Playwire Media partners with RapidFire for dynamic in-game ads

Playwire Media, an online video-ad platform formerly known as Intergi, has partnered with RapidFire to be able to put dynamic ads inside games.

Jayson Dubin, the chief executive of Deerfield, Fla.-based Playwire Media, said that means that his company will be able to place ads around games on traditional websites and that it will also be able to place ads inside games as well on context-relevant locations, such as in-game billboards. Those ads will also be dynamic, meaning that they can be changed on the fly.

“If you are a marketer and want to reach gamers at scale, there is no one who can match our scale, our global reach, our tech, and now our real estate in the games themselves,” Dubin said.

The Vancouver, Canada-based RapidFire announced in June that it had cut a deal with Miniclip.com to put dynamic in-game ads into web-based games. RapidFire acquired the technology from IGA Worldwide, which tried for years to establish a business with in-game ads for console games. IGA couldn’t make the business work on a large scale, but putting ads inside web games enables Playwire to reach a much larger audience.

Instead of interrupting a gamer’s experience, dynamic in-game ads can be placed in billboards and posters in a 3D game environment. These ads help add to the simulated realism of a game, and that’s why brand marketers are getting more excited about it, whether it’s in console, social, mobile, or PC platforms. Games that use in-game ads include NBA 2K15, The Golf Club, and Rollercoaster Tycoon.

“This is a critical piece to our business,” said Dubin. “Now that we are capable to serve ads during game play in real-time, we are able to deliver advertisers one conduit for all of their in-game marketing needs.”

Playwire Media says it has become the largest digital content ad exchange in entertainment and games. It reaches 83 million unique visitors a month in the U.S. And the company has expanded into music, sports, film, and other sectors of entertainment such as comedy. Worldwide, Playwire Media reaches 311 million monthly unique users. Now it can place still ads inside games, and in some cases, video ads in some games.

During August, the company said it served one billion ads worldwide on mobile alone. It has had 340 million video mobile ad views since it started doing that in December 2013. More than 4,000 developers have joined the Playwire Media ad exchange.

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Dubin founded Intergi in 2007 as a web ad network with a focus on video games. In 2011, it started Playwire Media to focus on video ads. Playwire Media created a customizable and scalable video player that enables publishers and content creators to monetize and syndicate their video content at no cost. Playwire Media encodes and hosts the content so that the customers don’t have to do that themselves. It provides analytics and matches publishers with brand advertisers via a direct sales team.

Rivals include YouTube, Vevo, Brightcove, and Ooyala.

Prior to the partnership with RapidFire, Playwire Media’s in-game offering was limited to placing preroll ads before, during and after game play sessions on casual games, mobile games, PC digital distribution network Steam, and during livestreaming via the PlayStation 4.

“The global video game industry is growing at staggering rates,” said RapidFire CEO Jordan L. Howard in a statement. “Our partnership unites two powerhouses in gaming, and we are thrilled that a global force like Playwire Media can help us achieve the scalability and sales resources necessary to help us keep up with such an evolving industry.”

“The RapidFire partnership allows us to offer advertisers one conduit for all of their in-game advertising strategies,” said Dubin. “We now have the ability to fully integrate any brand’s messaging into every facet of any gaming experience.”

Above: In-game ad for Paramount Australia Bad Grandpa film.

Image Credit: Playwire/RapidFire