As programmatic rises on Roblox, in-game studios are feeling the competition

After years of focusing their Roblox spending on bespoke brand activations, marketers are keying into the programmatic advertising opportunity on the platform. Roblox studios view this trend as a rising tide that will lift all ships — but as brands explore alternatives to immersive integrations, studios anticipate potential competition between their services and Roblox’s programmatic offering.

In recent years, brands have paid Roblox studios hundreds of thousands of dollars to develop and build branded games such as “Barbie DreamHouse Tycoon” and “Walmart Discovered.” These custom-branded Roblox worlds have long been considered the default method for brands to reach users inside Roblox, and an ecosystem of developer studios has arisen to meet the demand, with some studios becoming official Roblox partners last year. 

But while Roblox has welcomed developers to set up shop on the platform, the marketing dollars that brands spent on immersive integrations largely went to studios rather than to the platform itself. Roblox’s programmatic video ad business, which launched in May of this year, represents a much more direct advertising revenue stream for the company, so it’s no surprise that Roblox has encouraged marketers to explore the opportunity over the past year through a series of strategic partnerships and agency roadshows.

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