Today, Roblox Corporation (NYSE: RBLX) announced video ads would become available to all advertisers,1 enabling them to seamlessly reach Roblox’s community of users, ages 13 and up2, across the platform. This new immersive advertising format doesn’t require creation of custom-built 3D content and opens up a scalable opportunity for brands to connect with Gen Z consumers that represent over half of the platform’s 71.5M daily active users.3
“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,” said Stephanie Latham, vice president of global brand partnerships, Roblox. “Our new video ads format offers the simplicity and scalability that 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.”
Available today through Roblox’s self-serve Ads Manager4 and soon via programmatic media buying, the new video ads come with expanded controls and features like genre targeting, brand suitability and an audience estimator. Later this year, advertisers will also be able to buy completed views—a proven format in the industry currently being beta-tested in Ads Manager. Video ads join the broader suite of Roblox’s Immersive Ads offerings that already include portal and image ad formats, the two solutions helping brands drive traffic to their existing content and increase awareness among users on the platform.
Initially introduced on Roblox in November 2023, video ads have been tested over the past six months with top brands like e.l.f. Beauty, HUGO, Walmart, Warner Bros. Pictures and global agencies like dentsu and Hearts & Science, among others:
- “e.l.f. was born to disrupt, shape culture and connect communities, and it is with this mindset that we are proud to be part of the alpha test and one of the first brands leveraging Roblox video ads,” said Patrick O’Keefe, vice president of integrated marketing communication, e.l.f. Beauty. “We have been impressed by the way it has enabled us to connect with Roblox’s vibrant community, and we look forward to continuing to use the platform to create a foundation for the future as Roblox’s virtual economy continues to grow.”
- “As a network that prioritizes innovating to impact results, our agencies can immediately harness the power of this easily scalable advertising solution for brands,” said Cara Lewis, chief investment officer, dentsu international. “Video ads offer a unique opportunity for our clients to introduce their brands to Gen Z consumers globally within popular immersive environments in a safe and scaled way, while utilizing video, social or display budgets to tap into Roblox’s premium video inventory.”
Early Insights on the Impact of Roblox Video Ads
Earlier this year, Roblox conducted an audience impact and brand lift study5 with Latitude pointing to positive user reception of video ads. For example, the vast majority of the study respondents (75 percent) said they were more likely to notice brands advertised on Roblox as compared to brands that advertise elsewhere, and 73 percent see brands that advertise on Roblox as category leaders.
Study results also show that Roblox video ads can deliver significant lift across all key brand objectives, from awareness to consideration, while also boosting user actions, such as the likelihood to post about the brand on social media, check out its website and look for more information about the brand. After viewing video ads on Roblox,6 users were more likely to visit the advertisers’ experiences on Roblox (+10pp7), post about these brands on social media (+5pp), follow them on social media and/or check out the brands’ websites (+4pp) and look for more info about the advertised brands (+3pp).
“According to three quarters of respondents in this research, brands that advertise on Roblox ‘feel innovative and unique,’” said Enrico D’Angelo, vice president of economy, Roblox. “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.”
Scaling the Ads Business With New Measurement and Programmatic Partners
To offer measurement solutions to its advertisers, Roblox today also announced new partnerships with leading research organizations — Integral Ad Science, a global media measurement and optimization platform, and Kantar, a marketing data and analytics business and brand consultancy:
- Integral Ad Science (IAS) is partnering on a first-to-market integration with Roblox to provide 3D in-experience Viewability and Invalid Traffic (IVT) measurement in complex environments. Advertisers on Roblox will get access to industry-leading third-party measurement to verify that their Immersive Ads (video and image formats) are driving engagement with real users. IAS’s Viewability and IVT Measurement products will be available for campaigns on Roblox later this year.
- Brand Lift Solution with Kantar Context Lab will serve as an interim solution for brand lift studies utilizing forced-exposure methodology for eligible video ads campaigns on Roblox.
In the near future, Roblox will offer full integrations with multiple brand lift partners for industry-standard passive measurement of ad campaigns.
A recently announced partnership with PubMatic will also enable more brands to seamlessly reach Roblox’s global community via programmatic media buying in the near future, while Roblox will gain scaled access to premium brand advertising demand.
Immersive Ads: Part of the Growing Virtual Economy on Roblox
Immersive Ads represent a growing monetization opportunity for Roblox creators and can already be found across more than 1,000 experiences on Roblox, including some of the most popular ones with billions of visits. Today’s launch of video ads includes publishing clear eligibility guidelines for the broader creator community on Roblox to continue growing the number of experiences that can publish ads.
All Immersive Ads on Roblox must comply with the platform’s Community Standards and Advertising Standards, including Publisher Integrity requirements. These standards are grounded in principles of making advertising on Roblox safe, transparent and respectful of people’s privacy while still creating opportunities for the community to innovate, engage and earn. What this means for different audiences on the platform:
- Users will know when they are interacting with ad content on Roblox, and ads will only be served to people ages 13 and up;
- Ad publishers must meet and maintain certain thresholds and requirements to participate and earn through ad monetization, such as being 18+ ID verified or maintaining a certain monthly unique visitor minimum threshold. Ad publishers’ experiences must also comply with Roblox’s Community Standards to ensure brand safety;
- Brands can leverage brand suitability controls and genre targeting included in the platform’s Ads Manager to choose experience content that is most suitable to their brand needs.
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