The Metaverse refers to the all-encompassing virtual reality technology with digital gaming and video as the center stage. With 55% of the world’s 3 billion gamers living in Asia, the Metaverse is rapidly growing in the mobile-first Asian continent. 90% of the gamers are smartphone players, indicating the dominance of mobile in the world of connected consumers*.
With major players such as Facebook and Snap investing in the Metaverse, it calls for a promising future. Asians take the lead in this new reality that runs on virtual avatars, NFTs, and virtual programming. What becomes interesting is to unravel how gamified experiences will shape consumer journeys right from authenticating to researching, learning, and purchasing on the virtual reality platform.
Smartphone users across Southeast Asia took to gaming with great gusto during the initial lockdowns with 3.5X higher engagement during the day. What emerged first as a trend transformed into a permanent behavior. Southeast Asia witnessed a permanent shift that lasted beyond the pandemic, recording over a 2X growth in gaming usage on average, year on year. Most Indonesians are committed gamers, playing a mobile game every day. The love for mobile games spans across age groups, genders, and cities in Indonesia.**
Metaverse in Gaming Genre: The lockdown has permanently changed the way gamers play. Games have created a virtual environment for players to compete, play together, and connect online. Furthermore, the virtual experience will be amplified with Metaverse as it leaves players to experience advanced VR graphics, engaging avatars, and 3D graphics within the gaming apps. Interestingly, top gaming apps such as Haegin’s Play Together are taking the lead in driving virtual experiences in Vietnam – be it making friends, building online communities, or indulging in favorite activities.
With mobile being the primary device for gamers in SEA, publishers are increasingly showing interest in building the Metaverse platform. The Sandbox Game Maker console allows users to create games from scratch, enjoy other games and buy digital property, thanks to the Metaverse. Publishers are providing different types of inventory for advertisers so they can bank on them on engaging VR-based gaming apps. Especially with the growing popularity of ‘play-to-earn’ games, rewarded inventory is high on demand among smartphone gamers in SEA.
As a part of the initiative, Haegin’s Play Together joins hands with InMobi to monetize their rewarded video inventory. The popular gaming app reached 10 million downloads and one million daily active users in August 2021 and is the #1 app in both Play Store and the App Store in Vietnam. Play Together is a casual, arcade-based mobile social networking game intended for all ages. It’s set in a sandbox open-world called Kaia Island, with activities that combine minigames, customization, and socializing features into a social platform to interact with.
The game publisher partnered with InMobi to deliver superior gaming experiences for smartphone users in Vietnam. While the publisher provides superior game dynamics with easy controls, InMobi delivers brand safety, seamless ad experiences with state-of-the-art, immersive, rewarded video creatives. The video ads provide non-intrusive experiences for the user while maximizing the publisher’s yield and ad revenues. Speaking of the partnership, Jihyun Do, PM of Play Together, Haegin, said "InMobi's rewarded video ads complemented well with the Play Together's user expectations across SEA. InMobi's customer success team has supported us professionally across all functions while providing us transparency and strong attention to details."
With VAST tags, MOAT, and IAS compliance, InMobi brings to the table best-in-class brand safety for advertisers across the globe. With 90% Video completion rates, publishers can deliver top-notch experiences for advertisers in a brand-safe environment.
As publishers are driving revenues on the highly engaging gaming apps with video ads, advertisers can drive higher engagement and ad recall on these platforms, thanks to the non-intrusive user experiences. To learn more about how publishers can leverage best practices to monetize their ad inventory, visit our page ‘InMobi Exchange’ Or write to us at marketing@inmobi.com.
*https://www.mmaglobal.com/files/webinars/enter_the_metaverse_michael_patent_keynote_presentation.pdf
** InMobi Pulse Gaming Survey Indonesia, February 2021
Register to our blog updates newsletter to receive the latest content in your inbox.
