New Delhi: Anzu, the world’s most advanced in-game advertising platform today announces its launch into the India market, exclusively represented in APAC by AdColony and with key launch partner WCC2, India’s most popular cricket game.
With Anzu, brands now can access in-game inventory and target gamers in India programmatically, in a way that’s optimized for brand safety and that delivers on viewability and brand recall.
Anzu’s in-game advertising inventory is seamlessly integrated into their gaming environment, ensuring an uninterrupted experience for the gamer while enhancing the impact of the ad. Brands also benefit from a more targeted measurement on their spend, through Anzu’s integrated partnerships with leading ad-tech vendors Nielsen, Moat, Comscore, and Kantar, to provide ad viewability, brand lift measurement, audience verification, data enrichment, and fraud detection.
India has witnessed a surge in mobile gaming, from 365 million Indian gamers in 2020 to a projected 510 million by 2022, according to a recent report by Statista. India has seen a significant shift in demographics, and gamers who were previously thought to skew younger, are now spread across different age groups, with nearly one-third of the gaming population aged over 35 years.
Three out of four Indian players are enjoying mobile games at least twice a day and typically spend over an hour on their device daily – this is higher than the average 45 minutes spent on OTT services.
Coinciding with the launch is Anzu’s latest integration with a key partner, WCC2 – India’s most popular cricket gaming app with over 140 million downloads. As a result of the lockdown during Covid-19, there was a peak in the number of downloads of the mobile gaming app, recording daily and monthly active users of 3.5 million and 15 million respectively.
Other noteworthy games integrated with Anzu’s platform include MPL, TrackMania, Final Kick, Real Basketball, and many more, allowing brands to reach a wide audience across multiple demographics.
Commenting on the exclusive deal with Anzu, AdColony’s Country Manager for South Asia, Amit Rathi, said, “At AdColony, our mission is to connect brands with consumers across the full spectrum of gaming and e-sports, ranging from hyper-casual mobile gamers and streamers, to console gamers and esports fans. This exclusive deal with Anzu will give more brands the confidence to engage with gamers in India, and connect their media strategy across the entire range of gaming environments.”
Itamar Benedy, CEO & Co-Founder at Anzu, added, “We’re thrilled to partner with AdColony and launch our offerings in the Indian market. In the sub-continent, brands are recognising that gaming is no longer a demographic or even a channel, but a cultural layer that sits across how we socialise, play and engage with brands. Ambitious brands who have an appetite for creating groundbreaking campaigns will now be able to connect with a wider audience and deliver powerful, impactful creatives through this partnership. We’re excited to see this transform the way brands and consumers interact.”
