New Global Deal Between Ubisoft and In-game Advertising Platform Anzu.io Brings Blended In-Game Ads Into Trackmania

World-leading in-game advertising platform Anzu.io announced its partnership with leading video game publisher Ubisoft. This first collaboration between the two companies is already taking place inside the hit PC racing game Trackmania, developed by Ubisoft Nadeo. This is a truly innovative game with major potential for brand collaboration.

Ads that enhance the gaming experience

Anzu, the first programmatic in-game advertising platform for PC & console, will bring dynamic, blended banner and video brand ads directly inside Trackmania. Rather than disturb the gameplay with intrusive pop-ups, Anzu’s ads, in this case, delivered programmatically, are placed naturally on in-game objects such as walls, billboards, bridges, and along the sidetracks, thereby enhancing the gameplay with more realism.

The collaboration has already been witnessed publicly as part of the recent DIGI1 by Gamevention online gaming convention in June. During a 30-minute livestream, four popular streamers and pro gamers participated in the first-ever worldwide multiplayer stream of Trackmania, complete with a blended in-game Vodafone ad experience powered by Anzu. Of the experience, the streamer Trilluxe said, “You definitely recognize it straight away… you’ll most likely read what it says on those ads. They’re not distracting at all and I find the way they’re integrated quite smart and fitting as you’ll have sponsors banners on real-life racing tracks as well.”

The Future is Now

This new deal between Ubisoft and leading in-game advertising platform Anzu is representative of a major development in the relationship between brands and games. Gaming, with an extremely diverse audience base of nearly 3 billion players from all countries and all walks of life, doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.

In light of Anzu’s recent distinction as the first and only in-game ad company to receive an ISO 27001 certificate, which gives developers and advertisers confidence that user data is handled properly, the company is pushing new industry standards. Also the first and only solution of its kind to bring advanced and trusted AdTech integrations to in-game advertising, Anzu has introduced a collaboration with fraud-detection solution Forensiq, the first-ever ad verification solution in partnership with CHEQ, and campaign effectiveness measurement together with Nielsen Connectivity. These partnerships provide confidence to advertisers and in turn, translate to more revenues for game developers.

Anzu’s co-founder and CEO, Itamar Benedy, noted, “Together with Ubisoft, we are creating a new ecosystem for game developers and brands to experience efficient and scalable in-game advertising. Trackmania is a historic franchise and we are excited to partner with Ubisoft to generate value for them through our technology, innovation and expertise. The partnership will allow more gaming giants to experience how they can enhance their games with real-world brand ads all while driving new, sustainable revenue streams,” he said.

Could the online gambling industry adopt a similar approach? Technically speaking, it would make sense for online casino operators to advertise their bonuses, promotions and special offers in-game. Let’s see if and when that will happen.