https://www.brandinginasia.com/adcolony-and-anzu-io-team-up-to-bring-in-game-ads-to-apac-gamers/

AdColony, an in-app advertising marketplace for brands, with a focus on gaming, has signed an exclusive partnership with the global in-game advertising platform, Anzu. AdColony will now offer Anzu’s in-game advertising solutions across both display and video to brands and agencies in the Asia Pacific.

In-game advertising platform Anzu aims to blends real-world brand ads into gameplay across PC, console, and mobile games, while offering advertisers comprehensive ad viewability and programmatic capabilities. A brand’s ads can now appear within the game – on the virtual perimeter boards around the football stadium, on a billboard in the street of an open-world classic, or on custom-painted, sponsored racing cars.

“APAC is really the epicenter of worldwide gaming, and Anzu is thrilled to bring the combination of our programmatic in-game advertising experience with AdColony’s offerings to the region,” said Anzu’s CEO and Co-Founder, Itamar Benedy. “This partnership represents a major opportunity for advertisers who are ready and eager to reach these ultra-engaged audiences.”

The AdColony and Anzu partnership also brings a suite of industry tools, including campaign effectiveness measurement, fraud prevention, and ad verification to blended in-game advertising across APAC – inventory is also available programmatically via the AdColony SSP. The aim is to reach gamers globally by making gaming and esports advertising opportunities more accessible, locally.

Anzu via AdColony’s goal is that brands across the Asia Pacific region will be able to generate deeper levels of engagement with audiences via advertising within games. More than 1.5 billion consumers in the Asia Pacific are gamers and 70 percent play games daily on their mobiles. Furthermore, 40 percent claim to play more games since the COVID-19 outbreak.

“We passionately believe that gaming is the new and improved social media for marketers in terms of connecting with consumers at scale,” said Tom Simpson, AdColony’s SVP for APAC.

“This opportunity has been accelerated in recent months with the pandemic, and 2020 has seen an enormous uplift in the demand for new solutions for brands to reach gaming audiences. This partnership allows AdColony’s expertise in APAC markets to combine with Anzu’s global-leading blended in-game ad technology to offer a unique solution for brands to connect with consumers seamlessly in and around their favorite games. We look forward to pioneering new marketing offerings for our clients and delivering great work across APAC.”