AND ANDROID
LEADING FREE-TO-PLAY GAME TITLES

9. AD MONETIZATION
BATTLEGROUND
PART 2

10. BLENDED
IN-GAME ADS
TRADITIONAL
POP-UP ADS
HARD-CODED ADS &
CUSTOM INTEGRATIONS
■ Time-consuming
integration
■ Not scalable
■ Static
■ Intrusive nature
■ Available only on mobile
■ Disliked by gamers
■ Respect user experience
■ Dynamically updated
■ Brand-safe & cost-effective
ADVERTISING OPTIONS IN GAMES

11. FORMAT SUITE NATIVE, CREATIVE, DYNAMICALLY UPDATED
BLENDED DISPLAY BLENDED VIDEO
■ Standard IAB creatives
■ Internal / RTB
■ Static or dynamic
■ Rectangular shape
■ Interactivity options
■ Standard IAB creatives
■ Internal / VAST / RTB
■ 3D audio support
■ Rectangular shape
■ Interactivity options
CUSTOM AD
■ Bespoke branding
■ Sponsorship packages
■ Complex shapes
■ Interactivity options
■ Blended display or
video
■ Displayed in menus
■ Clickable
IN-MENU ADS

12. PEOPLE DON’T HATE ADS,
THEY HATE BAD ADS

13. Source | Comscore, The Drum/YouGov
BLENDED IN-GAME ADVERTISING
NOT ONLY DO MOST GAMERS NOT MIND PRODUCT
PLACEMENTS, NEARLY 1 IN 3 STRONGLY AGREE IT
ADDS TO THEIR EXPERIENCE
Console
Games
PC
Games
Mobile
Games
Console
Games
PC
Games
Mobile
Games
GET RID OF PRODUCT
PLACEMENT
PRODUCT PLACEMENT MAKES
GAMES MORE REAL
31% 30% 29%
20% 19%
21%
+11% +9% +10% OF GAMERS AGREE ON
THE FOLLOWING:
"I DON'T MIND THE ADS,
BUT I DON'T LIKE BEING
DISRUPTED/SURPRISED BY AN
AD DURING MY GAMEPLAY"
67%

18. THE COMPLIANCE PERSPECTIVE
OF PROGRAMMATIC IN-GAME
ADVERTISING
PART 3

19. BIG BRANDS ARE INTERESTED IN
THE GAMING OPPORTUNITY
BALENCIAGA SKINS
IN FORTNITE
CHIPOTLE RESTAURANT
ON ROBLOX
MASTERCARD INSIDE
LEAGUE OF LEGENDS
CUSTOM KFC
BRANDED JOYSTICK
Source: Riot Games, Epic Games, Sony Playstation, Roblox Corporation

20. MIND THE GAP | GAMES ACCESS ONLY
A FRACTION OF BRAND AD BUDGETS
$634 BLN
$317 BLN
Total Global Ad Spend 2020 Total Digital Ad Spend 2020
$1.75 BLN
Total Gaming Ad Spend 2020
Source | Dentsu Ad Spend Report (June 2021)

21. 37%
21%
8%
TV
STREAMING
GAMING
$1.5 BILLION
$15.7 BILLION
$59.4 BILLION
Percentage of media diet Brands spending in this channel
MIND THE GAP | TIME SPENT VS.
MARKETING DOLLARS SPENT
Source | AdWeek

22. PROGRAMMATIC
HOW DO BRANDS PLAN THEIR ADVERTISING SPEND?
REACH VIEWABILITY BRAND SAFETY

23. UNDERSTANDING PROGRAMMATIC ADVERTISING
How do DSPs access mobile gaming inventory?
APP
Mediation
Ad Network 1
SSP 1
Ad Network 3
Ad Network 5
Ad Network 4
Ad Network 6
Waterfall
In-App Bidding
In game ads
------------------
SSP

24. UNDERSTANDING PROGRAMMATIC ADVERTISING
How do DSPs access mobile gaming inventory?
BRAND
ADVERTISER
AGENCY DSP SSP MEDIATION
APP
PUBLISHER
USER
■ Media Mix
■ Creative
planning
■ Campaign
execution
Demand Side
Platform
■ Used to
manage
the execution
of digital
advertising
campaigns
■ Enables
targeting,
inventory
access and
measurement
Supply Side
Platform
■ Connected
to multiple
supply sources
(publishers)
■ Provides DSPs
with scale and
reach through a
single integration

25. HOW TO UNLOCK MORE
BRAND REVENUES?

26. CONSENT MANAGEMENT
PLATFORMS
GDPR IAB EUROPE

27. WHAT ACTIONS CAN MOBILE DEVELOPERS
TAKE TO ENABLE BRAND DOLLARS?
CHOOSE PARTNERS THAT
CAN PROVIDE ACCESS TO
BRAND BUDGETS
OMSDK - OPEN
MEASUREMENT SDK
LEARN ABOUT
PROGRAMMATIC
ADVERTISING
IMPLEMENT A CONSENT
MANAGEMENT PLATFORM
CONSIDER THE BRAND
SAFETY OF YOUR
CONTENT

28. PLAN AHEAD
CONSIDER
USER JOURNEY
EQUAL LONGER
SESSIONS TO MORE
IMPRESSIONS
REWARD
IMPRESSIONS

29. SCALE UP
A/B TEST
CONSIDER DESIGN,
GAMEPLAY BEHAVIOUR
OPTIMIZE
PLACEMENTS

30. CONSIDER SUBGENRE RACING

31. CONSIDER SUBGENRE SPORTS
*Ad creatives are used for demonstrative purposes

32. CONSIDER
SUBGENRE
RUNNER

33. CONSIDER SUBGENRE
BOARD
* Ad creatives are used for demonstrative purposes

34. CONSIDER SUBGENRE STRATEGY
*Ad creatives are used for demonstrative purposes

35. INDUSTRY ENDORSEMENTS:
REVENUE INCREASE
“
Blended in-game ads helped
increase our ad revenue by 131%, with
them now making up between 5-10%
of our total monthly revenue.
“
“
Blended In-game ads have helped us
increase revenue and avoid user
experience interruption.
ORHUN MERT SIMSEK
CO-FOUNDER & CMO
“
MI NGUYEN
UA & MONETIZATION MANAGER

36. LEV KOMMISARCHIK
DIRECTOR OF MOBILE GAMES
lev@anzu.io
LET’S TALK GAMING!