In-game advertising market growth to reach $217 billion by 2031

The surge in in-game advertising market growth signals a shift toward opt-in, value-exchange models like rewarded video that prioritize player retention over disruptive interruptions. For the broader streaming ecosystem, this transition validates dynamic ad insertion and real-time rendering as essential tools for cross-platform monetization. As publishers like Electronic Arts move away from intrusive formats, the industry must now solve for the measurement gaps identified by IAB Tech Lab's OpenRTB 2.6. Watch for the adoption rate of Intrinsic In-Game’s measurement framework as a signal that buyers are ready to commit premium budgets to unverified gaming inventory.

The in-game advertising market growth forecast aligns with a wave of programmatic infrastructure investments from major ad-tech platforms. In March 2025, Magnite announced a partnership with Anzu to bring intrinsic in-game inventory into its sell-side platform, giving programmatic buyers access to blended ad placements across mobile and PC titles without requiring direct publisher integrations. That move followed Index Exchange's earlier integration with Intrinsic In-Game, signaling that major SSPs now treat gaming as a core programmatic channel rather than an experimental vertical. The Trade Desk has similarly expanded its gaming inventory partnerships, and PubMatic has integrated in-game supply into its unified platform, creating a competitive dynamic among top-tier exchanges to capture the fastest-growing segment of digital ad spend. On the standards and measurement front, the IAB Tech Lab's OpenRTB 2.6 specification represents the most significant attempt to bring transparency to in-game ad transactions. The IAB Tech Lab released OpenRTB 2.6 in late 2024 with specific provisions for in-game ad format signaling and viewability definitions, addressing long-standing buyer concerns about what constitutes a valid impression in gaming environments. The specification introduces new fields for ad placement context, including whether an ad appears during active gameplay, in a menu screen, or within a rewarded video sequence. This standardization effort is critical because advertisers have historically underinvested in gaming inventory due to inconsistent measurement, and the new protocol aims to close that trust gap. Meanwhile, Intrinsic In-Game raised $10 million in Series A funding in 2024 to expand its measurement and verification platform for in-game advertising, positioning itself as the independent verification layer that buyers need before committing premium budgets to gaming inventory. Brand adoption of in-game advertising is moving beyond early adopters into mainstream campaigns. Electronic Arts integrated dynamic ad placements into EA Sports FC 24, allowing real-time brand messages to appear on virtual stadium boards during live gameplay, a format that mirrors the dynamic ad insertion techniques already standard in connected TV streaming. On the advertiser side, brands like Domino's, Panda Express, and AirAsia have run rewarded video and intrinsic placements through platforms like Unity and Overwolf, testing whether gaming audiences respond to value-exchange models differently than traditional display or video viewers. Unity's ad mediation platform processes billions of ad requests monthly across its developer network, and , demonstrating that even metaverse-adjacent platforms are becoming viable ad-supported environments. These deployments collectively validate the report's projection that rewarded formats and real-time rendering will drive the market toward the $217 billion threshold.