IAB PlayFronts 2023 – The evolution of In-Game Advertising & how to build immersive brand experiences

At this year’s PlayFronts, our CRO, Jude O’Connor, hosted a session alongside Natrian Maxwell – GM of Emerging Channels, at The Trade Desk.

Jude’s session, ‘The Evolution of In-Game Advertising and How to Build Immersive Brand Experiences’, unpacked how digital advertising has evolved and took a look back at how video games have developed alongside ad tech up to the present day.

The session then explored how the intersecting worlds of gaming and advertising are now combining to unlock data-powered audience buying, massive scale, and robust measurement without disruption to the player experience.

Bidstack’s keynote presentation was followed by a fireside chat with Natrian Maxwell, GM of Emerging Channels at TheTrade Desk, where Jude and Natrian delved into the development of programmatic advertising in gaming.

They discussed comparisons with CTV, consumer expectations around advertising within immersive gaming environments, and how brands are beginning to understand where they can fit into gameplay while delivering messages that feel natural and organic to the gaming experience.