Sydney, Australia – iion, the global adtech company, has today announced new system enhancements to its self-serve gaming advertising platform immersiion. Alongside this, it has also appointed senior hire Yun Yip as its new chief commercial officer (CCO)

The enhanced immersiion platform is aimed at addressing long-standing measurement challenges in the industry. The company highlights how immersiion, unlike other platforms, is accessible to everyone, with no entry barriers. 

The platform has been purpose-built for gaming, which enables advertisers and marketers to target inventory down to the ad-unit level. Partners can customise their solutions by selecting only the necessary features due to their modular design.

iion attributes its success and widespread adoption in the region to its partnerships with various agencies and supply partners, including TotallyAwesome, Anzu, GADSME and AdInMo. Furthermore, the company has technology partnerships with Amplified Intelligence for attention-based metrics, Lucid Measurement by Cint for brand lift studies, and Pixalate for weeding out ad fraud.

The new leadership, meanwhile, will see Yip overseeing the commercial strategy and operations of the company whilst also leading iion’s marketing function under the CCO role. She was a former VP at MediaMath and an IAB gaming group member

The company said its new corporate movements are a meaningful stride towards gender equality. With the gaming industry traditionally regarded as male-dominated, one of iion’s core values is to challenge the status quo, said iion Co-Founder Giuseppe Martoriello. 

“Not only are we accomplishing this with our first-of-its-kind, self-serve advertising platform that connects game publishers and brands through a holistic targeting experience within all IAB-defined gaming environments, but we are taking it one step further with the diversity represented in our team. Innovation is sparked through different layers of diversity. Beyond Yun’s career experience, her passion for enabling growth through diversity will also be a critical piece not just for iion, but for the broader gaming industry,” Martoriello continued. 

Co-Founder Sanjaya Molligoda also said, “The ‘typical gamer’ is changing. Research shows that the average gamer is 31 years old, and female gamers are more prevalent than ever before. At iion, we’re proud to be completely revolutionising the gaming ecosystem, debunking outdated myths whilst solving measurement and fragmentation challenges in the game advertising market simultaneously.”

Yip, herself, commented, “Whilst I fall into the category of a casual gamer these days, there is a certain perception of ‘gamers’ that I look forward to debunking. People tend to think of gamers as young, 18-year-old males. And that’s not really true. Women of all ages make up almost half of all gamers across the globe. And an increasing number of women are joining the industry just like me because of their passion for gaming.” 

“I really respect iion for thoughtfully curating a team that mirrors the diversity of the gaming community and am thrilled to be a part of it,” she added. 

On jumping into the new role, Yip remarked, “I can’t wait to bring my combined passion for gaming and machine learning to the role whilst also sharing how and why communicating through gaming and gametech enhances a brand’s marketing outcome and resonance.”

Founded in 2019, iion currently has offices in markets Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Netherlands, Portugal, Singapore, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the US.

Syndey, Australia – iion, the global adtech company that aims to redefine monetisation and advertising for gaming, today debuts immersiion, a first-of-its-kind self-serve advertising platform that’s purpose-built for the gaming ecosystem. With its time-saving campaign builder, immersiion aims to redefine the way brands connect with their audiences in any gaming environment at scale. 

immersiion is the first platform that scales in-game advertising by enabling brands to find their target audience in all gaming environments. With immersiion, advertisers can select the right games to reach audiences, build, and serve rich creative options that speak their customers’ language, and deliver contextually relevant, personalised messages.

The end result is a fun experience for the brand’s audience to engage with advertising campaigns, without disrupting the gaming journey.

“For advertisers, the exponential rise in the gaming community represents a massive opportunity,” said iion Co-Founder Giuseppe Martoriello. “As the first-ever advertising platform that connects game publishers and brands through a holistic targeting experience within all IAB-defined gaming environments, immersiion provides brands with an entire new channel that is comparable to online and TV – but more fun and innovative.”

“We’re excited that immersion is the first platform to really scale in-game advertising – where you can run innovative types of campaigns across Mobile, PC and Console Games with Display, Video and Audio formats,” added Martoriello. 

Gaming is a continuously booming industry, emerging as a dominant form of socialisation and recreation, and now attracting a diverse mix of ages and genders. According to an Entertainment Software Association (ESA) report, the average gamer age in 2022 is 31 years with its age group – 18 and 34 years – representing the highest number of players at 38%. Interestingly, female gamers are also on the rise, currently making up approximately 45% of the world’s gaming population.

immersiion’s smart capabilities, furthermore, allow it to capture every type of audience segment imaginable across all IAB gaming environments. This is achieved via its proprietary suite of buying and selling game tech, which it uses to power brands.

Features of immersiion: 

  • Offers advertising solutions catered to the entire gaming ecosystem, including in-game ads at scale across mobile, PC, console, cloud and e-sports across display, video and audio formats
  • Targets all 3 IAB gaming environments (in the game, around the game and away from the game)
  • Targets any audience segment + contextually relevant placement across those environments
  • Enables advertisers to create engaging standard, rich media and video creative ads seamlessly inside the same platform, A/B test creative
  • Provides near real-time reporting to measure reach and performance metrics and automatically blacklist individual games/apps/websites, if not hitting target metrics/parameters
  • Targets all 3 media types (display, audio and video) inside its holistic game-tech platform

iion Co-Founder Sanjaya Molligoda said, “IGA is one of the most rapidly expanding fields of marketing today. It helps brands to communicate with their target market, building familiarity with those who play these games. And this growth rate is the direct result of the adoption of digital transformation technologies worldwide, the popularity of mobile gaming and increasing strategic alliances among game developers and advertisers.

“We are excited to debut immersiion to the market. It offers brands a new and exciting way to create meaningful connections, find their audience in all gaming environments, select the right games to reach them, serve rich creative options to speak in their language and deliver the right message in the relevant context,” added Molligoda

iion Co-Founder Wout van Damme also commented, “Due to the crowded and complex nature of the gaming world and its position in this booming sector, brands need a solution that’s backed by significant experience and industry know-how to best navigate the dynamic gaming landscape. Brands need new innovative ways to connect with their target audience, beyond traditional media. Gaming is that new channel that helps advertisers and consumers to connect while the audience is wearing the gamers’ hat.”

“At iion, we understand these dynamics and don’t just connect brands to gamers, we connect them to their target audience when they are playing their favourite game and their focus and brand recollection is high. We also have a robust partner network to help move brands forward, supporting them every step of the way along their journey,” he added.