{"id":616305,"date":"2023-03-10T08:49:50","date_gmt":"2023-03-10T14:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/10\/iab-playfronts-2023-recap-in-adland-the-pace-of-change-can-be-glacial\/"},"modified":"2023-03-10T08:49:50","modified_gmt":"2023-03-10T14:49:50","slug":"iab-playfronts-2023-recap-in-adland-the-pace-of-change-can-be-glacial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/10\/iab-playfronts-2023-recap-in-adland-the-pace-of-change-can-be-glacial\/","title":{"rendered":"IAB PlayFronts 2023 recap: In adland, the pace of change can be glacial"},"content":{"rendered":"
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March 10, 2023\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a04 min read<\/span> \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 By Alexander Lee<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Yesterday marked the second and last day of the Interactive Advertising Bureau\u2019s 2023 PlayFronts conference. The event was full of buzz about the ad opportunities present in video games \u2014 but it also showed just how glacial the pace of both technological and cultural advancements can be in the advertising industry, particularly when it comes to gaming.<\/p>\n

Between March 8 and 9, a crowd of ad industry movers and shakers gathered in New York City to discuss the current state of advertising in gaming. The event was exclusive and invite-only \u2014\u00a0but don\u2019t sweat it if you didn\u2019t get the invitation. Here\u2019s the lowdown on the IAB\u2019s annual gaming conference, Digiday style.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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That\u2019s right: annual. While the IAB approached last year\u2019s PlayFronts as an experimental venture, it\u2019s clear that the organization is full steam ahead on gaming this year. During her second-day opening talk, IAB Experience Center vp Zo\u00eb Soon announced that the organization will be relaunching its games committee<\/a> later this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of our new marketplace tentpoles,\u201d said Soon, who organized the event. \u201cSo yes, it\u2019s definitely intended to be an annual series.\u201d<\/p>\n

The IAB\u2019s enthusiasm was reflected in the event\u2019s sponsorship group, which included Samsung Ads, Activision Blizzard Media and \u2014 tantalizingly \u2014\u00a0TikTok, whose gaming plans<\/a> have been a source of speculation for many industry observers in recent months. (TikTok\u2019s involvement was tied to the event\u2019s gift bags. The platform did not have a representative speak at PlayFronts, but it was intriguing to see it get involved.)<\/p>\n

The purpose of last year\u2019s PlayFronts event was largely to make marketers aware of the advertising opportunities present in gaming. This time around, some of the presenters looked to actively build on the groundwork laid in 2022, but the rest spent their presentations rolling out the same slate of tried-and-true gaming stats that already felt stale last year<\/a> \u2014 3 billion gamers in the world, 50 percent of gamers are women, and so on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At PlayFronts 2022, it felt like the entire audience was breathlessly ready to be educated about the role of advertising in gaming. This year, it was clear that a fair amount of the audience \u2014 and some of the presenters \u2014 were still stuck in that same place.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are certain panels that have felt so authentic and natural to gaming, with people that truly live and breathe gaming, and get it,\u201d said Amanda Rubin, an svp and global head of sales and marketing for Enthusiast Gaming<\/a>. \u201cThere\u2019s certainly some other panels where you could tell it was a sponsor, and they don\u2019t really still understand the gaming industry \u2014\u00a0and that\u2019s a little cringe.\u201d<\/p>\n

To be fair, the presenters who did come armed with new information had interesting data to share. In 2022, PlayFronts was all about intrinsic in-game advertising \u2014\u00a0which makes sense, as the IAB was in the process of developing its new measurement guidelines<\/a> for that form of ad. Several of the big in-game ad companies were present this year, but the focus of the talks widened considerably. At PlayFronts 2023, presenters informed the audience about a myriad of new ways to advertise alongside gaming, including esports integrations, immersive Fortnite and Roblox experiences, and creator-focused marketing campaigns.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at the diversity of presenters at this PlayFronts relative to last year, it\u2019s highlighting all of these different entry points into the ecosystem,\u201d said Jonathan Stringfield, whose presentation breaking down what exactly defines premium gaming inventory<\/a> was a highlight of the conference. \u201cLast year, understanding the importance, the size and the scale of a game like \u2018Call of Duty\u2019 was not readily apparent, because a lot of marketers might not be familiar with the industry. So we\u2019re just slowly moving this pace along.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a recession mounts and the so-called \u201cesports winter<\/a>\u201d grows colder, the gaming companies with authentic and informed knowledge of the space are the ones who are better placed to succeed in capturing brands\u2019 shrinking marketing budgets. At this year\u2019s IAB PlayFronts event, the wheat started to separate from the chaff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s definitely been a shakedown in terms of how much money and investment is in the marketplace in general right now,\u201d said Gabrielle Heyman, head of global brand partnerships at Zynga. \u201cLast year was very focused on justification \u2014\u00a0you know, why gaming is important \u2014\u00a0and so we saw a lot of repeat justifications from multiple presenters. This is an upfront, so it should be about content.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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