Anzu.io, the world’s most advanced in-game advertising platform, announced today a new partnership with InMobi Exchange, the world’s largest independently owned mobile in-app advertising exchange.

Gaming, with its audience of over 3.1 billion gamers and revenues approaching $175 billion, is becoming an attractive media channel as the industry grows at an exponential rate. Recent research has shown that mobile gaming audiences increasingly prefer free-to-play, ad-supported games over games with other monetization models like in-app purchases. With this partnership, InMobi’s global brand advertisers will be able to programmatically buy in-game display and video ads in all of Anzu’s mobile gaming inventory, including exclusive titles, across verticals — casual, sport, racing, action, and more.

Anzu’s technology blends real-world ads in IAB-recognized standards into video games across mobile, PC, and console. Fully GDPR, COPPA, and privacy-compliant, Anzu’s SDK technology is integrated into games and delivers high-quality direct traffic with full control over ad placements and first-party data that enables advanced targeting. The blended ads enhance games’ realism and transform game objects into valuable advertising opportunities, all while respecting gamers by not disrupting the gaming experience — crucial for game developers and brands alike.

InMobi Exchange is leveraged by major DSPs across the globe and the integration with Anzu’s in-game advertising platform will enable advertisers to programmatically target the vast and diverse mobile gaming audiences with highly engaging ads that don’t interrupt gameplay. While Anzu and InMobi both share a strong global footprint, these two companies have an especially strong presence in the U.S. and Asia Pacific. In fact, Anzu just announced an exclusive partnership with WCC2, the award-winning popular cricket game from Next Wave Multimedia with more than 50 million downloads on the Google Play Store, bringing even more added value to InMobi advertisers in the India region.

"We are living in a mobile-first world and media consumption in it continues to evolve rapidly. In-game advertising is one of these new frontiers that allow advertisers to interact with their consumers in a highly intuitive way.

InMobi’s technology and unmatched mobile in-app expertise along with Anzu’s advanced in-game advertising platform will allow them to access the highly engaged and diverse mobile gaming audience in a medium that is becoming increasingly relevant."

- Kunal Nagpal, GM Publisher Platforms & Exchange, InMobi

Anzu’s blended 3D ads deliver 23% higher viewability than typical 2D display ads, feature ad fraud rates way below industry standards, and demonstrate considerable brand uplift and recall. Now, advertisers have access to a scalable technology that gives them confidence in the media value and data, empowering them to make informed decisions. Anzu has taken significant steps to boost advertiser confidence and demonstrate the value of in-game advertising. For example, Anzu recently introduced existing digital advertising standards to the in-game medium in partnership with the world’s biggest marketing services company, WPP, and partners with industry-leading AdTech vendors such as Moat, Comscore, Kantar and Nielsen on ad viewability, brand lift measurement, audience verification, data enrichment, and fraud detection.

"The importance of mobile to the gaming industry cannot be overstated. It is leading the way for industry growth, accounting for over 50% of the market, which is why it’s an important part of Anzu’s strategy.

Anzu’s partnership with InMobi will greatly enhance the value of in-game advertising inventory. We are excited to provide InMobi’s global brand advertisers with the opportunity to embrace the up-and-coming in-game advertising media channel to reach premium mobile gaming audiences across the world."

- Itamar Benedy, Co-Founder & CEO, Anzu

This article was originally published on February 24, 2021 on MarTech Series.