PlayFronts 2024 Unlocking Gaming’s Advertising Potential

The PlayFronts, organized by the International Advertising Bureau, is an annual event that acts as a beacon for demonstrating the potential of advertising and joint projects in the dynamic gaming field. This event aims to define the gaming landscape, highlight gaming’s effectiveness, and present creative opportunities for brands. It brings together traditional and digital agency planners, buyers, creatives, and brand marketers to explore the power of gaming as a platform to connect with consumers. Advertising agency executives, media planners/buyers, and brand marketers are invited to attend the IAB PlayFronts at no cost. This year’s event will occur on March 26-27 in NYC or virtually.

IAB PlayFronts is dedicated to unlocking the full potential of gaming as a strategic advertising platform for brands and agencies. On March 26, IAB will unveil the first study examining why brands and agencies embrace gaming advertising, their success across the marketing funnel, and how gaming compares to other channels in delivering results. Additionally, IAB will debut its Creative Guidelines and Best Practices in Advertising in Gaming. These guidelines establish industry standards for balancing effective in-game advertising with player experience across mobile, PC, and web-based games. They provide essential direction for advertisers, agencies, game publishers, and platforms to create engaging creative content that resonates with audiences.

Dispelling the outdated stereotype, Tilds emphasizes gamers’ diverse demographics. In the United States, for instance, women comprise 45 percent of gamers, with an average age of 31, per the Entertainment Software Association’s Essential Facts report. This underscores the need for a nuanced understanding of the gaming audience and its evolving dynamics.

Among the impressive array of participants of Playfronts 2024 are Keynote, Ubisoft, Anzu, Digital Turbine, Playwire, Zynga, Twitch, Yahoo, Samsung Ads, and Roblox, showcasing the diversity and depth of the gaming and digital entertainment sectors.

This year’s event features diverse topics, promising engaging discussions. Sessions cover intrinsic in-game advertising, Gen Z strategies, interactive entertainment trends, PC gamer tactics, digital self-expression, gaming research, ROI opportunities, and metaverse success. Each offers valuable insights for industry professionals.

You can learn more about PlayFronts in one of our previous articles.

Insights into Gaming and Digital Advertising

The gaming area yields substantial outcomes through games and gaming applications. Projections indicate a continuous surge in global revenue within the “Games” segment of the video game market, with an estimated increase of USD 211.4 billion (+46.43%) from 2024 to 2029 (by statista.com). This growth trend, marking the seventh consecutive year of expansion, is anticipated to culminate in a landmark figure of USD 666.69 billion by 2029.

Notably, mobile gaming emerges as the dominant force within the digital gaming sphere, boasting an annual revenue exceeding USD 150 billion. This dominance becomes even more apparent when we examine the revenue distribution across gaming platforms. Projections indicate that mobile gaming will surpass the combined revenue generated by console and PC gaming. The Asia-Pacific region contributes nearly half of the total revenue within the global video gaming market, followed closely by North America.

In digital advertising, platforms like DecenterAds offer vast opportunities to enhance revenue through in-app programmatic strategies. Leveraging digital advertising within apps proves profitable, with recent market data revealing that it contributes to two-thirds of global mobile app revenues, serving as a vital lifeline for numerous media and gaming publishers. Highlighting the growth potential, in-app ad spending worldwide reached an estimated USD 315 billion in 2023, with forecasts suggesting a sustained double-digit growth trajectory until 2027.

Amidst this landscape, there’s a significant Gen Z audience, which emphasizes marketers should prioritize. A 2021 Newzoo report highlights that 81 percent of Gen Zers are active gamers, dedicating an average of 7 hours and 20 minutes per week to gaming, surpassing all other age groups. As this demographic matures, they’ll assume roles as decision-makers and household spenders. Engaging with them through gaming platforms becomes crucial for reaching them effectively at scale.

The advertising sector has steadily increasing investments in gaming. In 2021, video game advertising reached $421 million, marking a 17 percent year-over-year growth, as reported by Media Radar. Interestingly, recent findings from an Anzu report on the U.K. market reveal that two-thirds of gamers welcome more advertising in their games, with seven in 10 expressing positive or neutral sentiments towards in-game advertising.

Takeaway

The key takeaway is that what distinguishes established gaming franchises and beloved titles from others is the premium quality of the gameplay experience. This encompasses everything from top-notch audio and visuals to captivating storytelling and meticulously designed game mechanics. For advertising to be embraced and successful within these environments, it must uphold the same standards of excellence. This means delivering an authentic, high-quality, and seamlessly integrated advertising experience into the gaming environment, ensuring it enhances rather than disrupts the overall experience for players.

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