IAB Report Shows Brands Are Using Game Advertising To Extend Ad Reach

In a marked shift from being used to reach niche, hard-to-reach audiences, the second wave of the 2022 IAB Australia Game Advertising State of the Nation report has found that media agencies now see game advertising as an opportunity to reach diverse audience groups as the gaming landscape continues to evolve.

The report, which was released at today’s IAB Game Advertising Summit, revealed that 45 per cent of respondents cited diversity of gaming audiences as a key driver for using game advertising. Previously, getting access to hard-to-reach audiences was the main driver for investment, now focus has shifted to the diversity of game audiences as one of the top key drivers.

Gai Le Roy, CEO of IAB Australia commented: “There has been a pronounced shift in thinking in relation to game audiences over the last year with more agencies realising that Australia’s games landscape reaches a diverse, mainstream and inclusive audience of all ages, genders and backgrounds. This has shifted strategic thinking and planning away from traditional gaming stereotypes which skewed young, single males into the mainstream to help build brand, reach a diverse audience, and drive incremental reach.”

The report also found there has been a slight increase in the number of agencies considering different forms of game advertising regularly when creating media plans (from 20 per cent in 2021 to 25 per cent in 2022) but a third of agencies still have gaming in their experimentation bucket (32 per cent). Nearly 4 in 10 (38 per cent) have no experience with this form of advertising, though the majority of these are looking to in the future.

The game advertising landscape is broad and encompasses a myriad of different formats. It is no surprise that the most commonly used formats are ones that have been around for a while including streaming ads adjacent display and video, mobile game ads and live streaming video. However, there is strong appetite to try new formats including a great deal of curiosity about metaverse activations. Whilst only 8 per cent of respondents had experience with metaverse activations or planning, a further 6 in 10 (59 per cent) are hoping to experiment over the next year.

As seen in multiple IAB Australia research studies there continues to be a lack of creative tailoring to suit the media environment, with only 17 per cent always tailoring the creative for gaming environments and nearly 4 in 10 (39 per cent) rarely or never doing so.

The 2022 IAB Australia Game Advertising State of the Nation report was conducted in June 2022 by the IAB Game Advertising Working Group amongst 80 advertising decision makers working in agencies and brands with the experience of or intention to buy game advertising and marketing. The report compares results from wave 1 survey conducted in August 2021 (IAB Attitudes to Game Advertising Report 2021).

To help with education on game advertising as well as showcase best practice, the Game Advertising Working Group has also released the first IAB Australia Game Advertising Handbook. The Handbook looks at all forms of game advertising that occur in the game, around the game and away from the game. It was developed by Working Group member organisations: Azerion, Digital Turbine, DoubleJump Communications, DoubleVerify, ESPN, Foxcatcher, Google, Group M, Howatson+Company, InMobi, Interplay Media, Magnite, Oracle, Samsung Ads, Twitch, Twitter, and Yahoo.

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