The Interactive Advertising Bureau released its Gaming Measurement Framework on June 26, 2025, targeting measurement standardization across gaming environments. According to the framework document, “This document was created to give advertisers more transparency and confidence when investing their marketing dollars in gaming.”
The framework establishes baseline and additional metrics for gaming ad formats across display, video, audio and custom implementations. Display advertising incorporates five distinct categories: intrinsic in-game, rewarded, sponsorship, interstitial and adjacent placements. Video advertising spans six formats including in-stream, livestream and alternatives categories.
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Summary
Who: The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), gaming publishers, advertisers, agencies, and ad tech providers seeking standardized measurement capabilities in gaming environments.
What: Release of the IAB Gaming Measurement Framework establishing baseline and additional metrics for gaming advertising across display, video, audio and custom formats with standardized measurement requirements.
When: Announced June 26, 2025, with accompanying webinar scheduled for July 24, 2025 at 2:00 PM ET.
Where: Gaming environments including mobile, PC and console platforms with applications across intrinsic in-game, rewarded, sponsorship, interstitial, adjacent, in-stream, livestream and custom advertising formats.
Why: To provide advertisers transparency and confidence when investing in gaming advertising, standardize measurement reporting across gaming publishers and ad tech providers, and unlock gaming’s potential as a dominant advertising channel with over 80% of U.S. internet users identifying as gamers.
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Baseline metrics represent “the core measurement capabilities that buyers should reliably expect when running campaigns through specific gaming ad formats,” according to the framework. These include impressions with CPM calculations, viewability measurements tracking in-view rates and time duration, unique reach indicators specifying persons, households or devices, and ad frequency calculations.
Gaming platforms must support additional metrics depending on specific environments and advertiser configurations. Brand lift metrics typically require third-party vendor surveys through ad effectiveness studies, though some platforms provide first-party brand lift capabilities. Attention metrics incorporate data signals, visual tracking and physiological observations or survey-based measurements.
The framework specifies technical measurement requirements across different gaming environments. Mobile gaming achieves general metrics including Daily Active Users and Monthly Active Users, audience demographics, invalid traffic detection, platform identification and contextual targeting based on game genre and name. Console and PC environments face limitations in readily available general metrics compared to mobile implementations.
Custom advertising formats within gaming environments include branded worlds, integrations, sponsorships, playables, livestream/social content, skins/logos, digital goods/user-generated content and branded games. These formats support specialized metrics including session duration, UGC equipment rates, skin retention measurements and platform currency spending tracking.
Audio advertising in gaming environments focuses on three primary formats: intrinsic in-game, rewarded and interstitial placements. Baseline metrics include impressions/audible impressions, unique reach with cost-per-unique calculations, ad frequency rates, clicks with click-through rate and cost-per-click measurements, audio duration tracking quartiles and complete plays, redemption rates and conversion metrics requiring advertiser-end tracking capabilities.
Additional audio metrics span audio start/play tracking, volume level monitoring, ad frequency calculations, brand lift metrics through third-party surveys, skip counts and rates, plus conversion metrics measuring footfall, attribution and offline sales lift. Brand lift metrics typically require third-party vendor surveys, though some platforms offer first-party brand lift capabilities.
The framework incorporates recommendations for following Interactive Advertising Bureau and Media Rating Council guidelines. Core guidelines include Audience Reach Measurement for understanding reach and frequency through gaming platforms, Click Measurement for click-based advertisements, Desktop Display Impression Measurement for desktop gaming environments, Digital Video Impression Measurement for video advertisements within games, and Intrinsic In-Game Advertising Measurement specifically designed for gaming platform integration.
According to Zoe Soon, VP Experience Center at IAB, “With more than 80% of U.S. internet users identifying as gamers, gaming is no longer a niche pastime relegated to teenagers in basements; it’s mainstream entertainment with the potential to become a dominant force in the digital advertising ecosystem.”
Gaming measurement standardization addresses transparency concerns across the advertising ecosystem. Independent measurement capabilities have expanded across gaming platforms, with companies developing verification solutions for specific gaming environments. Viewability and invalid traffic measurement integration provides advertisers third-party verification capabilities through specialized gaming advertising platforms.
The framework establishes consistent measurement language across publishers, agencies and ad tech providers. This standardization aims to simplify campaign comparisons and build confidence in gaming advertising effectiveness. “The framework’s launch is a major step forward both for the gaming industry and decision makers in marketing,” stated Allison McDuffee, Global Head of Brand Insights & Measurement at Roblox.
Technical implementation requires gaming platforms to support minimum viable metrics sets indicated in baseline requirements. Platforms may offer expanded measurement capabilities through additional metrics categories, though these remain dependent on specific gaming environments, advertiser configurations and platform technical capabilities.
Attention measurement developments demonstrate industry focus on engagement quality beyond traditional viewability metrics. Gaming environments present unique challenges for verification measurement due to multiple device types and platforms, requiring specialized technical approaches for comprehensive verification coverage.
The framework supports five primary use cases: partner/vendor selection ensuring measurement alignment, creative planning and mixed media modeling connecting gaming experiences to broader media categories, reporting alignment between brands, agencies, platforms and ad tech providers, campaign evaluation for success assessment and ROI calculation, and brand budget unlocking by identifying gaming experiences delivering desired measurement capabilities.
Cross-platform measurement integration enables advertisers to compare in-game campaign reach against other media channels within unified platforms. These partnerships enhance measurement accuracy and provide real-time campaign optimization capabilities for gaming advertising strategies.
IAB plans an in-depth webinar titled “Play to Win: Measuring Campaign Success in Gaming” on July 24, 2025 at 2:00 PM ET. The session will explore framework implementation and practical applications for advertisers seeking gaming measurement optimization.
Gaming measurement framework development reflects broader industry movement toward attention-based advertising metrics. Research analyzing 873 multi-media campaigns representing over $3.2 billion in media spend reveals complex relationships between attention levels and brand contribution effectiveness across different channels.
The framework document notes that engagement metrics applicable for rich media advertisements measure user interaction within advertisements themselves, including expanding, playing and interacting with elements, while excluding clicks redirecting to webpages, installs or downloads. These specifications distinguish between different engagement types for accurate measurement reporting.
Gaming environments require specialized measurement approaches due to dynamic nature and multiple platform configurations. The framework addresses these challenges by establishing clear baseline requirements while allowing flexibility for additional capabilities based on technical implementation possibilities and advertiser needs.
According to the framework, “This will be instrumental in unlocking the full potential of gaming as an advertising channel” by providing precise identification of gaming advertising experiences capable of delivering desired measurement metrics for key stakeholders.
Timeline
January 2023 – IAS partners with Gadsme bringing viewability and invalid traffic measurement to in-game ads
January 2024 – IAS launches Quality Attention measurement integrating media quality and eye-tracking data
May 2024 – Independent measurement arrives for Twitch Ads through AudienceProject platform
July 2024 – Comscore and Anzu partner to improve in-game advertising measurement
July 2024 – IAS expands Quality Attention to mobile in-app environments
December 2024 – IAS launches attention optimization tool achieving 130% conversion lift
June 26, 2025 – IAB releases Gaming Measurement Framework
July 24, 2025 – IAB hosts “Play to Win: Measuring Campaign Success in Gaming” webinar
