Anzu and Saber Interactive are teaming up to engage advertisers in the highly anticipated Dakar Desert Rally when it launches this year on PC and consoles
In-game advertising company Anzu has entered into an exclusive agreement with Saber Interactive, the global game publisher and developer, to offer advertisers a chance to connect with their audience via the upcoming highly anticipated Dakar Desert Rally racer.
The new AAA title is the official game of the Dakar Rally, the biggest rally race on the planet, organized by Amaury Sport Organization and broadcast annually on 70 television channels in 190 countries. 1,065 drivers and 578 vehicles took part in the 2021 race, and clips of the rally were viewed online by more than 59.8 million people, with an additional 76.8 million views on Facebook and Instagram.
Fans around the world have been waiting for news of a new official Dakar Rally video game title. Last December, Saber Interactive revealed that the title would launch in 2022 and feature an enhanced Dakar rally experience with over 30 full rally racing stages, a huge open world with dynamic seasons and weather, official road books to navigate and a garage filled with registered vehicles including motorcycles, cars, trucks, quads and SSVs.
The game development team is committed to creating an immersive gaming experience that faithfully brings the Dakar Rally to players. Anzu helps the team replicate this; advertisers will be able to run their banners and video ads in Anzu’s in-game ad placements, which will take the form of 3D objects such as billboards and roadside banners. They will also be able to take advantage of a variety of custom onboarding options, including custom vehicles that can be painted with branded colors, logos, and even have the driver wear a custom uniform. There are also options for roadside flags which can be branded with a product logo and different colors, and garage takeovers, where brands can add custom wall banners and elements to decorate the building.
The non-disruptive nature and expert optimization of Anzu’s ad placements also means that brands will experience extremely high engagement rates without disrupting the player experience. Advertisers will also benefit from the low fraud rates associated with in-game advertising. HUMAN reports that Anzu’s IVT score for mobile is 0.16% and for PC is 0.47%. Comscore also reports a score of 0.39% for video and 0.44% for display campaigns, compared to a benchmark of 6%. Anzu also works with other industry leaders to measure ad viewability, fraud levels and brand impact.
Alex Yerukhimovich, VP Games, Anzu, said, “We’ve worked closely with Saber Interactive to ensure our ad placements are perfectly positioned to enhance both the player and ad experience. This is a great opportunity for advertisers to showcase their campaigns in a visually stunning AAA title, and for gamers to experience races with real frame-relevant ads along the track. Just as they would expect to see if they were watching a real race, making the experience all the more authentic.
More and more advertisers are making in-game advertising a bigger part of their digital advertising strategies. As anticipation continues to build around this title, we look forward to involving many in the Dakar experience to reach its millions of diverse and dedicated fans that span across the globe.
Our Saber Porto team has worked passionately on the Dakar Desert Rally and is focused on creating one of the most important and authentic rally racing games of all time,” said Todd Hollenshead, Head of edition at Saber Interactive. “Our goal is to bring Dakar to life in a realistic and fun way, and it’s great to see that passion reflected by the talented team at Anzu through their cutting-edge technology and expertise. We work closely together to ensure that these ads are implemented in an immersive way and serve to faithfully recreate the real-life rally experience.
