Lockdown gaming surge a boon for Bidstack

Bidstack Group said it was “pleased” with the progress it had made towards its goal of becoming a leading platform to deliver in-game advertising in an update on Thursday.

The AIM-traded firm, which was holding its annual general meeting said the disruption to the advertising industry arising from the global cancellation of live sports amid the Covid-19 pandemic had resulted in media buyers following audience demand.

As a result, it said they were seeking to get in front of the increasing numbers of consumers turning to video games as an alternative.

Bidstack said it had successfully secured increasing demand-side interest from multiple advertising agencies.

Chief executive officer James Draper said the company had received its first advertising bookings from the United States, as well as its first bookings from its network of approved local agencies in Europe, Africa and South America.

“Bidstack is now working with most of the major international advertising groups,” he said.

“Although initial spends have been small, the company has run campaigns for many international brands including Activision Blizzard, Audi, BBC, Football Index, JBL, MG Motors, Penguin Random House, Shell, Subway, Unilever, Vodafone, VW and Warner Music.

“As well as having run its first campaign in a new game from a global leader in digital interactive entertainment, the company is also actively selling advertising into a title from a leading creator, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and services.”

Draper said Bidstack was working with a number of the world's largest video game developers and publishers, including an unnamed “globally-recognised” casual games brand, a content developer for mobile and console games, and the developers of a “well-established” battle royale genre game.

Discussions were also ongoing with many more leading games developers and publishers, he added.

“As announced on 11 May, Bidstack is making progress to be ready for the next generation of consoles expected to be launched this year.

“In addition it is working hard on the streaming platforms, which the directors believe are likely to be major players in the future of high fidelity gaming and to capture the extensive secondary viewing market.

“On the technical side, the company has created and improved its ‘AdConsole’ so that games publishers - as well as advertisers - can now access real time data on the performance of their games.”

Draper said the board believed the firm’s software development kit (SDK) currently supported the majority of platforms in the market.

Bidstack's SDK was described as “lightweight”, with its impressions and viewability functionality being automated.

The company was continuing to innovate and develop new technologies for its intellectual property portfolio, Draper explained.

“The company remains confident that it is making material progress in its approach to building a strong foundation on which to grow and create value for shareholders.

“The board continues to expect revenues for 2020 to be very significantly second half weighted and in line with market expectations for the year.

“In the meantime the Board remains focussed on careful management of the company's existing cash resources and expected trading and non-trading cash receipts as it continues to grow the business.”

At 1249 BST, shares in Bidstack Group were up 14.15% at 5.85p.