InMobi, a leading provider of content, monetization, and marketing technologies that help businesses fuel growth, today announced a partnership with Anzu.io, the world’s most advanced in-game advertising solution. The move means InMobi can now provide its advertisers with direct access to Anzu’s premium mobile programmatic inventory across the globe, in addition to first-look access to in-game mobile supply in Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.
Anzu’s award-winning in-game advertising solution allows programmatic advertisers to run their banner and video ads via blended yet highly viewable IAB-compliant ad formats that sit on 3D objects like roadside billboards, stadium banners, and buildings. The ads are designed to complement the gameplay, respecting gamers, and in many cases, make the gameplay experience more realistic.
Anzu’s technology is integrated with a full suite of third-party trusted vendors, including HUMAN for fraud detection, Comscore, Lumen, Nielsen for brand lift measurement, and Kochava for data enrichment. Anzu and Moat have also just enabled the first-to-market viewability measurement for in-game ads meaning InMobi’s advertisers can now request in-view metrics when programmatically running in-game ads.
“I’m excited that this partnership with InMobi will help many more APAC advertisers experience the huge opportunity that in-game advertising presents, ” says Itamar Benedy, Co-Founder and CEO, Anzu. “InMobi’s expertise and vast advertiser network, combined with their knowledge of the APAC landscape, will help supercharge our solution within this market. There are more gamers in APAC than anywhere else in the world, and our solution will help brands to reach them in a non-disruptive, brand-safe way that compliments the gaming experience.”
InMobi’s direct connections with top demand-side platforms across the globe, combined with direct supply to Anzu’s global inventory, enable advertisers to access these ad experiences through optimized supply paths. Access to Anzu’s inventory will help InMobi offer scale across a huge number of mobile games spanning multiple genres, allowing advertisers to reach engaged players within immersive environments.
“The biggest advantage of the preferred partnership across Asia-Pacific between InMobi and Anzu is that allows our clients can now seamlessly connect with gamers through integrated, non-disruptive ads,” says Vasuta Agarwal, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, at InMobi. “With new features and the goal to drive connections between consumers and brands with Anzu’s premium technology, this partnership will benefit all parties including advertisers and publishers.”
As early adopters of blended in-game advertising, Camille Sabale, Marketing Manager, Castrol Phillipines Inc. shared, “With gaming taking smartphone users by storm across the globe, we are increasingly adopting Gaming Advertising opportunities to reach, engage and influence our audiences. And as we intended to increase brand recall for Castrol POWER1 among Gen Y and millennials in the Philippines, we found blended in-game advertising to be the right fit. Not only has the brand interest increased significantly, but we have also discovered deeper metrics on the brand’s position and performance in the market. Blended in-game advertising is definitely a promising avenue for brands to explore.”
Commenting on the promise of blended in-game advertising and the opportunity with this partnership, Mathieu Cuny, Managing Director, Philippines, at Xaxis said, “In-game ads grab attention. We’ve seen how much the level of immersion and engagement leads to better brand outcomes where ad placements are impactful to drive, recall, awareness and affinity at levels above what we observe in other channels. Clearly, in-game ads are a powerful way for brands to reach their consumers.”
In addition, game developers partnering with InMobi will be able to take advantage of all the benefits that using Anzu’s SDK presents, which is already used by leading game developers including Ubisoft, MyGames, and Sir Studios, to monetize their titles with in-game ads that open up new reliable revenue streams, complement the gameplay, and work alongside other monetization models and solutions. Additionally, InMobi will help gaming publishers tap into global premium demand and seamlessly expand into in-game ad monetization to generate incremental revenue through both standard formats and in-game ads through a single platform.
Ms Ly, Commercialization Manager for Amanotes, one of South East Asia’s most popular mobile publishers, said: “We have two main goals, to continually improve the user experience and grow our business. Ensuring we keep an equal balance between both can be challenging. Anzu allows us to accomplish both these goals simultaneously. Their in-game ad placements put gamers first and bring a sense of realism to our experiences while allowing us to establish a consistent and reliable revenue stream to help grow our business. The ads also work great alongside the other monetization methods we have in place.”
In APAC, gaming app consumption has doubled year over year, signalling notable shifts in normalizing and embracing gaming with everyday life. The mobile-first region holds a strong preference for smartphone gaming—with on-the-go convenience and entertainment – leading to a population of 1.5 billion mobile gamers. Given how metaverse developments are on the rise in APAC along with its flourishing communities, gaming provides a clear, accessible gateway to the metaverse for marketers to effectively reach their audiences in the region.
