Advertising has infiltrated its way into essentially every industry and currently has a market capitalization estimated to be in the low trillions. How will ads play out in the metaverse?
Advertising within the metaverse is conducted in a variety of different ways. Currently we are seeing advertisements from companies purchasing virtual land to establish themselves within metaverses. We are also seeing in-game advertisements, advertising from sponsored events, and branded digital items.
Before we further dive into the different ways the advertising business will conduct business within the metaverse, we want to preface that our team has a full article explaining exactly what the metaverse is; click here to learn about the metaverse.
We have seen leading brands such as Samsung and Adidas purchase land within existing metaverses like Decentraland in order to position themselves well. Were Decentraland to become the most popular metaverse, owning a plot of land that sees high traffic would pay dividends.
Samsung and Adidas, among other companies, now have the opportunity to enhance their land to make it an experience that users find worthy of checking out.
Additionally, since brands like Samsung and Adidas are some of the first to market within the metaverse space, they have received publicity from many news sources, especially those that are crypto related. In addition, many early adopters have had advertising campaigns to go along with their purchase.
Another example of a large company – with an astonishing amount of revenue – that is advertising through building within existing metaverses is Nike. Nike has teamed up with Roblox in order to create a virtual world called Nikeland.
Roblox is one of the games our team has touched on in our article about the existing best metaverse platforms. If you would like to learn about our team’s other top choices and why we picked them, click here.
Aside from developing within metaverses, another growing way that advertisements will be conducted in the metaverse is in-game. In the most basic example, digital advertisements will be presented on billboards within heavily trafficked areas in the metaverse, in a virtual replication of the real world.
These ads will likely be more immersive in the sense that they will be integrated in the same way that we see ads, within the real world, today. Prime examples include seeing ads within the metaverse on more public areas like buses and trains.
A core aspect of the metaverse is immersiveness which is currently being optimized through AR and VR technology. If you would like to learn about the best metaverse devices, click here.
Another example is advertisements within a digital stadium (such as by the scoreboard or on the sides of an ice hockey rink), which is something we see in the physical world at present – meaning not in the metaverse.
It’s also likely that brands will be able to strike direct advertisement deals with a metaverse game; examples of this would include Uber paying for all cars within the metaverse to present the Uber logo for a given period of time.
Advertising through the form of sponsored events will become increasingly popular as more people enjoy a specific section of the metaverse for a given reason.
A conceptual example of a sponsored event could be MGM Resorts International giving all users a free spin at casinos within the gambling region of the metaverse for a set period of time.
Another core way that advertisements will operate in the 3D, virtual setting is through branded items. While socializing with other avatars, a user could order a beverage, branded with the logo of a sponsoring company.
Additionally, we will see an increase in advertisements that are targeted at getting a user to purchase a digital item – such as a cosmetic – which will be in the form of a non-fungible token.
At present, we see more advertisements within the metaverse for people to purchase physical items rather than digital.
Advertising is only one example of an industry that will be transformed by the metaverse. If you are interested in learning about other industries that the metaverse will transform, learn here.
Now that we have covered the core ways advertisements will be conducted within the metaverse, let’s examine the benefits and changes that metaverse related advertisements will bring.
How Is The Metaverse Going To Change Advertising?
Advertising has evolved alongside a myriad of different fields of business. So, how will this new industry – the metaverse – change advertising?
Advertisements will have better targeting and will be tailored to what the user is doing in the metaverse. Known metrics about the user (eg. the user’s gender) will allow for more specific targeting. It’s also likely that ads will be far more personalized using characteristics of the user’s avatar.
While a user is gambling via slot machines within the metaverse, ads about casino-related NFTs and casinos within the real world could play between slot machine pulls.
It also becomes quite clear that those gambling within the virtual space are more likely to buy digital assets pertaining to gambling (i.e. NFTs that provide gambling utility – which could be through receiving a % of profits from a casino run in the metaverse). Additionally, advertisers will know that these users are more likely to gamble in the existing world.
Ad tracking has become somewhat specialized in this modern day; however it is still limited in the sense that some ad providers don’t know key information – even relatively simple things like your gender.
It’s likely that avatars of different genders will be targeted differently and this basic piece of information will likely be known by ad providers.
This of course comes with many caveats, including the privacy policy of a given metaverse, and how much information will be able to be obtained is something that is currently not evident and is likely to see more regulation in time.
Another feature that will come simply based on the avatar you have created is more specialized ads. For example, ads that use your avatar within the advertisement itself; for a designer brand (e.g. Gucci), an ad could play where the avatar you created is wearing a Gucci shirt.
Given your understanding of ways that advertisements will be conducted in the metaverse and how advertising will become more specialized, let’s examine existing brands that have already entered the metaverse.
What Companies Are Advertising In The Metaverse?
Companies that are indirectly advertising in the metaverse through digital infrastructure in what is widely considered to be existing metaverses include: Nike (via Roblox), Hyundai (via Roblox), Ralph Lauren (via Zepeto), and Samsung (via Decentraland) amongst many others.
Again, having a highly visited area within a metaverse will allow companies to continue to virtually build out their brand – as users are likely to check out what companies have built.
Additionally, this allows companies to test out new products (e.g. Nike can see what digital clothing Roblox users like best and then use that information to inform their non-metaverse advertising). This would help Nike know the quantity of the item to produce based on popularity and which items should be marketed more heavily.
Other examples of companies that are getting metaverse-related experience through non-fungible tokens include Coca-Cola, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, and Adidas through a collaboration with the blue chip NFT project – Bored Ape Yacht Club.
The metaverse is a concept that has recently come into fruition due to the amount of investments the tech industry has poured into the idea.
If you would like to learn more about the metaverse, before companies began advertising, which dates back to 1935, click here.
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