SupersonicAds strengthens in-game branded advertising with $4.2M

In-game advertiser SupersonicAds grabbed $4.2 million from Greylock Partners to boost its competitiveness with international market know-how.

SupersonicAds is an avenue for game publishers to monetize international players with pay-per-engagement advertising. Players interact with SupersonicAds to earn in-game currency and unlock features through its BrandConnect program.

The new funding will allow the startup to integrate deeper into games and expand its London sales team — in addition to its Tel Aviv office, according to SupersonicAds. The company, which is headquartered in London, claims that its understanding of international markets trumps competitors’.

“We know the area, we are investing a lot in building [products] right per market, be it France, Germany, or the UK,” said chief executive Gil Shoham. The markets mentioned are company’s biggest, with 70 percent of its advertising activity occurring in Europe.

Companies like TapJoy, RockYou ads and others are seeing traction on incentivized ads, or ads that give a reward in exchange for interaction with its content. SupersonicAds claims that 50-80 percent of players who opt to watch videos for currency stay for the whole show, while 40 percent actually visit the advertiser’s website.

Along with video, SupersonicAds offers a white label widget that developers personalize with their company’s brand. Kelloggs, for instance, created a pop-up for its video advertisement in the GameDuell-produced game BubbleSpeed.

SupersonicAds’ other high-profile clients including Hasbro, Disney, Dell, M&M’s, Groupon, Sony, Skype and others. Ads run across upwards of 350 games with over 150 advertisers (including agencies) using the BrandConnect product and over 3000 using other SupersonicAds offerings.

Mobile is also on the horizon, Shoham explained.

While BrandConnect is coming to both  iOS and Android in the future, Shoham said “the focus for this year is to expand the teams and to invest in brand advertising.”

Founded in 2009, SupersonicAds has 45 employees. To date, the company has a total of $6 million in funding from Greylock Partners and other private investors.