• by Colin Kirkland , January 20, 2023

In-game advertising platform Anzu has announced a new patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its own ad-tracking technology aimed at improving viewability, attention metrics, and data available to advertisers when running in-game ads.

Anuz says its technology -- which is compliant with the updated MRC and IAB intrinsic in-game advertising guidelines -- measures intrinsic ads in gaming environments in real-time across all major platforms and devices, aiming to offer an efficient way for advertisers to calculate viewable impressions.

The company says its technology collects unique data points about intrinsic in-game ad placements and their lifecycle, including average screen coverage, occlusions (when something is hidden or obscured from view), virtual world position, and orientation in relation to user view.

In addition, the collected data is combined with conversion and session data to create data models that advertisers may use to help optimize the delivery of campaigns.

“We understand that for Anzu to succeed and for gaming to become a recognized advertising category, advertisers need an efficient and transparent way of measuring intrinsic ads, as well as a means of comparing them with common ad formats,” said co-founder and CPO Ben Fenster.

The patent, named “An Object Viewability Determination System and Method,” takes into account Anzu's partnerships with Integral Ad Science (IAS) and software company Oracle Moat.

“Gaming is one of the fastest growing areas in media, and the rapid advancement and integration of third-party measurement and technological innovation is bringing new levels of efficiency and transparency to the space,” says Joe Cady, vice president of advanced advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal.