Top 3 tips to create engaging in-game ads

RockYou is a cross-platform game publisher with a premium video ad network running through our content. With more than 50 games, the company sells video ads that play before and within the gaming experience, so they know what is working to engage players. Here are their top 3 tips to create a better in-game ad experience.

by Kristina Knight

First, cater to the mood.

"You have to think about the mindset of a player - they're taking an interactive break from the daily grind and in their happy place," said Lisa Marino, RockYou CEO. "So, more entertaining and humor-based ads tend to really well in gaming. Fear- and guilt-based ads (for instance, an ad about how you're not giving your kid the right vitamins) don't do great. Keep players feeling good and you'll likely see much higher completion rates."

Second, optimize the ads for web and mobile screens - don't repurpose old television ads because they are too long. According to Marino repurposed ads, which average around 30 seconds, will kill engagement and therefore campaign metrics, where a new 15 second ad should help with completion rates.

Finally, target to your audience.

"Any game publisher should have detailed metrics on hand about who their game reaches--age, gender, location, etc. So, it's relatively easy to target your ad to the right audience. Putting a diaper ad in front of a bingo game, which tends to be played by a lot of older adults, is probably not the greatest idea! If you have a product with mass appeal, it's also worth creating a set of ads catering to different demos and then placing them in games reaching those demos," said Marino.

Image via Shutterstock

Tags: advertising, game advertising, in game ads, in-game ads, RockYou