Gaming platforms are increasingly adopting standardized ad units and programmatic integrations to align with CTV and digital video measurement practices. The industry is attempting to bridge the gap between high audience engagement and low ad spend by implementing tools like audience maps and third-party publisher networks.
The shift toward standardized ad units and programmatic accessibility through tools like DV360 signals a strategic retreat from 'innovation budgets' in favor of capturing core agency spend. By mirroring the measurement frameworks of CTV and digital video, gaming platforms are attempting to resolve the mismatch between high user attention and low capital investment. This alignment allows streaming and video buyers to treat gaming inventory as a scalable extension of their existing omnichannel strategies rather than a siloed experiment. Watch for whether these standardized metrics lead to a measurable increase in gaming's share of total media spend in 2027 agency planning cycles.
Gaming ad platforms are converging on standardized measurement and programmatic integration as the primary path to unlocking agency budgets. The IAB has been central to this push, and DoubleVerify's DV360 integration now enables programmatic buying of gaming inventory alongside CTV and display, giving buyers a single workflow across channels. Overwolf's In-Game Audience Map and Zynga's Ads+ network represent parallel efforts to aggregate fragmented gaming environments into addressable, measurable inventory that media planners can evaluate against CTV benchmarks.
The business case for gaming ad standardization is sharpened by competitive pressure from CTV, which has already captured the programmatic video budgets that gaming seeks. IAB's 2025 Digital Video Ad Spend report found that CTV advertising grew 22% year over year to $26.1 billion in the US alone, while gaming's share of total media spend remained below 3%. That gap is precisely what platforms like Roblox and Gameloft are targeting with standardized ad units and third-party verification. Roblox announced in early 2026 that it had surpassed 100 million daily active users and was expanding its immersive ad formats to include rewarded video and branded experiences, positioning itself as a scalable environment for brand advertisers accustomed to CTV-style planning.
On the technical side, the tooling layer for gaming ad measurement is maturing rapidly. DoubleVerify expanded its gaming measurement capabilities in 2026 to include viewability, brand safety, and fraud detection across in-game environments, bringing parity with the verification standards advertisers already demand for CTV and digital video. Meanwhile, Cint's acquisition of gaming research firm Newzoo in late 2025 gave it proprietary audience data across 36 markets, enabling cross-platform audience planning that treats gaming as a measurable channel rather than an opaque environment. These infrastructure investments collectively lower the friction for agencies to include gaming in omnichannel video plans.
Gaming ad platforms are integrating standardized measurement and programmatic tools to mirror CTV and digital video buying practices. By adopting IAB-standard ad units and third-party verification, platforms like Roblox, Overwolf, and Zynga aim to bridge the gap between high user engagement and low media spend, making gaming a scalable part of omnichannel strategies.
Gaming platforms are adopting these standards to align with digital video and CTV buying practices, aiming to capture larger agency budgets by making gaming inventory easier to measure and purchase alongside other media channels.
Roblox has expanded programmatic access through integrations with DV360, allowing agencies to purchase video inventory more easily and treat the platform as a scalable environment for brand advertising.
DoubleVerify provides verification standards for gaming, including viewability, brand safety, and fraud detection, bringing gaming measurement into parity with the requirements advertisers already demand for CTV and digital video.
Overwolf launched the In-Game Audience Map using its Gamer Grid first-party data to provide media planners with tools that mimic traditional digital media planning, helping to aggregate fragmented gaming environments.
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