Developer FAQ

What kind of rewards can I offer?

Our interaction rewarded ad platform means you can give your gamers free coffees, cinema tickets, discounts at supermarket chains, amazing offers on latest tech, free drinks at their favourite bar, streaming media subscriptions, and discounts and trials for fitness programmes, cosmetics, and clothing, all targeted to your players’ interests.

Our rewarded ad partners include Amazon, Chili Movies, Mobiles.co.uk, Apple TV, Apple Music, Tastecard, Tidal, Beer52, Virgin Wines, Pact Coffee, Craft Gin Club, Curve, NowTV, Conde Nast, VOXI, Freddie’s Flowers, Gillette, and more.

Will it cost me anything?

Nothing. We provide the Interact backend, Unity API and all the documentation and hands-on advice to help you make the most of them.

How does earning potential compare with other ad types?

The earning potential of your Interact campaigns depends on how many and what kind of ads you display. Fully integrated in-game display ads – advertisements for real-world products seamlessly built into your game world – are regularly found to be among the best-performing in terms of both user satisfaction and revenue per thousand impressions.

Level or full game takeovers are bespoke collaborations between you and your brand partner, so earnings vary depending on the extent and nature of the takeover event. We’ll connect you with a compatible brand and lend our expertise to ensure that ad surfaces and reskinnables are positioned to have the greatest impact.

Our rewarded ads mean you can give players prizes in the form of physical items and digital subscriptions. Rewarded ads of all types have high levels of engagement and user satisfaction, with a significant revenue per thousand impressions. Better yet, rewarded experiences that provide tangible benefits are mobile gamers’ favourite kind of advertisement by a huge margin, with ~55% of Millenial and GenZ gaming audiences listing them as their favourite ad type.

Can I use Interact alongside other ad networks?

Absolutely. You can place Interact and its player-friendly display ads in your game alongside traditional interstitials or banners from another network, or combine Interact’s own display ads and rewarded content, adding compelling extra revenue layers to your existing advertising.

What platforms do you support?

The Interact SDK is currently available for Unity 2018.4 LTS, 2019.4 LTS and 2020.3 LTS.
Versions are also currently in development for Unreal Engine and HTML5 games.

Interact ads are right at home in games for Android and iOS, but it’s just as easy ship to platforms including Windows, PS5 and Xbox One, adding features like realistic in-game partner advertising to high-end racing sims, thrilling shooters or meditative puzzle games on desktop and console platforms, as well as mobile.

Where can I find the documentation?

Sign up now to download our key PDF manuals:

  • Interact In-Game Ads Guide : everything you need to know about deploying advertising that melds perfectly into your game’s world.
  • Interact Quickstart Guide : get started with rewarded ads in nine easy steps.
  • Interact SDK deployment & customisation guide : customise the Interact rewarded ad SDK and assets to perfectly match your UI.

Playstack’s cross-platform experience means that we can support you every step of the way, no matter where your game launches. Sign up now to get started.

Brand FAQ

Do in-game display ads make a difference?

Research shows us that the less friction there is between player, game, and advertising, the stronger the player’s ability to recall in-game advertisements. Now that we can seamlessly build display ads into game worlds, data reveals that players look for longer, pay more attention and are significantly more likely to recall the brands they see, in both prompted and unprompted scenarios.

Who’s the audience?

The glib answer is virtually anyone with a smartphone. Breaking down the specifics, 86% of both Millennials and Generation Z play mobile games. Mobile gamers know their brands, appreciate seamless display advertising and actively seek out and engage with rewarded ad experiences. They shop on mobile, too, with their phone providing a direct retail gateway, as well as entertainment and personal communication.

Can we restrict advertising to a single region?

Yes. Interact has region-specific configurations that allow you to target individual campaigns for the eyes of players in almost any country or group of countries that you might want. For rewarded promotions, this means that you can provide localised offers of free gifts and vouchers.

Can we target specific demographics?

Absolutely. Developers provide us with the demographic profiles of their game’s user base. We use that data for ad targeting, ensuring that your promotions are put in front of the players who’ll care about them the most.

Are there any limits on what products we can advertise?

In-game advertising must match the age rating of the game in which it appears. We’ll pair your ads with appropriate partners, and we’ll ensure that all ads comply with regional laws on data handling.

Be #PartOfThePlay
Become an Interact Partner today.

Brand Data

3.2 billion people – 40% of the world – play games, a figure that’s growing by 6% year on year. The global games market has been valued at $162bn in 2021. That’s bigger than music ($20.2bn) and film ($45bn) put together. In 2006 the games market was worth $8bn. By 2026, forecasts indicate that it’ll reach a staggering $314bn.

But although almost half the planet plays games, advertisers aren’t yet investing in speaking to those players. The 3.2 billion person audience for games is almost – 91% – as big as the 3.5 billion people who consume social media. Yet gaming gets only 3% the ad investment of social media: just $4.5 billion, to the industry’s $154 billion ad spend on social. That’s a missed opportunity.

Why are brands missing out on gaming?

Many brands simply don’t know where to start. Although an overwhelming majority of brands – some 93% – plan to run in-game advertising, 31% say they’re not sure of how to begin building an advertising presence within the video games sector.

Brands’ ability to take advantage of this burgeoning industry is often sabotaged by inaccurate perceptions of who the audience really is. The stereotype of a young male console player remains pervasive, but the vast majority of people – 2.8 billion (93%) – play on mobile.

The average mobile gamer might not be who you might think, either. She’s about 37 years old, while her male counterpart is around 33. 51% of mobile players are women, who in fact account for some 45% to 55% of the entire gaming audience across all platforms

Gaming’s biggest ad opportunities

Mobile is by far the largest sector of the games industry. By market value, mobile gaming occupies 45% of the industry, compared to consoles’ 32% market share and PC gaming’s 23%.

The difference is even more pronounced when you look at raw player numbers. Twice as many people play mobile games as PC titles, and four times as many play on mobile as on consoles.

Uniquely, mobile is both portable and, unlike other handheld gaming platforms, supports geolocation targeting. This means that, with real-world rewarded advertising, brands can drive activity to locations, bringing customers to retail outlets through redeemable coupons and sample offers.

Reach the Unreachables

An estimated 42.7% of worldwide internet users – and 51% of Generation Z – browse the web with an ad blocker enabled. But mobile games provide a direct line to this unreachable, well-informed, and highly discerning market. They like their ads integrated and immersive, which is why Interact is built to enhance, rather than interrupt, gaming activity.

Profile:
Millennials

Born between the beginning of the 80s and the mid-1990s, Generation Y, the Millennials, came of age at the turn of the 21st Century.

The younger part of this cohort is unlikely to remember a time without mobile phones and the internet. 49% of Millenials got their first smartphone before they turned 17, and 75% list gaming as their favourite mobile activity.

They’re avid mobile gamers

86% use their smartphone for gaming, compared to 37% who use consoles and 27% who play on PCs. 70% play mobile games every day.

They prefer shopping on their smartphone

44% of Millenials list their smartphone as their favourite shopping location – that’s more than Generation X at 38% or younger Gen Z at 35%. 73% of them shop on mobile one to four times a week, with popular purchases including clothing, cosmetics, video games and streaming video content.

They love rewarded ads more than anyone else

55% of Millennials engage with rewarded mobile game ads; more than even Generation Z. 63% say they enjoy rewarded offers, with 58% listing them as their favourite kind of advertisement – banner ads come a very distant second at 12%.

They’ll follow up with a purchase

The things that influence Millennial mobile gamers the most? In-game rewards, great special offers, and ads that aren’t intrusive. Gen Y likes to choose.

Source: Tapjoy, The Modern Mobile Gamer™2021: Millennial Edition

Profile:
Generation Z

The demographic now coming into adulthood, Generation Z spans the period between the mid-90s and around 2010. The oldest members of Gen Z, aged 18 to 24, are a key marketing demographic.

They’re uniquely switched on: 61% started using smartphones between the ages of 11 and 17, compared to 41% of Millennials, and 22% got their first smartphone before they turned 11.

Generation Z are mobile-first

78% consider their smartphone their most important device.

Gaming is their favourite mobile activity

86% use mobile as a gaming platform, compared to 42% who play on consoles and 38% on PCs. 82% play mobile games often, and 55% actively seek out new mobile games.

They shop where they play

68% shop on their mobile phone one to four times a week. Their top three purchases are clothing, takeaway or delivery food, and cosmetics.

They prefer rewarded ads

54% say rewarded experiences are their preferred ad type, compared to just 13% for the next most popular type, social media ads. They specifically dislike intrusive advertising, and mobile games are where they’re most like to engage with rewarded ads.

Source: Tapjoy, The Modern Mobile Gamer™2021: Gen Z Edition