More than two thirds (68%) of advertising agencies have used game advertising, according to IAB's State of the Nation Game Advertising survey.
Almost one in five (18%) of agencies say gaming "is regularly considered part of our activity" and a further 21% said they have no experience but plan to use it.
The IAB Game Advertising Working Group conducted a survey in June/July 2023 among 100 advertising decision makers working in agencies and brands with experience or intention to buy game advertising. The results were compared to the IAB's Game Advertising State of the Nation 2022.
More than half (52%) of those using game advertising have increased their activity in the past 12 months and 72% intend to increase their activity in the next year.
Most game advertisers continue to buy directly with the media owner - 71% in 2023 compared with 72% in 2022 - but programmatic guaranteed deals saw a large increase over the past 12 months, jumping to 43% from 19% last year.
Programmatically traded inventory on open exchanges dropped slightly to 41% from 44%, with programmatic private marketplace deals dropping even further (39% in 2023 compared to 58% in 2022).
More than eight in ten (85%) of game advertisers are planning and buying game advertising collaboratively with digital video, an increase from 70% last year. 75% are planning and buying game advertising collaboratively with digital display, 54% with digital audio, 48% with digital out-of-home and 61% independently from other media.
Two thirds of agency respondents (66%) manage game advertising via their digital media team, while 18% use a specialist external agency.
Brand awareness or perception remained the most important objective of game advertising by those surveyed (72% in 2023 compared to 85% in 2022), but purchase/action intent saw the biggest rise, climbing to 57% from 21% last year. Sales or conversions also rose to 38% compared to 15%, while engagement remained steady at 55% compared to 53%.
The three biggest barriers advertisers identified as preventing more investment in gaming advertising were brand safety (47%), measuring campaign success (36%) and brand suitability (also 36%).
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