Press Release: SponsorPay Launches BrandEngage To Boost User Engagement and Monetization in Social Games

BERLIN, Germany (July 13, 2011) – SponsorPay, the leading international social advertising platform, has announced their latest product, BrandEngage, to boost user engagement and monetization in social games. BrandEngage enables publishers to seamlessly integrate CPE (cost-per-engagement) campaigns such as videos, advergames or branded content in any game or app on Facebook and other social networks.

“Social games have become a new mass entertainment channel reaching hundreds of millions of users globally. BrandEngage combines the trends of integrated advertising and interactive ad units with online and social games leading to deeper brand engagement for advertisers and, consequently, higher monetization for publishers,” said Janis Zech, Chief Revenue Officer and co-founder at SponsorPay.

For the overwhelming majority of free-to-play social, online and mobile games publishers, revenues come from a meager 1 to 5 percent of users who pay for virtual goods. SponsorPay’s BrandEngage monetizes the remainder of players by letting them earn virtual items through bespoke in-game brand interaction. These ‘top of the funnel’ users are introduced to earning virtual goods through frictionless offers such as watching videos or playing advergames. “BrandEngage not only boosts engagement in our community but also monetizes players who are reluctant to participate in regular offers. Within a few days of integration, we have already seen excellent conversion effects with users actively seeking out videos in our online world,” said Sebastian Funke, CEO and co-founder at publisher Smeet, a 3D social game.

Brand engagement campaigns have seen a massive 98% increase globally as online video advertising spending continues to grow to a forecasted one-third of display ad spending by 2014. Through BrandEngage, these campaigns achieve completion rates as high as 90%, thereby delivering value to advertisers and publishers alike. “Publishers monetize non-paying users whilst simultaneously improving user engagement and stickiness without infringing on the gaming experience,” added Zech.

Game developers can employ BrandEngage as an unlocking tool for access to higher levels and virtual goods or to showcase special promotions. Campaigns are driven using SponsorPay’s demographic and geographic targeting algorithms to ensure the most relevant content for users worldwide. This content can be presented in a variety of ways including overlays as well as in-game integration techniques. “BrandEngage is all about interaction and user experience. We’ve built it to be completely customizable so our partners can mold it to their needs. For publishers, it’s remarkably simple and yet eminently powerful,” explained Markus Knoke, Chief Technology Officer at SponsorPay.