Brand placement in video games is a brand's paid or negotiated presence inside a game, from signage in a racing title to a branded world in Roblox. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) published its Gaming Measurement Framework, which sets standard formats and metrics for it, on June 26, 2025. eMarketer forecasts US game ad revenue near $10 billion by 2029, yet in-game advertising will hold only 2.3% of US digital ad spending in 2026.
That gap is the opportunity and the risk. Players spend hours in games, and the money has not followed them, but only 14.6% of players say they feel positive about ads in games, according to an Attest survey cited by eMarketer. A placement has to account for that gap.
What counts as brand placement in a video game?
Brand placement in a video game is any appearance of a brand inside the game itself or its surrounding experience, whether the publisher sold it as an ad or built it as a partnership. It covers four broad shapes: objects the player sees inside the game world, events the publisher hosts, worlds the brand builds, and rewards the player chooses to earn.
Signage on a stadium wall and a billboard on a virtual street are placements inside the world. A concert inside Fortnite is an event. Nikeland on Roblox is a world the brand built and operates. A video a player watches to earn in-game currency is a reward. Each shape asks something different of the player, so pick the shape before you brief the creative.
The IAB Gaming Measurement Framework recognizes five display formats in games: intrinsic in-game, rewarded, sponsorship, interstitial and adjacent. It also lists in-stream, livestream and custom formats for video and other media types. The framework gives each format its own baseline and additional metrics, so buyers can compare offers on the same terms. It applies to mobile, PC and console gaming, according to a June 2025 PPC Land report.
| Format | Where the brand appears | What the player does |
|---|
| Intrinsic in-game | Inside the game world, such as signage or objects | Nothing. The brand sits in the scene. |
| Rewarded | A video or offer the player opts into | Watches or engages to earn a cosmetic item, currency or other gift |
| Sponsorship | A paid association with a game, event or team | Sees the brand attached to the experience |
| Interstitial | Between levels or at natural breaks | Waits through or skips the break |
| Adjacent | Near gameplay, not inside it | Sees the ad next to the game |
The descriptions of intrinsic, rewarded, interstitial and adjacent formats follow eMarketer's summary of the IAB framework. The sponsorship description is the plain meaning of the term. Read the IAB's own Gaming Measurement Framework PDF before you sign a deal, because the metric lists differ by format.
How big is in-game advertising, and where is it going?
In-game advertising is a small share of digital ad spending with a large audience behind it. eMarketer forecast US game ad revenue at $8.53 billion in 2024, rising to nearly $10 billion by 2029, and put the share of US digital ad spending at 2.3% in 2026, falling to 2% by 2029.
The audience side of the ledger is larger. eMarketer's October 2025 forecast puts 59.2% of the US population among digital gamers in 2026. The IAB's Zoe Soon said more than 80% of US internet users identify as gamers, as Daily Research News Online reported on June 27, 2025. The two figures use different definitions, so quote each with its source.
The reading for a marketer is direct. Attention in games is large and spend is small. Venatus, a gaming ad publisher, wrote in July 2025 that measurement had been inconsistent for years. The IAB framework gives a procurement team a shared list of metrics to ask for.
How do players react to ads inside games?
Most players notice in-game ads and few like them. An Attest survey cited by eMarketer found 71.3% of game players have noticed ads while playing, and only 14.6% feel positive about ads in games. The same survey found 62% of players call rewards-based ads the most engaging type.
Why it works: A rewarded ad is opt-in, so the player trades a few seconds for an item or currency and keeps control. The measurable consequence is that rewarded formats draw the strongest engagement score in the Attest data, and the named source is the Attest survey as reported by eMarketer in 2025. The takeaway is to pair any interruptive format with a reward or place it at a natural break.
Marketers are testing rewarded formats because players choose them and because returns on paid social have fallen. Seven in 10 marketers are testing new ad formats to combat falling return on investment from paid social, according to a February 2025 Taboola survey cited by eMarketer.
An eMarketer and Discord survey found 65% of US marketers agree that users prefer rewarded ads to non-rewarded formats, and 46.3% say rewarded ads make users feel more in control of their ad experience. The survey found 20% use rewarded ads frequently and another 34.4% have tested them. eMarketer's 2026 video game advertising FAQ reports these figures.
Marketers assign the format different jobs. The same FAQ reports that 55.6% of marketers say rewarded ads suit brand awareness and 40.6% believe they can build long-term loyalty. A rewarded placement is simple to buy for awareness, but a loyalty claim needs a follow-up measure such as repeat purchase or return visits.
What do real brand placements in games look like?
Three dated examples show three different shapes: an event, a branded world and a platform exhibit. Each one reached a large audience, and the sources reviewed here report reach and not sales, so judge them as reach cases and not as proof of revenue.
What did Travis Scott's Fortnite concert show?
Travis Scott's Astronomical event in Fortnite drew 12.3 million concurrent players on April 23, 2020, according to Epic Games. That beat the 10.7 million concurrent players at Marshmello's 2019 concert. Players who attended received a free glider and loading screens, and the game sold a Travis Scott skin and related items in its store, as GameSpot reported.
The lesson is the structure. The event had a fixed start time, repeat showings over the following days and items players could keep. A placement with a date, a story and a keepsake gave players a reason to show up. EPR covers the wider shift in how Fortnite rewrote the digital PR playbook.
What did Nikeland show about branded worlds?
Nikeland, Nike's world inside Roblox, drew 6.7 million visitors from 224 countries between its November 2021 launch and March 2022, according to Nike's chief executive John Donahoe on the company's earnings call, as The Drum reported. The world offered minigames and virtual products for avatars, and LeBron James appeared during NBA All-Star Week in February 2022.
Nike did not give revenue figures for Nikeland itself. The numbers show reach and visit counts, and the public record does not show what those visits paid back. Treat a branded world as a reach and brand-affinity investment unless the brand discloses sales.
What did the Gucci Garden show about exhibits?
FashionUnited's January 2022 review of Roblox's year called the Gucci Garden the most popular of the fashion partnership events on the platform. It was a virtual exhibit built from Gucci's campaigns, design history and muses. Roblox grew from 32.6 million to nearly 50 million daily active users that year, so fashion houses were entering a fast-growing audience.
How do you compare reach numbers from different games?
Reach numbers from different games measure different things, so do not line them up in one chart. Epic Games counted 12.3 million concurrent players at one moment of the Travis Scott event. Nike counted 6.7 million people who visited Nikeland over roughly five months. Roblox counted nearly 50 million daily active users across its platform in 2021, according to FashionUnited.
A concurrent figure is a peak, a visitor figure accumulates over time, and a daily active figure describes a platform and not a campaign. Ask each publisher which unit it reports, over which dates, and whether it counts unique people. The IAB baseline metrics exist so that buyers can request these definitions in the same words from every seller.
How do you measure a placement in a game?
Measure a placement with the IAB's baseline metrics first, then add format-specific metrics where the format supports them. The IAB framework separates baseline metrics, which it says should be treated as non-negotiable, from additional metrics, and it lists contextual targeting by game genre and name among the general capabilities across formats.
Platform owners back the standard. Allison McDuffee, Roblox's head of brand insights and measurement, called the framework "a major step forward both for the gaming industry and decision makers in marketing," as Daily Research News Online reported on June 27, 2025. A buyer can cite that support in negotiations.
Ask every publisher or network for four things in writing before you buy: the format by its IAB name, the baseline metrics it will report, the game titles or genres where the ad will run, and how it verifies that the ad was seen. The IAB's Intrinsic In-Game Measurement Guidelines cover the first format in detail.
Why it works: Venatus, a gaming ad publisher, wrote in July 2025 that gaming measurement had been inconsistent, which made two offers hard to compare. A shared list lets a buyer line up quotes and reject a vendor that will not report the baseline. The named source is the IAB Gaming Measurement Framework, released June 26, 2025.
What belongs in a contract with a game publisher?
A contract with a game publisher should name the format, the metrics, the titles and the reporting dates. The IAB Gaming Measurement Framework supplies the vocabulary: format names such as intrinsic in-game or rewarded, baseline metrics, and contextual targeting by game genre and name.
Add four clauses. First, require the IAB format name and the baseline metrics for that format, so the report can be audited against the contract. Second, list the game titles or genres in the agreement and require notice before any change, because a brand placed beside the wrong title carries that title's reputation. Third, set the reporting dates, including a final report after the flight ends. Fourth, state who approves the player-facing copy for any reward or announcement. These clauses are EPR's recommendation and not an IAB requirement. Keep the final report with the contract file, because the IAB describes its framework as a consistent language for measurement and reporting.
What should a PR team plan before a placement goes live?
A PR team should plan the player reaction as carefully as the media buy. The sequence below turns the evidence above into a checklist for a first placement.
- Pick one objective: awareness, product trial or affinity. Reach cases like Nikeland fit awareness. A reward fits trial.
- Match the format to the objective using the IAB names, and refuse a format you cannot describe in one sentence.
- Choose a game whose genre fits the product. Sports, racing and open-world titles offer natural surfaces for signage.
- Write the measurement terms into the contract: baseline metrics, titles, and viewability checks.
- Prepare the player-facing message. With 14.6% of players positive about in-game ads, a brand that explains the offer and gives a keepsake earns more goodwill than one that only appears.
- Brief the comms team on the downside before launch. EPR's analysis of broken promises in video game marketing shows how a placement tied to a game that disappoints carries the damage to the brand.
Why it works: In the Attest survey, 71.3% of players noticed in-game ads and 14.6% felt positive about them. A brand that appears without an offer or explanation lands with the roughly 85% who do not feel positive. A keepsake or opt-in reward moves the placement toward the format players rated most engaging. The named source is the Attest survey as reported by eMarketer in 2025.
Where does PR fit when a brand enters games?
PR owns the story around the placement: the announcement, the creator and community reaction, and the response if the game or partner draws criticism. The commercial deal sits with media and partnerships teams. The two teams need one calendar, because a launch window and a news cycle can collide.
Start with EPR's gaming and esports communications guide for the sector map and the video game public relations overview for agency and campaign context. EPR's list of best gaming PR campaigns collects dated examples to study.
What should a brand do first?
Run one small, measured test in a single format before you commit a large budget. Choose rewarded video or a sponsorship with a named game, require the IAB baseline metrics, and compare the result against your paid social benchmark. Scale the format that meets your objective and drop the one that does not. Set the pass mark before the test starts so nobody argues.
Do not buy a branded world or a custom event until you can state in one sentence what a visit is worth to your business. Nike's public record shows visits and countries, and it does not show revenue, so a brand without a sales model should copy the reach goal and not the budget.
Sources
Market figures: eMarketer's US gaming industry guide and its report on the IAB framework. Standards: the IAB Gaming Measurement Framework, June 2025. Player survey figures: Attest, as reported by eMarketer in 2025. Marketer survey figures: Taboola (February 2025) and eMarketer with Discord, as reported in eMarketer's 2026 video game advertising FAQ. The 80% gamer figure is from Zoe Soon of the IAB, quoted by Daily Research News Online on June 27, 2025. Examples: Epic Games via GameSpot (April 2020), Nike via The Drum (March 2022) and FashionUnited (January 2022).
