Brand advertising platform AdInMo and consent manager Usercentrics have joined forces to reveal the results of a report on the current state of in-game advertising in Europe.
Designed to help inform mobile game publishers and developers, the report highlights the importance of consent management, privacy changes on Google, and monetising in-game adverts.
After all, come January 16 2024, Google Ads are seeing an overhaul to support a more privacy-conscious culture, and games will need to be compliant with the coming changes to find support from brand advertisers.
Consent and monetisation
As a case study, AdInMo and Usercentrics worked with Finnish mobile games developer Black Smoke Studio. They looked at making the studio’s game The Wanderer - Project Survival more compliant with advertiser requirements and educated on best practices going forward, and were able to bolster its average revenue per daily active user by a massive 377% over the course of the six-week study.
At the same time, in this case study effective cost per thousand impressions grew 62% and fill rate by 19% through working with AdInMo and Usercentrics.
In an optimistic note for developers and advertisers alike, it appears most players are still willing to share their data too, even when they have the option to withdraw consent. 83% of The Wanderer - Project Survival players gave consent for their IP address and other basic information to be gathered, easing the monetisation process.
"Black Smoke’s results clearly show there is an immediate benefit for developers to use a CMP because it makes the players and ad traffic much more valuable for our brand advertising partners," said AdInMo co-founder and CEO Kristan Rivers.
"The fact that Google recently mandated that from 16 January 2024 all publishers are required to use a CMP that has integrated with IAB’s TCF when serving ads to users in Europe means the clock is now ticking for publishers."
Usercentrics director of product management Valerio Sudrio added: "The importance of privacy has grown beyond compliance. Brand advertisers simply won’t advertise in non-compliant games. They are willing to pay higher eCPMs for access to consented data, but mobile game publishers and ad networks face challenges in unlocking this major monetisation opportunity. Forward-thinking game developers understand how smart consent can yield significant benefits."
AdInMo's report comes not long after its partnership with ZBD was revealed, bringing the first-ever InGamePlay brand ads with Bitcoin rewards.
