Audio advertising in mobile video games: how and why does it work?

Digital audio advertising in video games is still not well known. However, in just two years, it has become one of the key ways to access young audiences reputed to be difficult to reach. We asked an expert in the field to explain the phenomenon and its opportunities.

Digital audio is growing quickly. Along with video games, the market should increase from $175.8 billion to over $200 billion in 2024, according to the 2021 Global Games Market report. The idea of inserting audio advertising in this environment is not incongruous, it’s even a “natural evolution”, according to Ben Williams, the founder of KILN.

Audio ads and mobile games: why it works

Audio has always been intimately linked to the video game experience. Which means that digital audio advertising is right at home in it because it “provides a non-intrusive means to reach gamers with brand messages”. Gamers are used to being immersed in an encompassing sound environment.

While the idea of inserting audio advertising into a video game (primarily in an in-app context) is fairly recent, it appears to have quickly made inroads and convinced both gamers and advertisers.

Digital advertising in video games has another significant benefit: it provides access to a target which is particularly difficult to reach outside of video games, i.e., young generation Z adults. Ben Williams explains “It’s a more sophisticated audience, to which mobile video games provide a more direct access”.

A new, promising market

The technologies implemented are still recent (about two years old). Today, the challenge is to “transpose what we have learnt in the digital audio in-app field (streaming, notably) to the mobile video game world”.

Brands must see the new strategy as a “reach play”, without insisting too heavily on clicks or instant response mechanisms: “The 15- or 32-second adverts used by this industry naturally find their place in mobile video games, a field in which companies like Targetspot have carried out experiments that now allow us to ensure very significant opportunities to brands”.

Ben Williams’ expertise on video

Do you want to implement an audio advertising strategy for video games? Here’s how.