Will Brands Flock to Roblox as Gaming Platform Launches Immersive Advertising Options - Your Daily Dose of Digital 12/09/22

Roblox, the hugely popular gaming platform and home to over 50 million 'games' all created by its community of 43 million active daily players, is testing new dynamic immersive advertising. Roblox's move is being cited as 'Metaverse' advertising - but, let's be honest (I'll keep banging on about this) the 'Metaverse' hasn't fully come to fruition yet, so let's just consider this some pretty cool and exciting in-game advertising for now, shall we? Ok. Let's continue.

The new ad product by Roblox is rolling out and in testing as we speak, and will allow brands to place 3D promotions within the virtual worlds and games hosted on its platform. They will be testing a number of new types of immersive ads for select brands in coming months with their ambition of a full launch of its self-serve ad system sometime in 2023.

Roblox will share revenue from the ads with the developers of the experiences and games within which they are placed, although it declined to reveal exact terms - we've already seen how the 'creator revenue share' model can be complex from even more established platforms like YouTube and other new monetisation opportunities soon to come to Spotify et al.

The aptly named Richard Sim, senior product director for monetisation at Roblox said:

“We’re building from the ground up a new ad system that will deliver 3D immersive ad experiences. But we want to do it in a way that is safe, that’s creative and drives value to users, that keeps our users’ data privacy safe.”

As with the launch of any new ad format or channel, the quashing of concerns over privacy is key. Roblox's audience includes a broad spectrum of ages and demographics, so security and privacy are really going to have to be careful considerations.

It looks like they're currently launching with/testing two key formats. One, a kind of digital-environment OOH (out of home) with static ads placed on billboards or on buildings in their digital worlds.

The second more "Metaversal" ad format will include portals which transport the user's digital avatar into more immersive experiences rendered within the platform. This opens up whole new worlds of creative opportunity with the advertising, and brands can leverage the tech of the platform accordingly.

Already, Vans have built a skateboarding game within a portal, with Vans branded clothing (of course) on the character - this isn't new for Vans as they've been very early adopters of brand partnership with Roblox having launched Vans World last year. Warner Bros, another brand who have embraced and experimented in the Roblox platform before, are also on board with these new formats.

Of course, in-Roblox activations aren't new as such, this news really is about the ability for brands to advertise at scale on the platform. Individual creators have inked one-off deals with brands for displays or product placement, but according to Sim "the platform hasn’t offered developers a formal avenue for doing so at scale until now".

UGC is so important to Roblox, that empowering advertisers to create their own experiences is going to be key to scalability when it comes to advertising mechanics in the platform. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing how this takes shape.

Richard Sim continued:

“With immersive ads, it’s really this way for us to democratise access to earnings by just allowing a developer to put an ad unit into their experience. They have really expressed a lot of interest in figuring out how to enable brands to be relevant in Roblox. … This enables it at scale and in a very programmatic way.”

Roblox already offers ads to developers looking to promote the experiences they have built, and the new formats are said to build on the existing system. Sim said the architects of the ad platform worked to "make the displays blend as seamlessly as possible into the worlds into which they’re placed, while also offering drag-and-drop ease of use for developers".

According to Sim, Roblox's ad platform is also set to offer advertisers some "basic targeting parameters while remaining conscientious about preserving the universal shared experience" ethos that underpins the concept of the metaverse. In essence, this should mean that the right ad will show to the right audience in a space on an in-game billboard or on the side of a building (as you'd expect with any social media ppc advertising, for example).

One vital and interesting point with the announcement is Roblox's plan for their advertising ecosystem to exist within what they're terming a "walled garden" - i.e. users will not be taken off to other web pages or outside of Roblox - the ads, then, will have to really deliver when it comes to brand recall and inspiring/prompting any sort of off-platform action from users! The fun times are about to begin.

What do you think about in-game advertising (and the future metaversal advertising opportunities)? Let me know in the comments.