Advertising Week Briefing: An inflection point for gaming, even if the hype has subsided

Gaming’s presence at Advertising Week 2024 was less all-encompassing than in past years — but the presence of key industry players at this year’s conference shows that gaming companies still view advertising as a key potential growth area for 2025.

After bonanza years fueled by the COVID-19 lockdown, ad industry excitement around gaming has subsided somewhat in 2024. At Advertising Week 2021, there were 15 dedicated gaming or metaverse sessions; in 2022, the number of gaming sessions peaked at 18. At this year’s event — as with last year — the number of gaming-specific panels stood at 10. Gaming is still making its voice heard at Advertising Week, but artificial intelligence is undeniably the belle of the ball.

The reduction in the quantity of Advertising Week’s gaming sessions was arguably counterbalanced by an increase in the quality of the gaming advertising inventory on display. This year’s conference featured talks by two of the largest gaming platforms currently making a push into advertising: Roblox and Discord.

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