Media and technology company NBCUniversal has revealed that it has partnered with in-game ads platform Anzu in order to expand its operations into gaming and esports.
Through the partnership, NBCUniversal will be Anzu's global sales partner and its exclusive third-party seller in US and the UK, with NBCUniversal’s clients also being able to run non-intrusive in-game ads across Anzu’s gaming inventory.
Partners will have access to Anzu’s adtech integrations, ad viewability, audience verification, data enrichment and more, which is powered by Anzu’s various pre-existing partnerships. This expands across mobile, PC and consoles, and will maintain the privacy and brand safety that users of the One Platform expect.
Platforming up
"In addition to streaming, gaming is one of the fastest-growing ways to reach young audiences," said NBCUniversal president and chief business officer Krishan Bhatia.
"This partnership with Anzu will allow our marketers to engage with an audience of over three billion gamers worldwide, and we’re only getting started."
NBCUniversal also announced an investment in the adtech company for an undisclosed amount. Through the partnership, Anzu will gain access to NBCUniversal’s One Platform along with its client and agency relationships as well as its marketing teams.
Anzu co-founder and CEO Itamar Benedy added: "We’re excited to bring our best-in-class tech and exclusive inventory to one of the world’s leading ad sales teams. This new partnership means more brands and agencies will be able to take advantage of our solution to reach an engaged and untapped audience within the world’s most popular titles while preserving the gamer experience."
"We also believe, over the next few years, most Fortune 500 brands will incorporate gaming into their ad strategies and the partnership with NBCUniversal brings us a step closer to this becoming a reality."
Mobile growth platform Digital Turbine recently appointed Mollie Spilman, who has expertise surrounding adtech, mobile, and cloud businesses, to its board of directors as an independent director.
