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Episode 2

Score Big With In-Game Advertising

Illustration of Aditi Ramesh, Director of Programmatic at Anzu

About This Episode

August 31, 2022

We break down what in-game advertising is and explore ways advertisers can benefit from this exciting and emerging programmatic channel.

Aditi Ramesh | Director of Programmatic, Anzu

00:00

Transcript

Episode Introduction (00:00:00)

I do have five handy tips that can probably get you started. If you’re familiar with building out of campaign strategies, these steps are really, really going to feel familiar to you. First thing, create your advertising assets in all the common sizes. So you have, I have a piece of paper here that shows me, like, you know, you have your 300 by 250s, you have your 40×480 by 320s. These are ad sizes that you’re familiar with. And you can probably understand and identify those creative sizes. Two, ensure your ads are informative and self-explanatory. Three, make your ads messaging short and precise. Four, keep your video content super brief and five, cast a wide net with your possible games list. So think about scale and think about opportunity.

How Agencies Thrive Introduction (00:00:47)

But then you think about the social landscape. The research and data is hugely significant when we combine all of these different touch points so that long-term loyalty and then diving into the clicks to leads to sales gotten to a point where it can drive better results in audience targeting and really is what’s going to set you apart. You’re tuning in, you’re tuning in, you’re tuning in to How Agencies Thrive podcast.

Matt (00:01:11)

A lot has changed post-pandemic and because of this, marketers have had to adopt dynamic strategies to keep up with the changing digital landscape. Now if the world has progressed alongside the ways in which we advertise, now’s the perfect time to talk about an emerging programmatic channel that’s making waves and pushing boundaries. This channel is in-game. Today we’re exploring how marketers and agencies can thrive. And we’re joined by leaders in the industry to discuss the ways in which the digital marketing landscape has evolved. The disruption that the post-pandemic has brought with irreversible changes to the advertising industry, and what digital marketers can expect moving forwards. In this episode, we have Aditi joining us from Anzu, where she brings in her expert take on the in-game industry and its place within programmatic advertising. We’re really excited to have you on this episode Aditi. And as always, what we like to do is bring our listeners up to speed, into the fold by learning a little bit about you. So what I’ll do is pass it over to you tell us a little bit about yourself, your experience, and most importantly, what Anzu does.

Aditi (00:02:17)

Thanks so much, Matt. And, thank you StackAdapt team for having me on the podcast today. It is very exciting. My name is Aditi Ramesh. I am the director of programmatic for Neymar markets here at Anzu. Anzu is the most advanced in-game ad solution for mobile PC console on Roblox. I manage our DSP partnerships here at Anzu. So hence our relationship with StackAdapt. Previously, I worked at companies like Bit Switch, Triple Lift, and also I was hands-on keyboard at a company called Ad Roll. That’s where I started in ad tech. And so I get really excited talking to advertisers talking to DSPs, and talking to brands and agencies, about all things in-game. And thanks so much for having me here today.

Matt (00:03:03)

Awesome. Well, it’s great to have you. And to let our listeners know how this episode is gonna go. We have five main questions. But to get started, I wanted to gauge your expertise, learn a little bit more about this format. So for someone who is learning about in-game for the first time, this is their first time exposed to this format. What is important to know, and why is it something that’s on the rise and becoming a lot more popular in these recent years?

Aditi (00:03:33)

This is a good question. So to set the stage, in-game ads sit natively within gaming environments on 3d objects like buildings, billboards, around pro sports stadiums, and they mirror ads that you would expect to find in real life. So the placements are non-intrusive, and they’re designed to complement the gameplay, putting players first and then enhancing the actual realism of the experience. So let’s talk about, you know, it’s important to understand who benefits from in-game advertising. And in-game advertising, it’s emerged as an advertising format that we believe benefits all parties, the advertiser, the developer, and the gamer. So breaking it down from an advertising perspective, you can reach an extremely wide, so their scale and then diverse audience. So to put it into perspective, there’s almost 3.2 billion gamers worldwide in an environment where your audience is incredibly engaged. So that’s interesting for brands and agencies. From a developer perspective, by including in-game ads or ads in within your game, you can benefit from having a reliable and consistent revenue stream that takes nothing from the gaming experience itself. From a player’s perspective, you can enjoy the games for free or a fraction of the cost of what would happen if there was no ads to be in put in that game to begin with. That also makes many gaming environments feel more realistic since you’ll start to see real ads from some of your favourite real-life brands rather than fake ones. Some game developers, they end up using fake ads, especially in racing and simulation games, to add a sense of realism. Moreover, you know, we’ve found some evidence that gamers actually might like this and want this. So putting players first is extremely important to us. And last year, we created, we had a study, a research study to understand how US gamers felt about in-game advertising, and we found some interesting results. For example, 70% of gamers are positive or neutral towards gaming in-game advertising. 50% of US gamers say that it’s more important to see their favorite brands in games, and two-thirds of US gamers would welcome more in-game advertising within that environment. So all of these things are incredibly important to understand if you’re a first-timer. Here are some tips that you could probably follow.

Matt (00:06:06)

Perfect that definitely sums up question one, I think, when I was learning about in-game, and we’re working on some of our academy content, one of the big things was that, you know, it’s it’s non-skippable, it’s like right up in your face really great for brand awareness, so. And you also mentioned that it adds a sense of realism to the game, it feels like you’re actually in that environment. You know, we’re used to seeing ads, so why wouldn’t we see them in the gaming environment? So, that’s all really good. And I think that that sums up the format really nicely. Moving on to question two here kind of to center in, let’s talk about the key benefits of this. And mainly, you know, what kind of benefits does this serve for advertisers when it comes to the types of audiences that we can target and the type of reach that we can achieve through in-game?

Aditi (00:07:02)

Sure. So, at Anzu, we’ve consciously built a flexible full-stack solution that offers innovation and then namespace so our core asset is our battle-tested, secure SDK, which can connect and support all major gaming engines otherwise, where people make games, including unity, unreal, cry engine, and proprietary engines. Another significant product that we’ve been able to patent is a 3d ad tracker that allows for measurement and tracking within ads in-game. Our in-game advertising technology deploys ads directly into gameplay. And ads are blended into games through basic integration that allows us to access the game in game engines, textures, physics, and geometry. While textures are updated to present, the ad content, physics, and geometry are used to print measure ad viewability. So our blended ads are designed in a way that they deliver high performance with a small footprint. Also, it’s important to note that in the coming future, you will be able to add different types of vendors, like Lotame to your ad campaigns and be able to target specific audiences through that.

Matt (00:08:20)

Perfect. So what I think our listeners are typically very receptive to, you know, taking that kind of the important pieces to get up to speed on the format. And then how can we make that a little bit more practical? You know, how can they start using this in their campaign? And how can they get into that frame of mind where they would use this in their campaign? So what we were hoping to learn from you today was some of those best practices. So think about the advertiser that is just getting started on this for the first time. What do they need to do? What’s going to set them up for success? And, you know, are there any success stories that you would want to share? You know, you don’t have to name clients or anything like that, but just some, you know, examples where someone or some campaign has really benefited and succeeded from using in game advertising.

Aditi (00:09:15)

Sure. First thing you have to understand is, like any other format, there’s no secret recipe to success, right? So there’s a lot of trial and error to understand what sees and works and resonates for your particular audience. Saying that I do have five handy tips that can probably get you started. If you’re familiar with building out of campaign strategies, these steps are really, really going to feel familiar to you. First thing, create your advertising assets in all the common sizes. So you have I have a piece of paper here that shows me like, you know, you have your 300 by 250s. You have your 40×480 by 320s. These are ad sizes that you’re familiar with, and you can probably understand and identify those creative sizes. Two, ensure your ads are informative and self-explanatory. Three, make your ads messaging short and precise. Four, keep your video content super brief and five, cast a wide net with your possible games list. So think about scale and think about opportunity. So let’s talk about creating advertising assets in common creative asset sizes. First, make sure that you have all the common creative sizes. These will be your standard banner ad sizes, like I mentioned, either created from scratch, or they can be repurposed from current creatives using display campaigns elsewhere. By providing more ad sizes and creative sizes, you’re going to be able to be featured in more impressions and it is going to increase your brand awareness for your campaign. So you should be able to utilize your existing assets, while also being able to make those assets work for the wider range of sizes that are provided in-game. Two, ensure your ads are informative and self-explanatory. So picture yourself in the gamer’s shoes. They’re not purposefully playing the game to look at your ad. They’re simply just there to enjoy the gaming experience, right? So for instance, if they’re playing a racing game, the player is going to be focused on the track and in the car, so and as a result, you might only have a few seconds to get your brand’s message across to them before they’ve moved on from your ad placement. So make your brand messaging brief, impactful and memorable. As clicks in this is a really important thing to think about as clicks aren’t available within in-game advertising. Your goal as an advertiser should be to focus on the ad’s creative design and stand out and elicit brand recognition from gamers that see your ad. So consider using noticeable marks and logos that stand out to keep any textual designs and your ad creative short and to the point, the bigger the clearer, the easier to see or read your ad, the better. Make your ads messaging short and super precise. That’s number three. So as we mentioned before, short and precise messaging is better. Point blank, when it comes to choosing a call to action or CTA for your ad. Make it short and simple. Avoid descriptive flowery messaging and flavour. That’s something that gets your audience do exactly what you need them to do “Now available, next company”. So that’s a good example for you, Matt. We changed “Shop now” to “Now available. New sneakers now available at www.buymysneakers.com” Use the same principles that we use to apply to a display campaign. But bear in mind that the viewer won’t actually be able to click through to your website. This is important. Remember that when a user is playing a game and your ad is inside it, you know you don’t want to overwhelm them with unnecessary text, and they won’t even read it. Keep video content brief. So I mentioned this, they’re playing a game, you see a billboard, you’re going around a roundabout, you know, the best length for an in-game video ad as recommended, is six seconds. This gives the player enough time to view the ad and retain the relevant information while also allowing for enough real-time measurement of impressions. However, that doesn’t mean that for all your videos should be six seconds. And that’s it. Experiment with different timings. Any videos up to 15 seconds could also work well, depending on the gaming environment, should it be a static game, but 30 and 60 second videos are not recommended. So as your user sessions might be shorter in these they won’t completely finish washing your ad. And last cast a wide net with your possible games list. Recently, there was an advertiser who had a very small games list because those were the only games that were available to them to target last year. Come this year, you want to be reviewing your games list, especially as new in-game partners are coming about. And you want to reach larger audiences for your in-game advertising. So we were able to propose, hey, look at this list. We have this many monthly active users for these specific games that are within your contextual audiences and the client was very happy to add them to the whitelist. And so they were casting a wide net with the possible games list to increase their reach, and a targeting those audiences they’re interested in. There are 3 billion gamers in the world so your target audiences are bound to overlap with a wide range of players. So don’t only focus on one type of game, or platform, or genre, you might miss out on more valuable audiences along the way. Also, you don’t want to forget and test and take learnings. For many brands gaming can seem like an unfamiliar space but by testing, trialing and optimizing your brands, you’ll be able to find the perfect combination that works for your brand.

Matt (00:14:58)

Perfect. So, there we have it—five best practices for leveraging in-game. So, Aditi, what would you recommend for our listeners who are looking to add in-game to their media mix? How do they get started?

Aditi (00:15:14)

Like all other ad formats in-game advertising can help round out your media plan and can complement your other advertising efforts. Many of the brands we work with use in-game advertising to help them reach audiences that they’re struggling to reach via other platforms like Gen Z, people are spending a lot of time gaming more than they have been ever before. But it’s not the only thing that they’re doing. They’re also going out there streaming shows, they’re listening to music, and they’re scrolling through social media, they have lives. Having an all-encompassing campaign with different touchpoints that stretches across multiple platforms can be extremely effective depending on your campaign schools. At Anzu, we know that being cross-platform is extremely important in an age where players are jumping between devices and screens all the time. That’s why we have built out a cross-platform offering, meaning that you can reach platforms where wherever they’re playing, regardless of whether that’s mobile, PC, console, or even Roblox.

Matt (00:16:15)

So to tie things off here. Let’s think about, you know, the immediate future. So the latter portion of 2022. But let’s look at the end of 2023. What does in-game look like, you know, a year, year and a half from now? What are some trends? What are things that are coming up? What are things that advertisers should be weary of pretty much anything? You know, in-game, advertisers should be thinking of what does the future look like in this format?

Aditi (00:16:47)

As more ad dollars start to move into gaming, and advertisers start to understand the massive opportunity that exists here. There will be probably foolproof media plans, and they’ll need to be formed based on campaign goals. So that’s step one is first example of a brand might want to use in-game advertising to spread brand awareness. As the user moves down the funnel they might offer them sponsored or in-game items to help build brand affinity and maybe hit them to make a purchase. It’s also important to note that we’re continuously looking and comparing gaming to other ad channels to help facilitate the shift and make the space feel familiar. So for example, we find an easy way to help those who don’t understand in-game advertising is to explain in-game advertising, such as virtual out-of-home split placements. So as brands become more familiar with the space, new ways to reach consumers is going to emerge, which won’t be constrained to ad practices of the yester years, gaming is still huge and extremely exciting environment full of possibilities and ways to reach consumers, which is not entirely possible and a lot of other linear based channels. And the prospect of the metaverse still looms, that word is still a buzzword. It’s still looming, we all still working in 3d, the industry continues to grow, and advertisers continue to realize potential there is that exists within gaming. And there’s never been a more exciting time to be a part of the industry.

Matt (00:18:20)

Perfect. Well, Aditi, this has been fantastic. I definitely feel like I’ve learned a lot more about in-game. We were talking before that, you know, as a part of our way to support our release and showcase some of our partnerships. You know, we put up many modules in the Academy to help people learn more about in-game and I feel a lot more informed now that you and I have had a chance to sit down, well virtually sit down and talk through this podcast. So to our listeners who are either working in-game or just getting started or thinking about getting started, we hope that you took away some valuable insights. And until then, I wish you the best of luck in your upcoming campaigns. And this has been the How Agencies Thrive podcast. Thanks so much for listening.

Episode Outro (00:19:09)

Thank you so much for tuning in. This has been the How Agencies Thrive podcast. If you like what you heard, then there are three things that you can do to support the show. Number one, subscribe. Number two, leave us a review. And number three, share our podcast on social media or with anyone who might find value in this content. If you have questions or feedback or just want to learn how agencies and brands work with StackAdapt, you can find us at stackadapt.com Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time.

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