Roblox makes video ads available to all advertisers

Online game platform Roblox has announced that immersive video ads are now accessible to all advertisers, allowing them to reach audiences aged 13 and up.

This follows a six-month testing period that Roblox launched in November 2023, during which time it worked with top brands and global agencies, including Elf Beauty, Hugo, Dentsu, and more. 

According to an audience impact and brand lift study on video ads which Roblox conducted with Latitude, over 70% of respondents said they’re more likely to notice brands on Roblox than on other platforms and see those brands as category leaders. 

Enrico D’Angelo, Vice President of Economy at Roblox, said: “According to three-quarters of respondents in this research, brands that advertise on Roblox feel innovative and unique. This sentiment reflects our vision for Immersive Ads, which is to help make user experiences richer on the platform—immersive, not disruptive.”

“We are focused on building powerful, native-to-Roblox solutions like video ads that bring advertisers inside 3D immersive experiences and serve their needs of innovating and engaging communities at scale in these new spaces. We are also leveraging and building upon industry standard advertising goals like completed views, evolving them to ensure more authenticity for our users.”

The ads are available through its self-serve Ads Manager and will also soon be made available through programmatic media buying as part of its partnership with independent technology company PubMatic which was announced last month. 

To be eligible, immersive ads on Roblox must comply with the platform’s Community and Advertising Standards, which include clearly indicating to users when they’re interacting with ad content, ensuring brand safety, and maintaining certain thresholds and requirements to participate.

Roblox also announced two new partnerships with global media measurement and optimisation platform Integral Ad Science and global data, insights, and consulting company Kantar to offer measurement solutions to advertisers.

Integral Ad Science’s Viewability and Invalid Traffic measurement products will be made available for campaigns on Roblox later this year, providing advertisers access to third-party measurement to verify real engagement for ads.

Kantar Context Lab’s Brand Lift Solution will also serve as an interim solution for brand lift studies for eligible video ad campaigns on Roblox. The game platform also said it is planning to offer full integrations with multiple brand lift partners to measure ad campaigns shortly.

Stephanie Latham, vice president of Global Brand Partnerships at Roblox, said, “By advertising on Roblox, brands can create deeper connections and engage tens of millions of Gen Z users, who represent our top-spending demographic and spend millions of hours here daily connecting and exploring immersive experiences.”

“Our new video ads format offers the simplicity and scalability brands want to drive global awareness and consideration. Any brand can easily leverage our video ads in their campaigns, benefiting from a format built for this digitally savvy consumer generation that’s increasingly hard to reach through traditional and 2D media.”