Gaming, once regarded as just a form of entertainment, has transformed into an avenue for monetisation. As it gains mainstream acceptance, various sectors have embraced gaming as an important element for business prospects. Brands, in particular, have incorporated the ‘immersive’ factor into their advertising strategies, leveraging gaming to create immersive in-game audio ads. With media reports projecting mobile gaming to reach 182 million users by 2027, going forward, immersive in-game audio ads are understood to be key for advertisers. These ads can be customised to cater to diverse languages, regional preferences, and specific gaming platforms, enabling brands to reach an extensive audience. “I think the demography of the global gaming audience necessitates crafting targeted and localised campaigns that resonate with them. Taking cultural preferences and regional trends into consideration is considered indispensable for marketers owing to the growth of gamers on a global scale. Making in-game audio ads immersive, while ensuring a user experience, can be achieved through contextual relevance and integration. Data can be leveraged to create more personalised ads that enhance emotional engagement,” Kumar Saurav, Co-founder & Chief Strategy Officer, AdCounty Media, a digital marketing agency, told BrandWagon Online.
Globally, the in-game advertising market is expected to clock revenue worth $109.6 billion in 2024, with projections for a $169.4 billion worth market volume within 2029, having a 9.1% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for 2024-29, as per Statista, a data and business intelligence platform.
The right blend of/for advertising?
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Ever since brands started to pay more attention to personalised advertising, the blend of immersive experiences and gaming have come into play. Talking about 2023, official data has shown that the total global count of gamers stood at 3.22 billion, with expectations for the count to clock 3.32 billion by 2024 end. From an advertising point-of-view, 81% of media buyers expressed their desire to increase their in-game advertising budgets within a year and, within 2025, 83% intended to go for complete adoption for the advertising methodology, as per Eskimi, a programmatic advertising platform. Furthermore, around 93% of media buyers are planning to include in-game advertising methods by 2025, as reported by Admix, a programmatic monetisation platform. So, why exactly is the hype around immersive in-game audio ads? Well, metrics such as ad recall, exposure times, click-through rates help assess the efficacy of immersive in-game audio ads. Immersive audio ads have a recall rate that is 27% higher than traditional display ads, based on a study by an advertising technology (adtech) firm that specialises in in-game audio ads. These metrics help optimise campaigns to boost engagement and overall return on investment (ROI).
“I think in-game audio advertising presents an opportunity to reach out to key audiences for gaming-focused offerings while keeping the gamer’s experience uninterrupted, along with the game development companies continuing investing in game upgrade development on account of revenue generation out of ads. While in-game audio advertisem*nts have been present in the market for some time, they seem to fit with advertising that is interesting and attracts the audience. I believe that in-game audio advertisem*nts, if kept at optimal in-game levels, will unfold the next chapter of marketing through online gaming,” Paramjeet Singh, marketing head consumer PC and gaming – Systems Group, Asus India, a multinational company, stated. Overall, advertisers can craft interactive and immersive experiences through incorporating audio ads into augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), which enable the incorporation of three-dimensional (3D) spatial audio and make them integrated into the gaming world.
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The ROI-corporate synergy!
For corporations, the creation of immersive in-game audio ads depends on two categories of gamers, namely casual gamers and hardcore gamers. Casual gamers tend to be inclined towards light and entertaining ads that blend with gameplay. On the contrary, hardcore gamers look for ads that enhance their gaming experience such as inclusive in-game content or rewards. Gamers like in-game audio ads, in comparison to video ads, which don’t hinder their gameplay, according to a study by YouGov, a market research and data analytics firm. Audio ads can create 41% positive brand recall, with regard to 38% for video ads, and produce 50% higher attentive seconds per thousand impressions, as specified in a study by Dentsu, an advertising agency. “Since in-game audio ads are targeted to a player’s liking, such ads help gamers explore new products and services while they are playing games and save time in doing research on items they like. Audio ads can also be integrated with real world objects in AR experiences. The user can also receive in-game benefits such as power ups or an extra life on listening to ads,” Hariom Seth, founder, Tagglabs, a technology-based marketing campaign company, specified.
On that note, organisations can utilise player data to create personalised ads and integrate them within the gaming environment. Companies such as AudioMob, an audio advertising company, and AdInMo, a brand advertising platform, have found their ways of offering in-game audio ads, with the former focusing on a player-oriented approach and the latter prioritising immersive experiences. For example, PepsiCo’s mobile gaming campaign enabled cost savings and improved ROI through the integration of immersive in-game audio ads. Reportedly, their ad recall surged by 20% through non-intrusive audio ads and their click-through rate (CTR) was 2.5 times higher in comparison to traditional digital ads. Their case study reveals that this strategy helped them increase their cost saving per impression by 20%. Another instance is a campaign by Spotify, which also happens to be a mobile game that witnessed a 30% spike in user engagement and a 15% rise in brand favorability.
To foster the future trends of in-game advertising, market experts have brought up the need for partnerships among companies. Collaborations between brands and game developers can reduce company costs while permitting brands to incorporate their products into the virtual environment. Partnerships for integrating bespoke ads and branded content into game storylines can offer benefits, for both brands and gamers, which can amplify engagement and improve brand perception. “The future of in-game advertising should see more creative collaborations, where brands work with game developers to create bespoke content that aligns with both the game’s narrative and the brand’s identity. Brands should be able to design integrated campaigns that span multiple touch points within the game, creating immersive brand experiences. We’ve seen that with brands such as Gucci and Roblox, among others, for example,” Simon (Bobby) Dussart, CEO, Adjust, a mobile marketing analytics platform, concluded.
