Video Game Ads: Expert Guide to In-Game Advertising Strategies

Think advertising is limited to TV spots, social media feeds, or billboards on the street? Some of the most effective ads are less obvious yet more memorable. A great example is video game advertising, where brands can live inside video games, from virtual stadium banners to branded outfits worn by your favorite characters, or even as part of the storyline. These placements don’t interrupt the experience — they are the experience.

The numbers speak for themselves: in-game advertising was valued at $9.41 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $19.92 billion by 2034, growing at a CAGR of 8.43%, according to IMARC Group.

But here’s the challenge: how can you make sure your video game ads actually enhance the experience and not disrupt it? That’s what this guide is all about. But before we proceed to practical recommendations, we will also consider the video game ads meaning, ad formats, strategies, and key advantages that brands can leverage thanks to this format.

What is Video Game Advertising?

This approach combines advertising with interactive entertainment and can be presented in different types based on how the brand prefers to reach players.

Static vs. Dynamic In-Game Ads

Before looking at the specific formats below, it helps to understand the two ways ads get into a game.

• Static ads become part of the game content during development, such as a Coca-Cola logo displayed on a virtual vending machine. Once the game ships, that ad can’t be changed. Static placements are relatively cheap to implement, feel deeply native to the game world, and remain the largest share of the market. They accounted for 43.2% of in-game ad spend in 2025, according to IMARC Group. You’ll often find this format in sports games, where stadium signage, branded equipment, and other fixed objects create plenty of ad space.
• Dynamic in-game ads are served over an internet connection and can be swapped after the game launch. The same billboard can show one brand today and a different one next week. Since the placement stays available, advertisers can buy and change it through ad servers and programmatic platforms. Campaigns may use audience targeting and real-time bidding to select the right ad. Advertisers can adjust and optimize campaigns, much as they do in web and CTV advertising. In 2025, dynamic ads made up 35.6% of in-game ad spend and are growing faster than the overall market.

Most of the formats described next can use either static or dynamic placements, depending on how the ad appears in the game.

Types of Video Game Advertisements

The ad formats vary in how immersive or interactive they are. But what unites them all is the goal to reach audiences in a way that feels as natural within the gaming environment as possible.

Here are the most common types of video games advertising:

• In-game advertising. Such ads appear directly inside a video game. They can be demonstrated as billboards, branded items, or character clothing. Developers can also integrate branded accessories or gear for characters. This type of advertising works best when it feels natural and enhances the realism of the game.

Source: https://www.gamesradar.com/its-coke-vs-pepsi-in-fifa-17/

• Advergames. These are games that were entirely created to promote products of a particular brand. For example, a fashion brand can launch a free game for its target audience around its collections.

Source: https://hero-magazine.com/article/

• Product placement. Products can be integrated into the gameplay itself. In this case, players can drive real-world car models in racing games or choose some real-life food brands in a kitchen-simulation app.

Source: https://nfs.fandom.com/wiki/Ferrari

• Sponsorships and esports advertising. Brands can sponsor streamers or gaming events to reach their audiences. Energy drinks and hardware makers often leverage this possibility to gain visibility. For example, Red Bull is actively involved in sponsoring esports tournaments and professional teams. Advertising on live streaming platforms like Twitch falls into that category as well. It uses video and display placements shown alongside streams. Additionally, streamers may run brand activations to reach audiences that are hard to find through other media.

Source: https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/

• Reward-based ads. This format offers users in-game rewards for watching short video ads. For example, a player can watch a 30-second video ad to earn extra lives, coins, or exclusive in-game items. These ads are optional and beneficial. That’s why they are often well-received and drive higher engagement rates compared to intrusive formats.

• Native advertising in virtual worlds and metaverse platforms. Branded experiences or virtual stores can be integrated to mimic real-life shopping. Instead of static placements, companies can build branded virtual stores, sponsor events inside digital spaces, or create interactive experiences like mini-games. For instance, Gucci launched the Gucci Garden experience in Roblox. As a result, players can explore a virtual exhibition and purchase limited-edition digital items.

Source: https://techcrunch.com/2021/05/17/

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How In-Game Ads Are Served

Most in-game ad formats above use a similar delivery process. The game needs a way to define ad space, connect it to advertisers, serve creative, and track outcomes.

1. Integration. The game developer implements an advertising SDK (software development kit) or hardcodes the ad into the game’s assets for static placements.
2. Inventory creation. The developer defines specific spaces or moments as ad inventory, such as a billboard, a loading-screen slot, or a rewarded-video trigger.
3. Demand connection. An ad network or demand-side platform (DSP) connects that inventory to advertisers, typically through real-time bidding for dynamic placements.
4. Ad serving. When a player reaches the placement, the ad server delivers the winning creative based on geography, device, and player segment.
5. Tracking and reporting. The system logs impressions, completions, and clicks and reports them back to the advertiser.

Static ads skip most of these steps because they’re built in and can’t change after launch. That makes them cheaper, but harder to measure directly (more on that below). Dynamic ads use all five steps and require an internet connection. That is why programmatic advertising technology plays a much larger role for this format.

How Brands Can Benefit from Video Game Advertisements

The popularity of video games makes it a strong channel for reaching wide audiences. Newzoo’s 2025 Global Games Market Report estimates that 3.6 billion people play video games worldwide, equal to 61.5% of the global online population. Mobile accounts for roughly 3 billion players, compared with 936 million on PC and 645 million on consoles. That mix gives brands several platforms to choose from, depending on the audience they want to reach.

Here are the key benefits of launching advertising in video games.

• High audience engagement. Players are deeply focused during gameplay. That’s why ads that are placed naturally in the environment are more likely to be noticed and usually can’t be easily skipped. Amazon Ads’ own research backs this up. The average gamer plays 2.6 hours a day, citing enjoyment (81%), creativity (41%), and a sense of achievement (39%) as part of that experience.
• Positive brand association. For brands, it can be a good initiative to become part of an enjoyable experience for users. It helps build positive emotions toward the offered products or services. Gamers confirm this: 69% are open to non-disruptive in-game ads, and 61% prefer ads that relate to the game’s content, according to Integral Ad Science’s “Converting Gamers to Consumers” research.
• Extended interaction time. Very often, gamers play for long sessions. It ensures repeated and prolonged exposure to a brand.
• Targeted reach. Different games attract different audiences. When considering various options for placing in-game video advertising, brands can already know what specific social groups they can reach. For instance, eSports games traditionally attract young adults. At the same time, casual games are built for families.
• Better brand recall and recognition. By using the possibilities of the gaming format, brands can create interactive experiences, including quests or challenges. This approach helps encourage direct participation instead of passive viewing. Thanks to this, users are more likely to memorize the promoted services or products.
• Cost-efficiency. Compared to TV or print campaigns, a video game ad can often reach millions globally at a lower cost. Moreover, a lot of popular games are played worldwide. As a result, brands can connect with international audiences without launching separate campaigns for each region.
• Brand-safe environment. Unlike open web inventory, games are moderated spaces and have less exposure to user-generated content risk and ad blockers. Most premium gaming inventory is certified against IAB, MOAT, and IAS standards and complies with regulations such as COPPA, GDPR, and CARU. Brands have more control over the context around their ads than with most digital channels.

Real-World Example: Building the Infrastructure Behind In-Game Ad Campaigns

In-game advertising depends on more than ad creative and placement. The infrastructure behind ad campaigns must keep up, especially when a game serves audiences across markets worldwide.

One of our clients, a mobile game development company with more than 5 million active users worldwide, reached the limits of its existing setup. The company needed to bid on traffic from every region at the same time. The system had to process more than 10,000 transactions per second per territory and give the team one place to manage campaigns instead of working across disconnected tools.

Geomotiv built a distributed demand-side platform (DSP) with regional clusters, load balancing, and optimized data processing. The client brought media buying in-house, cut operational costs by half, and helped its team deliver new features three times faster.

Read the full case study on the distributed demand-side platform for more details on the architecture and results.

As Tamuna Basaria, Head of Sales and Business Development at Geomotiv, puts it, “The big opportunity in gaming is to serve ads that bring revenue without disrupting play.” For our client, that meant building ad infrastructure that could keep up with traffic across regions while giving the team more control over media buying.

Key Trends in Video Game Ads

The advancements in the tech world are broadening the horizons for advertisers and enabling them to create commercials that are highly engaging and tailored to their audiences.

AI-powered personalization

Artificial Intelligence helps brands make ads more personalized and adaptive. AI algorithms can learn what kind of ad works best for which player and tailor creatives to achieve the highest efficiency.

User-generated content (UGC)

Players are not just a passive audience. They can also create content for brands that can be further used for their promotion in games. In addition to this, UGC can be used to build a powerful community.

Playable ads

Very often, this format is used for promoting a game among the audience of other apps. These ads are designed to let the player try a snippet of gameplay or a mini-game even before it is downloaded. Such a format ensures higher engagement and often higher conversion than traditional video banners.

AR, VR, and XR experiences

With the new developments in these technologies, more ads are being built for augmented, virtual, and mixed reality contexts. These are immersive, interactive ad formats (like virtual billboards in VR) that help brands promote their products without disrupting gameplay.

NFT games and digital asset advertising

Today, we can notice a growing number of advertisers entering Web3 gaming spaces. Some brands collaborate directly with developers of play-to-earn or blockchain games. Thanks to this, they can create or sponsor in-game NFTs (non-fungible tokens) such as outfits, weapons, or collectible items. Moreover, some advertisers design NFTs tied to a game, then sell or give them away via specialized marketplaces like OpenSea or Rarible.

Programmatic and real-time bidding

Much of the dynamic in-game inventory is bought programmatically. Real-time bidding, automated targeting, and in-campaign optimization are now part of the standard setup for these placements. Advertisers can target specific audiences and monitor live campaign performance instead of planning a flat-rate placement months before a campaign.

Effective In-Game Advertising Strategy: Practical Tips

Video game ads open great opportunities for brands in establishing long-term interaction with players, which can result in higher conversion rates. But to fully leverage the provided possibilities, you need to have an effective in-game advertising approach. It requires a deep understanding of your audience, as well as knowledge of the peculiarities of different ad formats.

Our step-by-step guide will help you find the right approach to building your ad strategy.

Step 1. Identify your key goals

First of all, you need to define what you want to achieve. Do you want to increase your brand awareness? Or is your task to inform your audience about a new product? Or will your ad be aimed at lead generation?

Based on your goals, you also need to set measurable KPIs like impressions, click-through rates, in-game actions, or conversions.

Step 2. Analyze your audience

It’s vital to analyze the demographics and interests of your target groups. You should pay special attention to their gaming habits. Let’s be honest, there are a lot of social groups that do not play games at all. In this case, you will need to consider other ways to promote your brand.

Step 3. Define the right game and platform

Your ads should align with users’ preferences and the types of games they play. But apart from this, you also need to think about the platforms (mobile, PC, console, or VR) that are the most popular among your target audience. This will help you make the right choice.

Step 4. Opt for the best ad format

You should select an ad format depending on the preferences of your audience, the chosen game type, and your budget. For example, though advergames can ensure great immersive engagement, they will be much more expensive than static billboards or rewarded ads.

Rewarded video can be a better fit when you want players to watch the ad through to the end. For instance, Roblox reports completion rates above 90% and viewability above 95%, with more than 1,000 brands using the format. A static billboard may make more sense when a simpler placement fits the campaign.

Step 5. Think about seamless integration

It is vital to avoid disrupting gameplay. Ads in video games should feel natural and, if the chosen format allows this, even enhance the user experience. Story-based placements often perform much better than intrusive pop-ups, but not every game offers such a possibility.

Step 6. Personalize user experiences

To ensure the highest efficiency of your ads, it is recommended to personalize them in accordance with the interests of a specific player segment.

If you launch global campaigns, it will make sense to consider localization and not only in terms of language but also in terms of context and culture.

Step 7. Test, measure ROI, and optimize

To optimize your in-game advertising strategy, you should conduct A/B testing of different creatives, placements, and formats to determine what resonates most with players

It’s important to measure both short-term metrics like clicks and video completions, as well as long-term outcomes such as brand recall and conversions. By leveraging analytics throughout the process, you can refine future campaigns and ensure your budget is used efficiently.

Measuring In-Game Ad Performance

Step 7 above calls for measuring ROI, but in-game measurement isn’t quite the same as web analytics. Here’s why.

Static ads that are built into the game often can’t confirm that a specific player saw a particular placement. For these campaigns, businesses typically use brand-lift studies, comparing survey results before and after the campaign to measure changes in awareness and recall. Dynamic ads served through an SDK can be measured more directly. The IAB Open Measurement SDK (OM SDK), for example, standardizes viewability and verification data across different games and ad networks.

Several recent campaigns show what this can look like:

• Amazon Ads and The Sims launched an original docuseries tied to the game. The campaign generated 409 million ad impressions and reached over 72 million unique customers globally, lifting brand awareness by 24 points in the U.S. and 30 points in the U.K., with 71% of surveyed U.S. respondents responding positively.
• Amazon Ads and Twitch built a branded game mode in Fortnite called The Glitch, which was streamed for more than 42 million hours within a few months.
• Gameloft reported similar results from a rewarded-video campaign for a toy brand’s 40th anniversary, recording 99% visibility and a 93% ad completion rate.

These results come from planning the creative, format, and measurement together from the start.

Final word

Video game advertising has evolved far beyond simple product placements. It has become a powerful channel for brands to build unique connections with players through immersive virtual experiences and subtle integrations into gameplay.

The formats are becoming easier to target and measure, and the infrastructure behind them has to support campaigns across billions of players and a wide range of platforms. For brands, the goal is to make the ad visible without pulling players out of the experience. The most effective campaigns find a way to do both.