Dive Brief:
- Domino’s and Peloton are the launch sponsors for The Glitch, a new network of playable worlds in the video game Fortnite that will be promoted with help from Twitch streamers, per details shared with Marketing Dive.
- Twitch and Amazon Ads, working with game studio Look North World, tailored the worlds to each sponsor’s brand identity. Players visiting the Domino’s space will encounter a fully modeled pizzeria and can hold a pizza party that restores their character’s health.
- The Glitch comes as a response to intrusive in-game advertising that disrupts the flow of play, seeking to offer a more integrated experience. Popular creators on Twitch will raise awareness and drive viewers to The Glitch, providing an influencer marketing boost.
Dive Insight:
With The Glitch, Amazon’s Twitch is strengthening its ties to Fortnite, a massively popular online game that is closely associated with metaverse marketing and frequently broadcast by the live-streaming platform’s base of creators. The news was announced as part of TwitchCon San Diego on Friday. The Glitch is not officially sponsored or administered by Epic Games, Fortnite’s developer.
Many brands have dabbled in experiences tailored to multiplayer gaming platforms like Fortnite and Roblox that are popular with Gen Z and Gen Alpha. The process usually involves working with game developers to create a custom virtual space and running awareness efforts to spur players to hop in and explore.
Amazon Ads and Twitch are taking over some of the heavy lifting with The Glitch, enlisting Look North World to build custom worlds that are themed around each sponsor’s assets and identity. Look North World is led by Alexander Seropian, one of the founders of Bungie, the developer behind the iconic Halo franchise. Twitch is also leaning on its roster of content creators, many of whom already stream games like Fortnite to young-skewing audiences.
“We are always looking for innovative ways to highlight our brand for critical audiences, and this interactive galaxy is a logical path given that pizza and gaming have a long history of going hand in hand,” said Kate Trumbull, Domino’s senior vice president and chief brand officer, in a statement. “Ultimately, this is a great opportunity for us to showcase the high quality, craveability and value of Domino’s to a Gen Z audience whose spending power is on the rise.”
Other gaming platforms are standing up offerings meant to lure advertisers who are contending with a decline in engagement for traditional ad-supported channels. Roblox began running video ads within games back in May. Commerce has also become a bigger draw: Roblox earlier this month teamed with Shopify to allow players to buy goods directly from brands and creators without needing to leave the game world.
For Twitch, products like The Glitch could help improve advertising revenue at a challenging time. The live-streaming platform, which Amazon acquired in 2014, is still a money-loser, The Wall Street Journal reported in July, and new user sign-ups have tapered off following a bump during the shut-in days of the pandemic.
Twitch accounted for less than 0.5% of Amazon’s total 2023 revenue, per documents reviewed by the Journal. Amazon’s overall ad business, which is mostly powered by retail media advertising, has become an industry juggernaut but encountered a slowdown as well. Ad sales for the company grew 20% year over year in Q2 to $12.77 billion, a deceleration in the growth rate from recent quarters and a number that landed below analyst expectations.
