Hello,
I am looking for some solution for displaying ads in the standalone app - PC or Mac. I would like to display video ad.
Not sure if such a feature exists, but you should be extremely careful here, as I doubt you would retain an audience by doing this.
Unlike the mobile game industry, ads are not commonplace in PC games. The most you’ll see is subtle product placements in some Tripple-A games.
Putting video ads in a PC game though will likely make players immediately uninstall it and leave a negative review.
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I am aware of that. Ads have to be placed very carefully.
A lot of free software from the Internet have an option to install some additional tools, like search bars, cleaners, etc. If you don’t uncheck those during installation you’ll get a whole bunch of those “tools”. Software developers are apparently being paid for bundling those tools into their installers. I think this is the closest thing to ads on desktop you can get.
As to regular ads similar to those you see on mobile, I think it’s possible only through a contract/arrangement with some specific company that could be interested in displaying ads in your game. Some desktop and console games use ads like that (NBA 2K12, for instance). But for a small indie developer, there is no chance to negotiate an advertisement contract like that with anybody, I guess.
Are you looking for an ad service?
Or simply a way to play a video?
https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/Video.VideoPlayer.html
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Thanks. I am looking for an ad service.
Ad service companies always say there is no market for pc game ads. I think they’re wrong, but ok.
There is basically no in-app advertising ecosystem outside of mobile. Mobile (gaming) ads are basically other games’ ads. The prevalence of f2p creates a strong demand for advertising, and the ability to attribute an app install to an ad click increase ad value.
Also, PC gaming sessions tend to be longer and the audience is likely less forgiving of interruptions caused by ads. Where would these ads lead? A website? Another game on Steam? I’m not sure what are Steam’s guidelines are when it comes to advertising.
You could display web ads in the game, but those ads would be worth far less because they don’t share cookies with the player’s browser, limiting targeted advertising.
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They aren’t wrong. A market implies the existence of buyers and sellers. There’s nobody selling ad-space in PC games and nobody seeking to buy it, ergo, there is no market.
Actually, thinking again, there is a market for advertising in PC games, but it’s nothing like the one on mobile: brand tie-ins in in games like Fortnite and Roblox are obviously advertising (those companies are paying to get their brands there). But clearly, this a very exclusive market.
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Kongregate and Newgrounds are both ad-based PC games platforms.
Fixed that for you. Just because they can be run on a PC doesn’t mean they’re PC platforms.
Fair, it doesn’t just run on PC. It also wasn’t an answer to the OP’s question which was specific to standalone players. It was more in response to idea that “there is no market” for ad-based game monetisation on PC. It’s been happening in browsers long before mobiles showed up.
Apple Silicon will bring big changes with iOS and iPadOS apps defaulting to also being released on macOS. I can see this being a trigger for ads to appear on PC. I don’t expect this to be a replacement for existing PC gaming, instead most of the demand will come from people who do not currently play games on PC, similar to F2P mobile.
Sorry for responding to the old post, but any luck finding anything? Vungle seems promising but I can’t get it to work lol
Vungle as far as I know only supports Windows Store Apps for their rewarded video, as well as mobile.
There just doesn’t seem to be a market for desktop rewarded ads.
An alternative to monetise your desktop games, is in-game immersive ads, i.e ads that show on an in-game surface, such as a wall or billboard.
I’ll be implementing them in my racing game, it’s a good fit, as I have Billboards all over the place.
Check out
Anzu
Bidstack
Admix
Vungle just came out with banner ads, I contacted support and they just said because the ads are still in beta, they just might not show up lol. Well, I’ll remember that for the future, I’m actually making a program for Windows store, but I only really want a banner ad on the menu.
The problem will be implementing those in a Unity desktop build. They probably don’t have an SDK to show banner ads in a Unity desktop build, do they?
You could hack it by finding a browser plugin for Unity that shows a banner ad from a web page, but the other hurdle you’ll run into is finding an SSP that would allow this, since it’s technically not on a website, but a website within a game.
They have a Unity SDK, I think they just recently made it. They actually JUST told me that since it’s in beta, there’s a high probability ads won’t be available, that’s why I couldn’t get it to work 
I’ll check that up, I’m sure there’s something out there, thanks.
A massive part of the reason I don’t play mobile games is because of the ads and I’m hardly the only one.
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