Alternative ads firm Giftgaming raises £104,000 in crowdfunding

New in-game advertising firm Giftgaming has managed to raise over £100,000 via the Seedrs crowdfunding platform, giving it the money needed to expand its alternative ads solution.

Giftgaming is designed to help developers work ads into their game in a less intrusive way. The system adds a gift icon to the game that, when tapped, gives players free virtual currency or a power-up and a coupon for a real-world brand. The player can their save the coupon for later use, although not doing so does not prevent them from getting the in-game benefits.

The company is working with more than 70 brands on this programme, including Skechers, Jelly Belly and Mattel.

The ad system has already been used in Cave Coaster, a mobile game by Brazilian studio Smyowl, and London-based Shedworks’ Cloud Critters.

“We’ve got the advertisers, we’ve got the publishers,” said Giftgaming founder and CEO Nick Hatter. “And we’re using a known revenue generating mechanism: affiliate networks. Now we’re scaling up.

“The fundamental limitation of competitors who do moment-based or achievement-based rewards is in their nature: they’re based on moments and can be too dependent on player skill. And given the average mobile gaming session is only 6.8 minutes, there’s a hard limit on the number of incentivised video ads a player can watch in one session.

“Giftgaming provides a non-intrusive revenue stream for game developers and publishers to make up for these flaws.”

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