Tencent buys gaming app for advertising opportunities
Tencent is set to make the world of mobile gaming the next big market for digital advertising with the acquisition of Finnish gaming app company Supercell. The mobile gaming industry is predicted to make $10bn this year, but it is still regarded as a "taboo" sector for advertising. Research has found men and women of all ages are gamers in APAC, while in the US, women buy more mobile games than men. Tencent's foray into the sector could represent the first steps toward making gaming a "respectable" platform.

With the Chinese mobile gaming market set to reach an eye-watering $10billion this year, it’s come as no surprise that Tencent, China’s internet and advertising behemoth, is taking its first steps into the mobile gaming industry to get a piece of the action by sizing up Finnish gaming app giant, Supercell.

Tencent’s move into the lucrative world of mobile gaming is perfectly-timed which should benefit our industry hugely while setting the record straight for other advertising companies and brands. In looking to acquire the young company (founded in 2010) which produced hugely successful gaming apps such as ‘Clash of Clans’ and ‘Hay Day’, Tencent is expanding its capability and influence to fully take advantage of the next big advertising opportunity: gaming enthusiasts.

Gaming apps are still seen as the ‘dirty little taboo’ for advertisers, unfortunately considered as a form of gambling for many brands. There’s also the common misconception that only teens play mobile games, and the only thing that’s worth advertising to them is other games that are similar to the one they’re already playing.

These myths and misconceptions have been a bugbear of mine for some time now. Until recently, gaming apps have been a missed opportunity. As Tencent has rightly identified by expressing an interest in buying Supercell, the advertising potential for mobile gaming apps are an unexplored territory, and revenue opportunities don’t just arise from in-app purchases.

Brands need to adjust their mindset and give them the attention they deserve.

The audiences of gaming apps are much broader than people or advertisers expect. GlobalWebIndex has found that there is an equal amount of men and women in all age groups playing mobile games in APAC, and other research has indicated women in the US spend more time gaming than men.

On your way to work you’ll have surely seen people engrossed in games on their mobiles, whether it’s car games, mazes or points-based favourites. These people are like you and me, rather than the typical console ‘gamers’ audience carved for us over the years.

Displaying personalised and interesting content without disturbing a user’s gaming experience, with the right ad formats, is definitely an untapped market that is ripe for picking!

At Widespace, we’re all about premium publishers and selling relevant mobile audiences to advertisers which brings us to the next issue we need to address: placing gaming apps low on the premium ‘ladder’. But for mobile, what constitutes as premium? It’s more than just being a quality publisher; the ad format plays an important role with low quality sticky banners and overlays, as well as multiple ads on one page disrupting the user experience and causing ad fatigue.

On mobile, the content, audience, ad formats and the publisher all equally need to be considered and taken into account to establish if certain inventory constitutes as premium.

For example, Joshua the trainee analyst might live and work in the Kensington area of London, and might read a premium newsbrand like the FT every morning, but he might also spend 1 hour a day on his ‘Clash of the Clans’ game…offering advertisers another (previously untapped) medium for interaction.

Mobile gamers are highly engaged audiences that need to be tapped into, and the acquisition of Supercell by an advertising heavyweight could very well set the tone and example needed for the Western world. It’s time to transition mobile gaming into a respected advertising platform and do some cool things with it.

Joy Dean is partnerships director at mobile advertising technology company Widespace, she can be found tweeting @JustJoyDean