Remember when watching sports on TV was all about the sport itself, or the players, and the in-game stats? Well, today it’s still about that… but with a twist.
Today, there’s no game on TV that is complete without some online gambling analyst telling us about the odds, lines, and other sports betting lingo. Sports betting, and gambling is everywhere and according to a recent study by Ipsos, Canadians are starting to get tired of it.
In a recently posted Ipsos study, Canadians were surveyed about the large number of online gambling and sports betting ads that they are seeing. The result was nearly half of all Canadians wanting the excessive amount of gambling and sports betting ads to cut back.
In the study, Ipsos also found that 63% of Canadians now agree (21% strongly; 42% somewhat) there should be limits on the amount and/or placement of advertising. A strong statement felt right Canada with support ranging from 59% in BC to 69% in Atlantic Canada.
On social media it’s become worst and spiraled out of control resulting in negative posts about sports betting ads increasing by 820% between July 2022 and October 2022.
For lotto, online gambling, and sports betting apps the time to get smart with advertising is now.
One new way that many online gambling and lotto brands are helping to better target audiences is by using in-game advertising across multiple channels that include console, mobile, and PC’s. With in-game advertising brands in the lotto and casino/betting space are doing a better job at avoiding ad fatigue and helping to decrease the negative sentiment that is growing in Canada towards the abundance of ads being seen across traditional TV, websites, and social media.
In North America, 55% of online gamblers are taking part in this activity on the go using their mobile device, which makes targeting users on mobile a priority. With in-game ads, brands can create ad campaigns that are specifically targeted to the right user and delivered to users with context based on demographic profiles, location, likes and interests, gender, age and other apps they engage with. In Canada, that means targeting 52.3% of the population that is actively playing games on mobile and is on average made up of people in their 30s.
And unlike traditional ways of advertising, it means being able to promote lotto, gaming, and sports betting services to audiences that will want to engage with the services being advertised and it also means leveraging unique tactics that focus on higher video completion rates, and higher click through rates thanks to easy to see call to actions.
Ad-fatigue also becomes a thing of the past by capping the number of times a user sees the same ad over the course of a specific period by avoiding the pitfalls of having an ad get displayed to the wrong user who wants nothing to do with the service being provided.
More importantly, lotto, casino, and sports betting companies can jump into in-game advertising to start making relationships with the millions of Canadians gaming. Tomorrow, these steps will help make transition into the future metaverse easy to do.
Discover how in-game advertising works and to see how APEX Gaming Network is connecting brands with gamers across premium in-game environments today!
Carlos Guevara is the Marketing Director at APEX Mobile Media (AGN parent company) and previous host of the podcast "In Search of Good Data." He has also helped various organizations in the private and non-profit sector to become more customer-centric with the use of enriched data and modern marketing and advertising technology and strategies.