LONDON, UK: Bidstack Group Plc (AIM: BIDS), the in-game advertising and video game monetisation platform, has commenced its strategy for the accelerated growth of the business in the United States.

Bidstack’s increased focus on the US market follows the successful initial implementation in Europe of the recent minimum two-year US$30million revenue commercial deal the Group signed with Netherlands-based Azerion in December 2021.

The Group intends to increase the promotion of its full product offering in the US, comprising rewarded video, in-game and in-menu advertising, across a portfolio of more than 110 games, including the entire mobile portfolio of a AAA global games publisher providing a powerful combination of brand awareness and performance to advertisers and agencies keen to get in front of the significant gaming demographic.

While major publishers are starting to adopt native advertising formats to increase brand awareness among the estimated 3.2 billion global gamers, Bidstack is now aiming to benefit from the recent further development of its technology, in order to attract additional brand spend through the placement of high-performing rewarded video ads that are usually focused on user acquisition. As announced at the Group’s interim results, Bidstack’s increasing inventory is now being sold to brands, agencies and partners via a combination of an “always-on” digital open marketplace, and private marketplace for exclusive direct deals.

To achieve Bidstack’s substantial growth ambitions in the US, the Company is actively focused on recruiting US-based sales, gaming and marketing professionals with significant experience in digital advertising and with local market knowledge. The Group has already had positive conversations with a number of US-based executives and has recently made a number of key hires, including Jude O’Connor, the Group’s new Chief Revenue Officer.

The Directors believe that Bidstack’s highly differentiated service offering, when combined with the fulfilment of its current hiring plans, should result in further significant revenue growth in 2023 and beyond. Subject to a number of factors, including the Group’s ability to successfully implement its “always-on” digital open marketplace and cross sell its full product offering of rewarded video, in-game and in-menu advertising across an expanded portfolio of games, the Directors are targeting an annual US$100m revenue opportunity over the mid to long term.

In 2022, the global games market as a whole is predicted to generate US$196.8 billion. Mobile games, which make up 53% of the market (US$103.5 billion) have been the proving ground for the native in-game advertising format, which now is increasingly being explored by major cross-platform publishers of PC and console titles.

The video gaming market in the United States is one of the largest in the world and is forecast to grow from US$30.4 billion in 2021 to US$48.2 billion by 2027.

As announced on 31 August 2022, the Internet Advertising Bureau and the Media Rating Council have released new industry wide in-game measurement standards have been established for ads that appear within gameplay. The Directors believe these standards will herald a new wave of adoption with advertisers now being given clear benchmarks on how to measure campaign success.

James Draper, Founder and CEO of Bidstack, said: “Our new accelerated growth strategy in the US strategy is the next stage in Bidstack’s evolution. Bidstack has now grown sufficiently as a business that it is ready and able to tackle the huge, untapped opportunity for in-game advertising within the US market. Our plans build on our recent significant progress in our technology and we expect they will drive meaningful additional revenue for the Group in the near to medium term.

“We look forward to updating shareholders as we progress.”