InMobi launches in-game advertising for global brands and agencies

• Digital consumption has seen a huge boost majorly accelerated by Covid-19 induced lockdowns.
• So, InMobi has launched a new advertising format for digital advertisers.

InMobi today announced the launch of in-game advertising on InMobi Exchange. The launch of this in-game inventory on InMobi Exchange will now enable brands to reach premium mobile users, with ads that blend into the game environment, like electronic advertising boards in an in-game sports stadium, an esports arena or the extremely popular casual and hyper-casual gaming space.

During the past more than one year, digital consumption has seen a huge boost majorly accelerated by Covid-19 induced lockdowns. Gaming has seen rapidly growing user penetration and engagement levels during this period. According to KPMG’s India Media and Entertainment Report 2020, online gaming was the fastest-growing segment in the Media & Entertainment sector, recording a 45% growth in revenue while the user-base surpassed 365 million in the fiscal ended March 2020. As the mobile gaming industry is expected to continue on the growth trajectory, InMobi’s in-game advertising solutions will enable brands to leverage this platform to reach out more effectively to their audience.

Meanwhile, InMobi Exchange has forged partnerships with several industry-leading platforms in the native in-game advertising space including AdInMo, Admix, Adverty, Anzu, Bidstack, Frameplay and Sayollo. The breadth of these partnerships means that advertisers can access this type of premium inventory across the globe at a scale and diversity unmatched by any other mobile supply-side platform today.

Speaking on the phenomenal growth of mobile gaming in India, Jayesh Ullattil, VP and GM for India at InMobi said: “India is the 5th largest mobile gaming market in the world. Based on our recent consumer study, we saw that the pandemic added 40% first-time gamers with 80% of all mobile gamers playing once or several times every day.” According to the recent 2021 Gaming Report by InMobi, 60% of the mobile gamers spend at least 10 minutes per session in an average, every day. “74% of all mobile gamers prefer to watch an ad over making in-app purchases and 60% recall the ad seen during play. This innovative partnership only enables advertisers to further maximize engagement with an already watchful and engaged audience,” added Jayesh.

“In-game advertising is uniquely effective because it allows advertisers to interact with their consumers in a highly intuitive way,” said Kunal Nagpal, SVP and GM, Publisher Platforms and Exchange at InMobi. “InMobi’s technology and unmatched mobile in-app expertise our global advertisers to access the highly engaged and diverse mobile gaming audience in a medium that is becoming increasingly relevant.”

“I’m excited to see that in-game advertising has been recognized as a solid media channel of its own, and the biggest players around the world have adopted a serious approach to in-game ads as a way to effectively tap into the colossal and booming gaming market,” said Yaniv Rozencweig, Director of Business Operations at Anzu.io. “Through our global partnership, InMobi’s brand advertisers are able to access Anzu's exclusive inventory and reach premium gaming audiences across not only mobile, but also PC and console platforms. With Anzu offering in-game ad viewability and fraud detection audited by the industry leaders, advertisers gain even more confidence in the value of in-game advertising for their current and future campaigns.”

“We are thrilled to partner with InMobi as they make a push in the in-play space. To see one of the largest mobile in-app exchanges support this new way of advertising is a testament to the growing appetite from brands to enter gaming,” said Sam Huber, Founder of Admix. “Leveraging Admix's unique programmatic capabilities in-game, this partnership enables our game publishers to access InMobi's wide range of advertisers and deliver incremental revenue.”

“InMobi has made fantastic progress towards native in-game advertising becoming an integral part of a brand’s digital media mix,” said Kristan Rivers, CEO and co-founder of AdInMo. “InMobi’s mobile heritage and expertise is the perfect match for AdInMo’s dedicated global mobile games inventory. InMobi Exchange enables us to deliver InGamePlay brand awareness campaigns across diverse game genres so that brands can target the great diversity of mobile playing personas.”

“This news is further proof that the most exciting, largely untapped media frontier is very much open for business,” said Tobias Knutsson, CEO of Adverty. “What’s more, both branding and performance advertising options are available, meaning that advertisers can unlock previously unreachable audiences at scale and turbocharge their marketing efforts in ways never before thought possible. With this partnership, the door is wide open for further innovation," added Knutsson.

Said Jonathon Troughton CEO and Co-Founder of Frameplay: “We value our partnership with InMobi as they share our vision to deliver high-quality intrinsic in-game advertising without disrupting the game. We especially appreciate InMobi’s ability and willingness to support Frameplay’s proprietary programmatic intrinsic in-game ad-serving capability, which requires a unique approach to programmatic to get this right.”

According to Yonatan Attias, CEO of Sayollo, “With one-third of the world’s population playing mobile games for one whole day out of every workweek, the potential for in-game brand exposure is astronomical. As with the roadside billboards of yore prominently positioned in busy thoroughfares, today’s advertisers know that in order to maximize reach, brands need not only an online presence, but a prominent position in the mobile gaming world. We are totally stoked to partner with InMobi as pioneers in this futuristic technology and give our publishers more valuable ways to monetize their content.”