Adverty CEO Jonas Söderqvist on in-game advertising’s breakthrough to the mainstream and its marketing potential

With in-game advertising ever poised to capitalize on the mainstream gaming surge, we sat down with in-game ad specialist, Adverty’s new CEO Jonas Söderqvist. Here we discuss why games get a bad rap for violent content, why gaming is the natural heir to TV and what needs to happen before brands start to spend the big bucks.

In-game advertising has been on the verge of a mainstream breakthrough for some years. Does this feel like a time when there's undeniably more potential in the market than there was a year ago, two years ago, three years ago?

I would say yes. This period of time in marketing is perfect for gaming to really take flight. It has grown significantly over these past three years and the inventory out there now is massive. But the advertisers and brands have not grasped the potential of it, and they don't know exactly how to work actively with it. And that is where we come in as an expert and where we can move brands’ knowledge into how to work actively with that inventory.

What would be the clear message you'd send out to advertisers, to show them how games solve a marketing challenge for them?

If we look at social for example - when that was new, advertisers needed to try something new and buy in a different way. This is exactly the same. So in the nicest way, we need to put them on the school bench again and teach them: this is what the gaming industry is all about; this is why you and your brand should be a part of the gaming industry. And this is how you find your audience in different areas and how you can invite them to interact with your brand in a more active way than ever before.

Do you sense that marketers grasp that there is an opportunity in gaming? Are they fishing around for a sense of how to do this better?

Yeah. The funny part is that, in all the conversations that we have with brands and buyers, they don't tell us that we are wrong. They don't tell us that we are barking up the wrong tree. They agree with us that there is something there in in-game advertising and they need to do more. But the bottom line is, they are a little cautious about sitting down at the table and doing the tests, or buying this inventory and seeing what happens. And yet they spend millions on social media, because they think that works. But I can guarantee, if they put the same amount of money into gaming, I will show them brilliant stuff.

From a brand safety perspective, does it feel like games are held to a different standard than other media where their content is concerned? Brands seem to be very nervous about advertising against first-person shooter games, for example, when they advertise against all kinds of similar content on television.

I totally agree with you. Take myself, for example. I love these zombie-shooting apps and games. It’s a way of spending 15 minutes of your own in a world where you feel entertained. If I saw L'Oréal in that game, they would definitely get my attention due to the fact that it is a space you would not expect them in; they would get my total interest and total focus just because they are there. I’m certainly not blaming them for the violent game I’m enjoying.

I'm not saying that advertisers should go against their values when they are choosing media. But I do think it’s true that brands don't embrace all of the different kinds of media activation that are out there.

And you think that games are more comparable to other media than brands sometimes appreciate?

Definitely. Brands go with the broadcasters or the big newspapers with a huge inventory of video. But why not go with rewarded video or other video solutions in games? Games are certainly more TV-like than most online video. Games take over the whole screen. Compare that to a format of The Guardian where you get a small piece of video. So there is a lot of education we need to do with the buyers and advertisers and the brands, because this area of marketing is huge. And if they go in now, they will basically own that area, for relatively small budgets, whereas in so much of digital they have to fight with all the other brands.

You’ve been a board member at Adverty, and now you’ve become CEO. How did that happen and what are your goals for the company itself?

Well, I've been on the board for almost two years. And before that, I worked closely with [Adverty founder and head of strategy] Niklas [Bakos] since I signed Adverty for [sell-side platform] PubMatic four years ago. So I've followed the company very closely on several levels - from a client point of view, a platform point of view, a board member point of view, and now as CEO.

Where are we heading? Adverty has gone through different stages and different challenges; we are approaching these challenges head on and we are not afraid of moving forward all the time. There is a toolbox that Adverty works with, and we know the tools, we know how to use them, but we are working on how we can use the tools to help advertisers move forward even more effectively, more efficiently. We also need to be sustainable, and we need to focus on sales.

To summarize, we are a technical platform, and we need to think like a media company. However, we need to act like a sales company. And this will give us a great foundation to secure our future within this industry's evolution.

Also published in: The Drum

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