An Off-Platform Solution for In-Game Advertising

• by Colin Kirkland , Staff Writer, 9 hours ago

Although the global games market attracts 3.4 billion gamers and generates revenues of $184 billion annually -- surpassing both the music and movie industries -- there are important reasons why advertisers have been slow to make use of in-game ad opportunities, 

Serving ads to gamers outside of live esports events can be difficult, especially among premium titles that typically require a direct partnership with game developers, which can be an expensive and competitive undertaking.

Advertisers also seem intimidated by the gaming ecosystem’s wide range of targeting opportunities traversing devices, formats, genres and market preferences.

The share of advertisers that plan to increase spending on gaming -- which has fallen 20 percentage points, from 72% to 52%, since 2021 -- could possibly improve if ad monetization within games was more straightforward and less expensive. 

Last month, Alex Brownsell, the head of WARC Media, commented on this issue, saying this task rests on the shoulders of game publishers. But there may be another option. 

One company called Overwolf has come up with a way to make it possible for brands to run immersive ads in premium games without partnering with publishers. 

Overwolf is not a game publisher, but a third-party in-game app and "modification platform" that players of popular desktop games use to run apps that enhance their gameplay via features such as real-time stats, guides, playing tips, social aspects, video capture and more.

Because these apps run throughout entire gaming sessions, advertisers are able to run ads while players are actively gaming. 

“We’re the gamers’ companions, allowing them to play better, win and better enjoy their games that from the product-side. From the brand-side, these apps basically allow us to reach and serve media,” Noam Korin, Overwolf’s vice president of brand partnerships, tells MediaPost.

While ad firms have yet to land sizable amounts of premium gaming inventory, major brands and agencies like Procter & Gamble, Hulu, WPP, Havas, Omnicom and Dentsu are able to utilize Overwolf’s ad technology and create campaigns around key gaming moments without the need to partner with publishers. 

The benefits of this brand option become especially clear when looking at Overwolf’s recent partnership with Monster Energy. 

Already a longtime official sponsor of “Call of Duty,” Monster wanted to target “Call of Duty” players on the precise launch date of the franchise’s newest game, “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3” in a more active way via a simultaneous ad campaign and a custom tournament designed to drive awareness and gameplay. 

Upon the game’s release, Overwolf launched a Monster-branded tournament for online gameplay designed to further engage Overwolf users across 20 countries with Monster-branded in-game challenges and prizes.

Overwolf allows brands to serve relevant messages via moment-triggered ads throughout gameplay, by cheering them on when they win, giving them advice when they lose, and rewarding them for helping other players honor their achievement.

According to Korin, this creates a “very strong emotional connection” with gamers. 

To further personalize in-game messaging and develop custom tournaments, Overwolf also collects a deep well of data, including the type of hardware players are using.

For example, if Intel is attempting to sell new hardware to Overwolf gamers, the platform will send an Intel-branded game-relevant message to players who are using older hardware about updating to a newer model, such as “Hey your device is too slow, you might win more if you upgrade your CPU.” 

Monster’s four-week, in-game Overwolf tournament resulted in over 65,000 matches and 14,000 hours played, with a 63% purchase intent uplift, according to Overwolf.

According to Onur Koyuncu, senior gaming marketing manager at Monster, the campaign with Overwolf propelled brand recall in its sector to the top spot among gamers surveyed after the campaign, who ranked Monster as their favorite energy drink brand when gaming. 

Korin tells MediaPost that its campaign with Monster was among its most unique brand launches, as “it combined being in the game on launch date, engaging the gamers in an innovative way through a tournament and promoting the partnership to the gamers while they were playing.” 

Korin says the majority of Overwolf’s 100 million monthly active gamers prefer to view ads instead of paying to skip them. Additionally, Overwolf’s ads are certified brand safe and the company makes a point at working only with Fortune 500 companies across brand safe industries. 

These factors contributed to Overwolf earning over $50 million in ad sales in 2023, more than doubling its ad revenues between 2021 and 2022, according to the company, which continues to work on strengthening brand relations, recently expanding its brand partnerships team and buying publisher ad platform NitroPay.