Advertising is no longer just pop-ups: How to navigate the trillion-dollar in-game advertising market?

Question

The advertising in the crypto world is undergoing a quiet revolution.

Traditional banners and pop-ups? They are no longer enough. The battlefield has shifted to games - in immersive scenes where you are fighting monsters, racing, and building. How big is the market? It is expected to reach $124.5 billion this year.

Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet have long been eyeing this piece of the pie. In the second quarter of 2025, YouTube Gaming achieved a watch time of 2.2 billion hours, just think about how terrifying this traffic pool is.

There is a company that specializes in playable ads, and they are even more aggressive: their interactive ads can achieve user engagement rates 3 to 7 times higher than traditional video ads. On connected TV (CTV)? The click-through rate skyrockets to 70%. With this approach, they just secured $20 million in funding and are preparing to extend their reach into the CTV and digital asset space.

According to their roadmap, they should start making money by 2026. Games are not just games anymore; now even advertisements want to play along with you.

BearMarketMonk · Accepted Answer

A hundred-billion market sounds sexy, but immersive ads are really just a way to trap users even deeper. The traffic monetization game has come full circle again.

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This spike in engagement... is it really because the ads are good, or are users just already hooked by the game itself? Data can be deceiving.

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The fact that Microsoft is eyeing this space shows that the traditional ad pool has hit its ceiling. Same old game in a new bottle—just another cycle.

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Numbers like a 70% click-through rate already smell like the bubble before it bursts. History loves to repeat itself.

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Yet another fundraising story. Tossing in 20 million, but who knows if they'll even still be around in 2026.

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In-game ads have become the last lifeline for traffic, which actually shows the market is already half-saturated.

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It looks innovative, but it's really just advertisers going from desperate survival to "let's play with you." The logic hasn’t changed, only the packaging has.

BoredRiceBall · Answer

Advertising in games is really about to take off—everyone wants a piece of this $124.5 billion market.

70% click-through rate? That’s even more diligent than me clicking links.

With Microsoft and Meta involved, these big companies have already done the math.

Playable ads massively outperform traditional ads in terms of engagement—this is exactly what the Web3 era should look like.

Interactive is king; the era of passively watching pop-ups is truly over.

Judging by the amount of funding, it looks like the project teams are serious.

Game content ecosystem + ad monetization—the financial prospects are definitely sky-high.

If you’re not jumping on the bandwagon by 2026, you’ll really be out of the loop.

MoonWaterDroplets · Answer

Isn&#39;t this just the "disruptive innovation" of online advertising? The engagement from in-game placements really crushes traditional pop-ups.

With a 124.5 billion cake, the big companies have already sharpened their knives, just waiting to cut.

Is that 70% click-through rate for real... It feels like the next opportunity is right in front of us.

QuorumVoter · Answer

Advertising in games is really amazing, much better than those annoying pop-ups.

Big companies have definitely sensed the trend, who wouldn&#39;t want a bite of the 124.5 billion cake?

70% click-through rate? This data can&#39;t be exaggerated, feels a bit suspicious.

Interactive ads have a crushing participation rate compared to traditional forms, no wonder the funding is so fast.

Playable ads in this sector are about to explode, need to follow who can truly reap this wave of benefits.

Stuffing ads into games... how did user experience become just traffic? A bit concerning.

22 billion hours of watch time, YouTube Gaming is really impressive.

Wait, isn&#39;t this the native advertising format in Web3 games? Need to keep an eye on it.

20 million dollars is just the beginning, the market in this area is likely to be a chaotic battle.

Digital asset + game advertising, whether this combination can work still depends.