- Unified Measurement Matrix: The IAB framework codifies ad formats across display, video, audio, and custom, each with clear baseline and bonus metrics.
- Transparency & Trust: Brands can now compare campaign performance across partners using a common metric language, reducing fragmentation.
- Strategic Campaign Planning: Advertisers gain confidence to plan creatives and media mixes that align with measurable business outcomes.
- Budget Unlocking: Clear ROI pathways help justify larger gaming ad budgets, accelerating investment in the channel.
- Industry Collaboration: Ongoing webinar and stakeholder feedback mechanisms ensure the framework evolves with market needs.
Why brands now have the tools to evaluate display, video, audio, and custom gaming ads against a clear baseline and bonus metrics.
As gaming cements its place at the heart of popular culture, marketers have long wrestled with how to quantify their investments in this immersive medium. The Interactive Advertising Bureau’s newly unveiled Gaming Measurement Framework answers that call, delivering a comprehensive guide that finally brings standardized measurement language to in-game advertising.
No longer must brands navigate a patchwork of inconsistent reporting from publishers and ad tech vendors; instead, they can rely on a single reference to understand exactly which outcomes are measurable for display, video, audio, and bespoke gaming formats.
A Common Language for Gaming Advertising
At its core, the framework establishes a shared taxonomy of ad experiences, defining “baseline” metrics that every campaign should deliver and “additional” metrics that unlock deeper insights.
This dual-layered approach recognizes the practical realities of campaign planning: brands need confidence that every partner can provide essential data, and they also crave the richer intelligence that comes from advanced measurement. By aligning on these definitions up front, advertisers and agencies can hold publishers accountable, compare opportunities side by side, and negotiate clear deliverables before a single dollar is spent.
In remarks accompanying the launch, Zoe Soon, IAB’s Vice President of the Experience Center, underscored the opportunity: gaming has evolved into mainstream entertainment, with more than four-in-five internet users in the U.S. identifying as players.
As audience attention shifts toward interactive experiences, brands must be empowered to ask precise questions of their partners:
- “Which ad formats support viewability measurement?”
- “Can I track engagement beyond impressions?”
- “What attribution models apply when my creative plays during gameplay?”
The framework provides those answers, laying out the measurement capabilities for every ad type.
Mapping Ad Formats to Business Outcomes
Beyond naming the metrics themselves, the framework guides marketers through the exercise of matching media objectives to gaming ad formats. Display placements that occupy screen real estate during loading screens might optimize for visibility and brand recall, while dynamic video interstitials demand attention metrics that reflect true engagement.
Audio overlays within in-game soundscapes call for completion rates and brand lift studies. Custom activations—such as branded skins or interactive challenges—require event tracking and sentiment analysis to capture player interactions and emotional resonance.
By connecting these diverse formats to measurable KPIs, the IAB framework eases creative planning and media mix modeling. Brands can incorporate gaming alongside channels like video streaming and social media with confidence, knowing that their performance benchmarks align across environments.
As Allison McDuffee of Roblox noted, "Shared standards and a common language transform gaming from a promising novelty into a dependable marketing channel."
Empowering Smarter Budget Allocation
Perhaps the most significant payoff of standardized measurement is its ability to unlock brand budgets. When procurement and finance teams see consistent reporting practices across publishers, they gain the transparency they need to justify continued investment.
The framework doesn’t simply catalog metrics—it also suggests evaluation workflows, encouraging marketers to begin with baseline data before layering on bonus insights. This pragmatic approach prevents analysis paralysis and demonstrates how incremental lifts in metrics like viewability or completion can translate into broader business outcomes, whether that means website visits, app installs, or brand sentiment shifts.
Moreover, the framework fuels more strategic vendor selection. Advertisers can now audit potential partners against a checklist of measurement capabilities, ensuring alignment with their campaign objectives.
Creative agencies gain clarity on which gaming experiences will best serve their clients’ media goals, and ad tech providers receive clear guidance on where to enhance their reporting toolkits. In each case, the framework steers the entire ecosystem toward greater accountability and performance-driven innovation.
Looking Ahead: Education and Adoption
To facilitate widespread adoption, the IAB is hosting a deep-dive webinar this July, “Play to Win: Measuring Campaign Success in Gaming,” where marketers will learn how to apply the framework to real-world scenarios.
But education is only the first step. True transformation requires publishers, agencies, and technology platforms to embed these standards into their RFP templates, campaign briefs, and reporting dashboards.
As gaming continues its rapid evolution—from competitive esports arenas to casual mobile spin-off titles—the IAB’s Gaming Measurement Framework offers a sturdy measurement backbone. It promises to elevate gaming advertising from experimental budgets into core line items, supported by transparent data and shared expectations.
With this resource in hand, brands can confidently navigate the complexities of the gaming landscape, treating each campaign as a measurable, scalable investment rather than an unpredictable experiment.
