Anzu

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The Intrinsic In-Game Advertising Key Trends Report H1 2025

Intrinsic in-game advertising (IIGA) has transitioned into a measurable, high-impact media channel that allows brands to reach premium gaming environments through buying approaches similar to traditional digital and broadcast media. The primary thesis of this analysis is that gaming offers a unique, year-round engagement opportunity that remains consistent even when traditional channels like television and social media experience seasonal dips. By integrating non-disruptive, native ads into gameplay, advertisers can achieve significant full-funnel impact, including a 20-point lift in ad recall and a 21% lower cost per acquisition (CPA) compared to standard goals. The findings are based on aggregated internal data from 105 games and 333 direct advertisers, supplemented by third-party research from partners such as IAS, Lumen, and Comscore. The scope is global, with specific insights covering North America, Europe, LATAM, and APAC throughout the 2024 calendar year. While mobile currently offers 25 times the scale of impressions and greater audience diversity, PC and console platforms provide superior immersion, with significantly longer session lengths and higher total playtime per user. Key data points highlight that IIGA outperforms traditional digital formats in attention, delivering 2,957 attentive seconds per thousand impressions—nearly triple the performance of Facebook Infeed. Regional trends indicate that while North America and Europe command the highest CPMs, emerging markets like APAC and LATAM offer cost-effective growth opportunities. Furthermore, genre-specific data reveals that sports and racing titles see engagement peaks tied to real-world competitions, while simulation games offer a steady, female-skewing audience. The report concludes that advertisers should move beyond seasonal buying habits to capitalize on gaming’s "always-on" nature, particularly during Q1 when CPMs are lower but engagement remains high.

in-game-advertising market-analysis monetization+1

AnzuJan 2025

Report

The 2025 Guide to US Gaming Audiences: From Data to Personas

The 2025 United States gaming landscape reflects a profound demographic shift, moving away from the outdated stereotype of the isolated young male toward a mainstream, diverse population nearly evenly split by gender. Modern gamers are characterized by high levels of education and financial stability, with a significant portion of the audience falling into middle-to-high income brackets ranging from $51,000 to over $250,000 in net worth. This population views gaming as a social and familial cornerstone rather than a solitary pursuit, possessing substantial purchasing power that prioritizes immediate lifestyle quality, premium groceries, and discretionary spending over long-term asset accumulation. Physical activity and convenience define the daily habits of this audience, as they over-index in gym attendance and outdoor recreation. Consumer behavior remains nuanced across different genres; for instance, Action and Simulation players tend to be more tech-focused and affluent, whereas Casual and Arcade gamers often reside in multi-generational, value-conscious households. Despite these differences, a universal reliance on delivery services, mainstream fast-food brands, and budget-friendly fitness options persists across the entire segment. This suggests a consumer base that values efficiency and digital integration in their physical lives. The market is further segmented into distinct personas ranging from tech-savvy "Young Lifestyle Explorers" to financially secure "Golden Fans" over the age of 70. High-value opportunities for precision targeting exist within specific niches, such as sports gamers who dominate the highest income tiers or board and trivia enthusiasts who exhibit practical, family-oriented spending patterns. Geographically concentrated in hubs like Iowa and Hawaii, these diverse audiences offer brands a sophisticated landscape of consumers who defy traditional tropes, presenting a high-value target for advertisers across nearly every life stage and socioeconomic category.

market-analysis player-demographics marketing+1

Anzu & SemcastingJan 2025

Report

In-Game Advertising Report 2023

This analysis examines the efficacy of intrinsic in-game advertising as a high-engagement medium compared to traditional digital channels. Partnering with Lumen Research, the study utilizes eye-tracking technology and machine learning to analyze data from 25 specific brand campaigns and over 90 broader industry studies. The research focuses on global cross-platform environments, including mobile, PC, and console, comparing in-game performance against 42 standard digital advertising formats such as social media feeds and video platforms. The findings indicate that gaming environments significantly outperform traditional digital media in viewability and attention. In-game ads achieved a 98% viewability rate, compared to a 78% average for other digital formats. Crucially, 85% of in-game impressions were actually viewed by players, surpassing the digital norm of 65%. In terms of duration, 80% of the studied in-game ads exceeded the critical two-second viewing threshold required for memory encoding, averaging 3.1 seconds of attention. This translates to 2,795 attentive seconds per 1,000 impressions, which is 22% higher than the average across all other digital formats and outperforms 76% of individual digital advertising categories, including most social media display and video. The data concludes that high attention levels in gaming lead to measurable brand impact. Participants exposed to in-game ads showed a 9% point uplift in prompted brand awareness and a 7% point increase in purchase intent compared to control groups. For challenger brands, the impact was even more pronounced, with top campaigns seeing a 14% uplift in purchase intent. These results suggest that the immersive, "lean-forward" nature of gaming prevents the ad avoidance common in "distracted" media like TV or social scrolling, positioning in-game advertising as a superior tool for driving both brand recall and lower-funnel conversions.

in-game-advertising marketing advertising+1

AnzuJan 2023

Whitepaper

In-Game Ads Come Out on Top: Two-Year Study

Research conducted over a two-year period by Anzu and Lumen Research reveals that intrinsic in-game advertising significantly outperforms traditional digital advertising formats in terms of audience attention and brand recall. By utilizing eye-tracking technology and analyzing thousands of gameplay sessions across mobile and PC platforms, the study establishes that advertisements integrated directly into the gaming environment capture visual attention for longer durations than standard display or social media ads. Specifically, in-game banners and posters achieved an average of 3.1 seconds of viewing time, which is nearly double the attention span typically afforded to mobile display ads. The findings indicate a strong correlation between high attention scores and increased purchase intent, with gamers showing a 12% higher likelihood of considering a brand after seeing it within a game compared to traditional digital channels. This effectiveness is attributed to the non-disruptive nature of intrinsic ads, which appear on virtual billboards or stadium signage, allowing them to coexist with the gameplay experience rather than interrupting it. The data suggests that because players are in a state of high focus and active engagement, they process environmental brand messaging more effectively than passive consumers scrolling through social feeds. Geographically, the study covers global markets with a particular focus on North American and European gaming demographics. The methodology involved a combination of laboratory-based eye-tracking and at-home testing to ensure a diverse sample size of over 5,000 participants. Ultimately, the results conclude that the gaming environment provides a premium advertising space where brands can achieve high-impact visibility without compromising the user experience. This longitudinal analysis positions in-game advertising as a vital component for modern media mixes, offering a scalable solution for reaching attentive, hard-to-reach audiences in an increasingly fragmented digital landscape.

in-game-advertising marketing advertising+2

Anzu