Chip maker NVIDIA last week launched a pre-roll ad product for cloud gaming that makes video game advertising look a lot more like connected TV (CTV).

These ad units by NVIDIA and gaming ad tech PlayerWON play while users wait for game machines in the cloud to become available, helping to reduce wait times on the free tier.

• Pre-game ads on free games have long been available for mobile, but they’re new to cloud gaming.
• Existing ad formats for non-mobile games, like in-game experiences and billboards, require resources brands may not have, said Dave Madden, founder and president of PlayerWon.
• Brands like Amazon Prime, Experian, and Disney are purchasing the new pre-roll ads.

The new formats also allow brands to use existing CTV creative in video games, creating efficiencies. “The same ads that are running on the Super Bowl can run in front of games on GFN,” said Madden. The ad unit allows cloud games to essentially function like free ad-supported TV (FASTs) to make brands “heroes” in helping to reduce wait times on the free version of an otherwise subscription service. “I think of it as a Netflix-like ad model for games,” said Madden.

Cloud gamers are an engaged audience that behave somewhat similar to CTV viewers.

• Because getting access to a free cloud game server involves a queue for a rig to open up, gamers tend to use smartphones during that wait time, per Madden.
• This kind of second-screen usage is also common among US adults aged 18 to 24 watching digital video. CTV advertisers have found ways to reach these multiscreeners through strategies like QR codes, which can now extend to gaming.
• Using genre-based targeting, advertisers can segment audiences and leverage gaming as a measurable, engaged ad medium the same way they already do for CTV.

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