Microsoft is expanding its gaming advertising business — but that doesn’t mean players should expect to see ads across every Xbox game.
Activision Blizzard built its advertising business, Activision Blizzard Media, by offering brands and IP holders the opportunity to show up inside prominent elements of the company’s game portfolio like Candy Crush Saga. After Microsoft completed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the company brought Activision Blizzard Media under the Xbox umbrella, renaming the division Xbox Media Solutions — and handing it the keys to a wider portfolio of prominent gaming inventory.
Jonathan Stringfield has helped guide the transition of Activision’s advertising business over to Xbox, first as a vice president of global business research and marketing for Activision Blizzard Media and now as the vice president and general manager of Xbox Media Solutions. At GamesBeat Next in San Francisco on November 3, he joined GamesBeat lead news writer Alexander Lee (that’s me!) for a fireside chat about how Xbox’s ad business has grown over the past year, as well as how it fits into the broader evolution of Microsoft’s gaming division.
Xbox’s consoles and platform are how many gamers access premium console titles, which brands have long coveted as the crown jewel of gaming advertising inventory. Although the expansion of Xbox’s media business creates opportunities for advertisers to show up inside the platform’s premium games, Stringfield made it clear that he doesn’t view ads as appropriate for every game, and that Xbox would ultimately give studios discretion over whether or not to adopt them, with the goal of providing value to the player and keeping the broader ecosystem healthy.
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