Anzu granted patent for new ad tracking technology

Tel Aviv, Israel-based in-game advertising company Anzu announced that it has been granted a patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its new technology for ad tracking.

Anzu’s new tech focuses on intrinsic advertisements, the ads that are integrated in virtual game worlds. While intrinsic ads are now getting more common being adopted by more brands like KFC, tracking them could be quite challenging since it is much more difficult to measure the length of time players look at them.

But Anzu says its new solution will get over that problem through a ”combination of mathematical and geometrical calculations and physics”. Along with the measurement of viewable impressions and standard MRC metrics, it will also collect unique data points about ad placements and also their lifecycle, such as their ”average screen coverage, occlusions, virtual world position, and orientation in relation to user view”, the company said.

”We started developing our ad tracking engine over five years ago,” said Ben Fenster, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of Anzu. ”We’ve continued to enhance and invest in it, as 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. This technology is highly significant because it provides advertisers with an efficient way to calculate viewable impressions in compliance with the new guidelines while meeting the stringent technical requirements of AAA game publishers.”

For the development of its new ad tracking tech, Anzu has partnered with Integral Ad Science and Oracle.

”Marketers are increasing their gaming ad spend as the medium continues to grow and reach new audiences,’’ said Tom Sharma, Chief Product Officer of Integral Ad Science. ‘’Our work with Anzu delivers in-game measurement and transparency to marketers investing in this burgeoning space, equipping advertisers with a clearer picture of the quality of their media and positioning the medium for even greater expansion in 2023.”

The Israeli company also announced partnerships with Kochava Collective last year and InMobi in 2021.