Gaming advertising Archives

Singapore — Anzu, an in-game advertising solution, and Integral Ad Science (IAS), a global media measurement and optimization platform, have announced the introduction of an industry-wide solution that tracks viewability and invalid traffic (IVT) across 2D and 3D gaming environments.

Anzu and IAS have enhanced their in-game ad measurement solution, providing advertisers with increased trust and confidence in investing in the gaming industry. This comprehensive solution spans mobile, PC, and console gaming platforms, supporting programmatic and direct ad purchases for display and video formats.

Ben Fenster, co-founder and CPO, at Anzu, said, “When founding Anzu, we knew that for in-game to succeed, advertisers would need a robust and transparent way to measure their success and be able to compare it to other mediums, which is why this area has been a core focus for us as a business from day one.”

He added, “It’s been great to work together with IAS on this first-to-market solution which marks a significant step forward in how measurement is done within the in-game advertising space.”

Meanwhile, Yannis Dosios, chief commercial officer at IAS, said, “We know that gaming is one of the most compelling environments for advertisers because consumers bring passion, focus, and dedication when they are playing.”

Dosios added, “Our expanded partnership with Anzu brings IAS’s powerful viewability and invalid traffic measurement products to in-game 3D settings for the first time, demonstrating our leadership in the gaming space while providing marketers with even greater levels of transparency and actionable data to deliver results for their campaigns.”

Singapore – Kid-centric digital advertising platform TotallyAwesome has recently launched its largest brand-safe gaming platform ‘TotallyPlay’ in Asia-Pacific, allowing brands and advertisers to connect with gamers in Singapore and in the region aged under 18.

Through the platform, it bridges the gap between greater content utility for brands and the experience of play with gamers through managed and programmatic offerings within specific youth audience segments.

TotallyPlay’s mission is to provide an unbiased and science-backed approach, with a focus on human interpretation, best-in-class exclusive media partnerships, and brand safety. Whether it’s a hand-selected in-game marketing deployment, rewarded video in a mobile game, pre-rolls on around popular gaming YouTubers, a custom integration within a virtual world, or an in-stream placement during a gaming tournament, the platform enables marketers to meaningfully connect with the industry.

TotallyPlay’s gaming platform is able to deliver the largest and best-in-class media supply across APAC without the need for third-party online data, giving marketers a platform to navigate industry sea changes such as Google’s plans to disable third-party cookies next year.

This supply includes safer advertising formats in-game, whether that’s in the form of an in-game banner and rewarded video formats, exclusive branded character skins, or even an official partnership with a brand or developer. Then, it’s about partnerships and collaborations with creators, influencers and other media around the game. And lastly, thinking beyond the game, it’s the partnerships and curated experiences with partners like official esports tournaments, athletes, or in forms of brand experiences built in other virtual environments.

Will Anstee, CEO of TotallyAwesome commented on the launch, “TotallyPlay is about providing the advertising backdrop for positive gameplay to thrive, collaborating with interested brands, and backed by media metrics to prove or disprove each channel’s effectiveness for their campaigns. In short, we’re the only agnostic player in the game, forgive the pun.”

He added, “Beyond creating highly curated age-appropriate, brand-safe environments, we’re fully invested in the mission to support a safer online future for under-18s and are fascinated by the future of gaming and the possibilities for safe and responsible gameplay to flourish. As we know the region’s biggest brands feel the same, our role is to connect them with this multi-hundred billion-dollar industry with meaning and utility at scale, with the best ROI their media dollars can buy. It’s now a no-brainer.”

New York, USA – NBCUniversal, a popular global media and technology company, has unveiled a new partnership with Anzu.io, an in-game advertising platform to further enrich NBCUniversal’s capabilities in growing entertainment areas like gaming and esports.

NBCUniversal enlists the strategic partnership with Anzu as a global sales partner and the exclusive third-party seller in the US and UK. Now, NBCUniversal’s clients will be able to run non-intrusive, in-game ads across Anzu’s cross-platform gaming inventory— which spans mobile, PC and consoles—and use interactive, data-driven, contextual, and programmatic in-game advertising solutions, all with the high standards of privacy and brand safety they’ve come to expect from NBCUniversal’s One Platform.

Moreover, partners will also have access to Anzu’s full suite of leading adtech integrations as well as its robust measurement—including ad viewability, brand lift measurement, audience verification, data enrichment, and fraud detection—powered by Anzu’s partnerships with trusted industry leaders like Moat, Comscore, Human, Lumen, and Kochava.

Krishan Bhatia, president & chief business officer of NBCUniversal, shared, “NBCUniversal continues to reach consumers at scale on any platform and on every screen. In addition to streaming, gaming is one of the fastest growing ways to reach young audiences.”

“This partnership with Anzu will allow our marketers to engage with an audience of over three billion gamers worldwide, and we’re only getting started,” Bhatia added.

As part of the deal, Anzu will be able to access the power of NBCUniversal’s One Platform, including its client and agency relationships, and marketing teams. Meanwhile, Anzu’s cross-platform ad monetization solution will help game developers generate significant revenue while respecting their players and adding to the overall gaming experience.

Itamar Benedy, co-founder & ceo of Anzu, commented, “We’re excited to bring our best-in-class tech and exclusive inventory to one of the world’s leading ad sales teams. This new partnership means more brands and agencies will be able to take advantage of our solution to reach an engaged and untapped audience within the world’s most popular titles while preserving the gamer experience. We also believe, over the next few years, most Fortune 500 brands will incorporate gaming into their ad strategies and the partnership with NBCUniversal brings us a step closer to this becoming a reality.”

This latest partnership announcement comes in the run up to NBCUniversal’s tech developer conference, ONE22 taking place on March 22nd, where the company is expected to announce its latest capabilities and partnerships in the data, technology, and measurement space.

California, USA – Global media platform Digital Turbine has announced that it has recently entered a signing of definitive agreement in acquiring mobile game advertising platform AdColony, through its mother company Otello Inc.

The acquisition value was disclosed to a total of US$400M, and will add value to Digital Turbine through AdColony’s brand and user acquisition, as well as its publishing businesses to expand its collective experience, reach and suite of capabilities to benefit mobile advertisers and publishers around the globe.

“We look forward to welcoming the AdColony team to the Digital Turbine family and believe that this strategic transaction accelerates our growth and is a positive for our partners, advertisers, employees and shareholders. AdColony saw the secular tailwinds toward mobile, video and high-speed networks like 5G before most and has been able to capitalize on its vision,” said Bill Stone, CEO of Digital Turbine.

Meanwhile, Jude O’Connor, AdColony’s chief revenue officer commented, “Digital Turbine offers many complementary and additive solutions to AdColony’s performance business, while we bring an industry-leading SDK footprint and a mature and thriving brand and agency team to the partnership. When you combine the reach and capabilities of both companies, you have a powerful platform that will drive growth and outcomes for any buyer that participates in the mobile app economy.”

AdColony has a large presence in the Asia Pacific, also recently partnered with blended in-game advertising platform Anzu.io to expand presence in the region in November last year. AdColony has also recently won an exclusive sponsorship deal with mobile game Mobile Legends.

“We believe that Digital Turbine, with its massive user base, extensive global relationships and distribution, will be uniquely positioned to benefit via the seamless integration of AdColony’s mobile video advertising expertise and global brand advertiser awareness. The combination will yield a highly-differentiated and more vertically-integrated solution for the mobile advertising industry. We look forward to joining Digital Turbine to help navigate this innovation,” said Lars Boilesen, CEO of Otello and AdColony.

Mumbai, India – In-game advertising platform has forged an exclusive deal with the newest installment of the World Cricket Championship (WCC) 2 game franchise in order to bring its in-game advertising solutions in the game, done through the game developer Next Wave Multimedia, a subsidiary of gaming company Nazara.

Through the exclusive deal, Next Wave Multimedia will leverage Anzu.io as its advertising platform of choice as it provides game studios with a monetization method targeted at enhancing the stadium ambiance to further replicate a live real-world match.

Furthermore, the blended advertising format that the collaboration brings will help advertisers reach their audiences in a seamless manner, without disrupting user experience, while integrating a brand’s message in the game’s environment.

In addition to providing native ad placements with blended in-game banner ads across the game on Android and iOS devices, Anzu.io will provide WCC2 with ad viewability, brand lift measurement, audience verification, data enrichment, and fraud detection in partnership with industry leaders such as Moat, Comscore, Kantar, and Nielsen.

“We are glad to be able to bring more value to brands. We believe this collaboration will help us serve users and advertisers better by taking gaming and digital advertising a notch higher for enhanced experience,” said Next Wave Multimedia Co-Founder and CEO P.R. Rajendran.

Meanwhile, Anzu.io’s CEO and co-founder, Itamar Benedy, remarked, “Every region is seeing a growth in gaming, and advertisers realize that in-game ads can help them connect with a once-elusive audience. We are thrilled to partner with such a well-established studio and help them achieve their goals while opening up the in-game advertising market for advertisers across India.”

As Anzu.io’s newest deal entails a larger presence in the Indian subcontinent, its clientele base will have greater exposure, including the APAC arm of ad platform AdColony, to which they signed a deal last year.

“Gaming has transformed from an underground pastime to mainstream entertainment, and it is rivaling the reach of social media. Advertisers need to take note of this and treat gaming as an equal if not a more effective channel for communicating with consumers. Placing in-game ads in games like WCC 2 will allow advertisers to reach their desired audiences,” Amit Rathi, AdColony’s Country Manager for India.

The recent exclusive deal of Anzu.io comes right after its recently concluded US$9M funding for global expansion, with the help of various venture capital groups such as BITKRAFT, Sony Innovation Fund and other angel investors.

Singapore – A new exclusive partnership has been formed between ad platforms AdColony and Anzu.io, which entails AdColony to offer Anzu.io’s in-blend advertising solutions across both video and display to brands and agencies within the Asia Pacific.

The new partnership now allows seamless advertising to games such as custom-paint Formula One race cars or virtual perimeter of an in-game football studio, where brands can now create deeper levels of engagement with the gaming community.

Screenshot from Samsung in-game advertising campaign inside Axis Football (Credit: Anzu.io)

Alongside the partnership is a suite of industry tools, which includes campaign effectiveness measurement, fraud prevention, and ad verification for the first time to bring to fruition the in-game advertising integration.

According to their press release, more than 1.5 billion consumers in Asia Pacific are gamers, where70 percent play games daily on their mobiles. Furthermore, 40 percent claim to play more games since the COVID-19 outbreak.

Screenshot of an in-game ad from 7-Eleven mobile campaign in Gravity Rider Zero (Credit: Anzu.io)

“We passionately believe that gaming is the new and improved social media for marketers in terms of connecting with consumers at scale. This opportunity has been accelerated in recent months with the pandemic, and 2020 has seen an enormous uplift in the demand for new solutions for brands to reach gaming audiences,” said Tom Simpson, AdColony’s senior vice president for APAC.

He also added, “This partnership allows AdColony’s expertise in APAC markets to combine with Anzu’s global-leading blended in-game ad technology to offer a unique solution for brands to connect with consumers seamlessly in and around their favorite games. We look forward to pioneering new marketing offerings for our clients and delivering great work across APAC.”

Anzu’s CEO and Co-founder Itamar Benedy commented, “APAC is really the epicenter of worldwide gaming, and Anzu is thrilled to bring the combination of our programmatic in-game advertising experience with AdColony’s offerings to the region. This partnership represents a major opportunity for advertisers who are ready and eager to reach these ultra-engaged audiences.”