What will advertising in the metaverse look like?

And it’s safe to bet this is not just a passing trend! In fact, according to a Gartner study, 25% of people will spend an hour a day in the metaverse by 2026. 
Other figures support the idea that the metaverse will revolutionize the world of Internet:

• According to a Bloomberg study, by 2024, this market could represent 800 billion US dollars
• This will represent a 300 billion US dollars increase in 4 years, as it already was worth 500 billions US dollars in 2020
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Beyond the changes that will apply to Internet users’ behaviors, the metaverse should also allow brands to deploy online advertising campaigns in these universes.
What will digital advertising in the metaverse look like? What are the prospects for advertisers in the years to come? Does this represent the future to address your target audience? In the article, our experts analyze this trend for you.

What does the metaverse look like nowadays?

First off, what really is this “metaverse” that everyone talks about?
The metaverse is a 360° graphic universe, which unites the real and virtual worlds, and where users interact with each other and with the environment that surrounds them. These interactions take place on the social, work, leisure level… but also on the economic level - thus creating, in the long run, a space for the advertising industry there.
While Facebook recently announced with great fanfare the development of its own metaverse, this concept already exists in 2022.
Here are the metaverse platforms that already exist today:

• The Sandbox, a virtual gaming world constructed upon the Ethereum blockchain, which currently hosts over 40 million users
• Decentraland, a 3D world developed with the blockchain, and governed by an autonomous decentralized organization, counting 300,000 players per month
• Terra Virtua Kolect, a universe where users collect and display their NFTs, with a market capitalization of 90 million euros
• Fortnite, the popular co-op online game with 400 million registered players, whose revenue between 2018 and 2019 totaled 9.1 billion US dollars
• Roblox, an online game design and sharing platform with 925 million US dollars in revenue by 2020, and an average of 190 million players per month by 2021
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These platforms, with their already large audiences, are likely to become a new fertile playground for advertisers in the years to come!

What can users and brands do in the metaverse today?

“We don’t know what advertising in the metaverse will really look like, but we can undoubtedly affirm that these universes will become ideal playgrounds for advertisers that want to communicate with their audiences in an innovative way. The keys to success for these advertising formats will be similar to those of in-game advertising: offering immersive experiences that bring real added value to users, without disturbing their experience. At Gamned!, our experts are closely following the development of the metaverse, as it seems so promising for brands!” Nicolas Carbonel, Client Partner - Team Leader at Gamned!

Thinking about launching a programmatic advertising campaign in the metaverse is an innovative idea. But to do so, you need to understand what you can currently do in these graphic universes.
On the users’ side, the metaverse currently allows anybody to embody whoever they want, thanks to an avatar, and to communicate with others. Some metaverses have specificities: some allow you to play and have fun in a collaborative way, others to play sports, others to learn.

So what about the advertiser’s or marketer’s side? What can you do in a metaverse? The answer to this question is still unclear at the moment, but there is a lot of potential in these worlds in terms of advertising campaigns. This situation is similar to the one in 2008, when the social media giant Facebook was launched, where many brands wondered what the point was for them to position themselves there.
What we do know is that currently, the brands that have an interest in investing in the metaverse are those that want to target young demographics, curious about new technologies and experiences. Your brand also needs to position itself as bold and creative. 
You can also consider using the metaverse to acquire new customers, or retain existing ones, by offering rewards such as NFTs. These are Non-Fungible Tokens, or unique digital objects, which are currently very popular. 
In any case, in the long run, the metaverse trend could well expand to other types of brands, and above all, make it possible to engage in an innovative type of interactive advertising. 

What are the prospects for advertising in the metaverse in the long run?

Even though advertising in the metaverse isn’t yet fully formalized, events already happened in these universes that show what the future of these platforms may look like.
This is notably the case of… 

• The concert singer Travis Scott gave in Fortnite on April 23rd 2020
• Givenchy Beauty, that sold 2,000 NFTs in only 2 seconds
• Decentraland that associated with UNXD to prepare for March 2022 fashion shows and immersive experiences in its metaverse, for Fashion Week
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But in concrete terms, in the years to come, what could an advertising campaign in the metaverse look like?
We imagine that what will most resemble advertising in the metaverse will be the current in-game ads: an advertising format that consists in integrating banner ads in a native way, in spaces that blend into the background and become part of the game.
However, what we already know are the best practices to obtain the best return on investment on these advertising formats to come. 
To perform in this kind of environment, you will need to…

• Find a real meaning to implementing your ads in the metaverse. Indeed, it’s not all about “deploying a campaign for the sake of it”, but rather aligning your digital ad campaign in the metaverse with your brand image and values.
• Create real experiences for users. Like in-game advertising, your ads will need to be immersive, and bring a real value to the world in which they will be deployed. In short, they should be user experience-oriented above all. 
• Pay attention to the technical specs. Ad campaigns in the metaverse will undoubtedly present very specific technical constraints, which you will have to handle well to preserve your brand image. 

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Want to dive deeper into the world of metaverses, NFTs and blockchain? Download the ebook “Understanding the world of metaverses” that our experts have put together for you!