Roblox expands immersive video ad offerings to all advertisers

Roblox has expanded its immersive video ads access to all advertisers, enabling them to reach Roblox’s Gen Z users who represent over half of the platform’s 71.5m daily active users.

Available today through Roblox’s self-serve “Ads Manager” and soon via programmatic media buying, the new video ads come with expanded controls and features such as genre targeting, brand suitability and an audience estimator. This new immersive advertising format does not require the creation of custom-built 3D content.

Furthermore, advertisers will also be able to buy completed views later this year—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. 

“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.” 

Initially introduced on Roblox in November 2023, video ads have been tested over the past six months with top brands such as e.l.f. Beauty, HUGO, Walmart, Warner Bros. Pictures and global agencies including dentsu and Hearts & Science. 

Since last year, Roblox has also been experimenting with immersive ads that allow developers to insert ad units into their Roblox experiences. A Roblox study shows that three quarters of respondents believed brands that advertise on Roblox feel innovative and unique, while 73% see brands that advertise on Roblox as category leaders.

To offer measurement solutions to its advertisers, Roblox is also partnering with Integral Ad Science (IAS) on a first-to-market integration 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 measurements 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 utilising forced-exposure methodology for eligible video ad 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. Robox’s recent partnership with PubMatic will also enable more brands to reach Roblox’s global community via programmatic media buying in the near future, while Roblox will gain scaled access to premium brand advertising demand. 

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