Beginning this year, the Times enabled first-party targeting in Games, letting advertisers target their campaigns to reach any of the standard audience segments the publisher provides. Going forward, the Times hopes to achieve a balanced distribution of the two kinds of campaigns.
To buy ads in Games, advertisers can transact directly with the Times or through programmatic deals, which are subject to controls to ensure a standard user experience, said Robins. Advertisers that want to use the Times’ proprietary Flex display unit or its first-party targeting must negotiate directly.
And while Games advertising lacks any endemic sponsor, its massive daily audience makes it well-suited for awareness campaigns, according to Milicevic.
“If you’re looking for awareness, where frequency is key, you can run a 30-day campaign and hit your frequency goals with a high-profile audience without using Facebook,” Milicevic said.
New advertising categories
The scaled daily reach of Games, when combined with its news-free environment, could also open the Times to new advertising categories, said Robins, particularly consumer brands. So far, it has worked with companies in the consumer technology, luxury, finance and travel categories.
In a campaign run across Games between December and January, a financial services firm saw a 12.6% increase in awareness and an 11.8% increase in consideration, said Robins. The advertiser also saw a 3.3% increase in preference, and a 1% rise in purchase intent.
The brief nature of the Times’ puzzles, which are designed to be completed in a matter of minutes, also means they elicit a heightened level of focus from players, according to Milicevic.
This quality of attention, in conjunction with the positive mindset of Games users, could even appeal to brands in the luxury or business-to-business spaces, according to Robins.
“We’ve explored several creative applications of advertising in Games, but there are so many more ways to create opportunities for earned moments,” Robins said. “This can be a tool for real mass awareness.”
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