North American-based DSP StackAdapt has partnered with Anzu.io, the world’s most advanced in-game advertising platform, to leverage its in-game advertising inventory. The move means advertisers in North America and EMEA using StackAdapt’s DSP can now reach gamers programmatically across mobile, PC, and console via blended in-game banner and video ads that complement the gameplay.

Gaming has become a global mainstream and social phenomenon, with over 3.2 billion gamers worldwide. In response, brands and agencies are quickly trying to understand how they can reach this growing audience. StackAdapt is one of several DSPs that have recently partnered with Anzu to leverage its award-winning in-game advertising platform. Recently recognised as Best Ad Tech Platform by Digiday, Anzu already works with many of the globe’s leading brands and agencies including WPP, Publicis, NBCUniversal, Samsung, Vodafone, and PepsiCo.

StackAdapt, which was recently ranked as the No.1 DSP on G2, joins Anzu at a pivotal moment, having recently launched first-to-market viewability measurement for in-game ads with Oracle Moat. Earlier this year, the platform also closed its latest funding round, raising USD $20m (£16.6m) from new investors NBCUniversal and HTC and other repeat investors, including ad giant WPP, and Sony Innovation Fund.

Anzu’s VP of programmatic, Yaniv Rozencweig, said: “Anzu’s platform and StackAdapt’s cutting-edge, brand-safe technology is a perfect match. We’re excited to enable even more advertisers to programmatically serve ads across a wide range of SDK supply across multiple genres and platforms. StackAdapt’s advertisers will now be able to easily and confidently connect with previously hard-to-reach audiences, running their banner and video ads via our non-disruptive in-game placements.”

Anzu brings real-time data and existing digital industry standards in-game and is fully CCPA, GDPR, and COPPA compliant. The platform partners with the world’s digital advertising leaders, including Oracle, Lumen, Nielsen and HUMAN to ensure advertisers’ campaigns are brand-safe and that they can compare metrics such as ad viewability, brand lift measurement, and fraud detection against other channels. 

Data from HUMAN recently showed that out of 579m events, Anzu’s IVT averaged out at 0.36% on mobile and 0.11% on PC reaffirming that its in-game ad formats have much lower fraud rates than other forms of digital advertising. 

"Working with a partner like Anzu not only enhances our product offering, but most importantly, enables our clients to reach highly engaged and valuable audiences in a contextually relevant manner. For this reason, we are very excited about this partnership," said Michael Shang, VP, partnerships & business solutions at StackAdapt.