AdColony, the in-app marketplace for brands, with a focus on gaming, announced its partnership with Mana Partners, the Singapore-based gaming & esports brand consultancy firm that connects brands with the gaming & esports industries, to unlock transformative partnerships for brands looking to leverage the immense potential offered by the global gaming & esports ecosystem.
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With gaming and esports being a highly complex and challenging space to navigate, the strategic partnership between AdColony and Mana aims to simplify the ways brands can get involved. This team-up will see AdColony provide brands in Asia-Pacific seeking a connection point with the highly valuable gaming and esports audiences, low-friction access to high-value gaming and esports sponsorships and partnerships.
The popularity of esports, in particular, has boomed in recent years with an increasing number of viewers watching their favourite games being played by other gamers around the world. The recent pandemic has further accelerated its growth, with the global esports market expected to generate almost US$ 1.6 billion worth of revenues in 2023 – a 15.5% increase in compound annual growth rate from 2018[1].
Last year, players spent one trillion hours playing games and 25 billion hours watching gaming streams. On average, players 18 to 34-years-old spent more time playing games than on social media or watching TV. According to Newzoo, the leading global provider of games and esports analytics, the number of gamers in the world will hit 3 billion by 2023 – more than half of which will come from Asia-Pacific
Yet, despite the time on games dwarfing that of TV four-fold, advertisers spent 40 times less on gaming media. This difference provides a prime chance for marketers to out-edge competitors and reach a massive, fresh audience.
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Tom Simpson, SVP, APAC at AdColony said, “With gaming now the biggest entertainment channel for Asia-Pacific consumers, it’s the number one opportunity for brands going into 2021. We believe AdColony’s extensive experience in the mobile gaming vertical, combined with Mana’s transformative capabilities around gaming and esports partnerships, will open up a myriad of opportunities for advertisers to engage with customers and grow their business. We’re hyper-focused around bringing brands and consumers together in gaming and esports, and we’re excited to have a partner like Mana who shares our commitment to deliver game-changing possibilities for brands.”
Through their relationships with game publishers, professional teams and representing the rights for professional esport leagues, Mana brings exciting new advertising opportunities for brands, to augment the in-game, in-app opportunities already offered by AdColony.
Jamie Lewin, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Mana Partners added, “This partnership between Mana and AdColony will see Mana augmenting AdColony’s strategic capabilities, to offer brands a connection with Esports fans. With AdColony’s deep subject matter expertise in mobile gaming and history of innovation, we’re thrilled to develop new products, together – bringing brands new and exciting ways to reach these highly engaged consumers.”