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ESPORTS & GAMING
IN-GAME ADVERTISING’S BATTLE ROYALE Targeted advertising is being deployed by brands in the video game space. But are gamers ready for adtech? WORDS BY NEAL ROMANEK
D IGITAL ADVERTISING exploit the time audiences spend on gaming, taking particular aim at the valuable, yet elusive Gen Z. “There is a trend of companies diving into the industry to claim their piece of the gaming pie, seen at the recent CES,” says Maxym Dmytriyev, gaming analyst at Futuresource Consulting. “This is a new revenue stream to tap into, and even the likes of Amazon and Google – whose revenues are built upon direct and indirect advertising – have entered the market, with agencies have been putting in a concentrated effort to ambitious cloud-gaming solutions.” In-game advertising (IGA) is not a new concept. “It has existed for years, in the form of static product placements and brand licensing within sports games, either as stand-alone ads or interactive objects (ie car brands in racing games),” says Dmytriyev. “Dynamic personalised ads, on the other hand, are a nascent technology, which has a better chance for success
with subscription gaming – in part due to the potential for user tracking, but also by removing the right to complain about adverts in a fully paid game. Advertising promises a new and incremental revenue stream. It’s on the rise, but relatively small compared to other revenues from gaming software, hardware and peripherals.” In practice, IGA follows similar principles to digital out-of-home (DOOH) media, making use of the advertising technology and practices that have been built up around it – creating more than the one-ad-fits- all techniques of the past. Agencies working with game publishers allow advertisers and brands to place dynamic ads inside video games, most commonly using banners, billboards or trackside hoardings – reflecting real-world usage. “Traditional-format advertising can be executed particularly well in sports games such as FIFA, MLB, NBA, Dirt Rally, Forza and so on,” says Dmytriyev. “Players are no strangers to ads in real sports
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