Banners, videos, pop-ups are the usual tools of promotion in games. Anzu.io suggests working differently. As an advertising inventory, the platform considers game content directly. And with such an offer today, the company enters the market of Russia and the CIS.
Example of native ad integration
In fairness, we note that with Russian-speaking companies Anzu.io previously already worked.
Among its partners are listed: SayGames, ZiMAD, HeroCraft, Naxeex, MYTONA and MY.GAMES. Also a couple of days ago, she signed a contract to demonstrate advertising in Saber games.
But now Anzu.io he plans to work with domestic companies not point-by-point, but to cover as wide a pool of them as possible. The change of strategy in the company is explained by a new look at the region.
“We have seen the enormous potential of the Russian-speaking sector. In addition, he is the parent of such game blockbusters as World of Tanks, Homescapes, Metro 2033, World War Z and many others. There is already a large pool of professional developers who are open to monetization of their products through advertising,” Lev Kommisarchik, director of mobile games at Anzu.io
At the moment, the company “has begun to carry out a set of marketing activities to achieve a strategic partnership with a large number of publishers and game developers from the CIS.” We are talking about participation in industry conferences, the development of educational content and possible entry into IAB Russia, the local division of the Association for the Development of Interactive Advertising.
As for the Anzu.io , the company was launched in 2017 in Israel. According to one of the key concepts of the platform, interaction with advertising should not interrupt the gaming experience. Simply put, in-game advertising should be native.
The most obvious example of the service is advertising on the fences of a football field. On the one hand, this is a full-fledged advertising inventory, on the other, working with it does not interfere with interaction with the game and does not spoil the gaming experience by itself.
“There are not so many formats of advertising interaction with gamers on the market. Further growth of this segment is possible only if new advertising solutions appear. The project from Anzu is one of them,” Elena Grigoryan, CMO of MY.GAMES, who is currently working with the platform, comments on this approach.
By the way, according to a Comscore study, players are not against placing native ads in games. Moreover, more than 30% of console gamers surveyed believe that such advertising makes games more realistic.
Comscore Research Results
Anzu.io allows you to integrate advertising in the formats of banners, videos, branding of in-game objects and locations.
The platform SDK supports Unity, Unreal Engine, Cocos2D and CryEngine.
Among the advertising partners Anzu.io — companies such as PepsiCo, Samsung, American Eagle and and.
Earlier this year Anzu.io raised $9 million during a series of investmentsA. The main investors were BITKRAFT Ventures and HBSE Ventures. In total, the advertising platform has so far “raised” $17 million during four rounds.