Gaming often looks like a world of its own, yet it has quietly become a meeting ground where two of the fastest-growing areas of advertising, connected TV and retail media, start to overlap. For years, the living room screen meant one thing: watching.

Today, it means watching, playing, shopping, and sometimes doing all three in the span of a few minutes. That shift is not accidental. It is the result of how technology has blurred boundaries between entertainment and commerce.

The idea sounds simple. In practice it changes how people move from discovery to purchase. For years a household watched a spot and acted later if the message stayed in mind. Now the same screen invites action while attention is fresh. Hands on a smartphone, eyes on the scene, mind in the story. If a product appears inside that moment, either within the play or just beside it, the path shortens. Minutes, not days.

This is why gaming feels so central when people talk about advertising today. Connected TV is growing fast, with IAB saying digital video will make up almost 60 percent of all U.S. TV and video ad spend in 2025, and CTV will be a big driver of that IAB report. Retail media is moving into living rooms too. Walmart already places ads on smart TVs that connect shopping intent right to what people are watching. Mobile games bring something different. The ads that really work are the ones players choose, like a rewarded video that gives extra moves in Candy Crush Saga or a revive in Match Factory. And the reach is huge. In 2024 there were more than five trillion mobile game ad impressions around the world Sensor Tower report, and by 2025 more than 3.3 billion people are playing mobile games TekRevol report. That’s attention at a scale few other channels can match.

Once those pieces are on the table the rest becomes intuitive. Gaming brings immersion that ordinary video rarely achieves. CTV brings scale and familiarity in the home. Retail media brings purchase data and a way to confirm that a view turned into a sale. Joined together they can move a person from awareness to action without forcing a hard switch in context. It does not need to be loud. It does need to respect the rhythm of how people use screens at night.

Think about SimCity BuildIt. A player is upgrading a new residential block and realizes they are short on SimCash to finish construction. A rewarded video steps in with the option to watch a short clip in exchange for the missing currency. The ad happens to be for a new furniture line, which makes sense in the flow since the player is already placing buildings and decorating their city. When the video wraps, an end card appears with a quiet “Learn More” or “Shop Now.” The player grabs the SimCash, keeps building their skyline, and the brand message stays behind as a natural extension rather than a disruption.

This link between entertainment and commerce only works when the experience feels seamless. Viewers do not want an awkward overlay during a dramatic scene. Players do not want a pop-up that blocks a move during a tight moment. The right format sits inside the environment and gives control back to the player. If they want to act, they can. If they want to keep playing, the brand presence stays as context rather than command. The living room remains a space for choice.
Retailers appreciate this because it uses first party data in a respectful way. Instead of chasing people around the open web, a brand can speak to a household on a screen that already carries trust. A grocery chain might show a familiar snack on a virtual shelf inside a family friendly game. A fitness brand might appear while fans play a basketball match. The moment feels relevant because it connects with what people already watch, play and buy. When handled with care, it reads less like an ad and more like a natural part of the world on screen.

Creative craft decides whether the idea works. The best placements feel native to the world in view. Color, motion, and tone echo the setting. Consistency across screens matters as well. A person might meet a brand inside a video game, then later see the same story while scrolling on a smart TV menu, then finish the path on a phone. It should feel like one conversation, not three unrelated asks.
Measurement across channels remains a work in progress. Each channel has its own toolkit, and stitching them together is not seamless or sometimes not possible. The goal is not perfect accounting on day one. The goal is a small set of dependable signals that show whether exposure led to store visits or online sales. Retail media data can close the loop. Connected TV identity can help match devices inside a household. Games can contribute attention signals that confirm the placement was on screen for a meaningful moment. With each campaign the picture becomes clearer, and the next creative test gets smarter.

There are risks worth naming. Over targeting can drain the joy from play. Over frequency can turn a good story into background noise. Protecting the player’s time has to come first. The helpful part is that teams who build for games already think this way. They design worlds that hold attention without shouting. Advertisers who respect that craft earn trust faster and keep it longer.

For brands the most effective starting point is modest and highly focused.

Instead of spreading across tens of thousands games, choose a manageable subset of titles or even just a couple of categories that line up with one clear audience. Make placements that match the vibe and flow of the game. Tie the creative to a clear outcome, whether that’s lifting brand awareness or consideration metrics, or something more concrete like product page views. Use retail media data to see who engaged. There are partners such as Circana that are already blending art and engineering in smart ways to make these metrics work. Quiet moments, simple cues, and a path that never interrupts the reason people are there in the first place.

Traditional spots and static banners will remain part of the mix. They still have a job to do. The change is that they are no longer the only way to speak on a screen. Gaming offers a language that feels closer to participation. Retail media offers proof that time and attention led to value. CTV offers a stage where both can meet and reach everyone in the room.
So the living room that looked ordinary at the start is not so ordinary anymore. It is a small marketplace connected to a theater and a playground. People move between those roles without noticing, and that is the point. The tech fades. The experience remains. Also, yes, someone probably still argues over the remote.

At Admazing, we live and breathe mobile gaming. It’s the only place we play, build, and innovate, which is why brands trust us to make their presence feel natural inside games. Our proprietary Admazing Games IQ™ technology helps pick the right titles and audiences, not from guesswork but from real-time data and predictive insights. Because we came from a game studio background, we know how to craft rewarded video and interactive placements that respect the flow of play while still driving results. And we connect with leading measurement partners to ensure every campaign can prove its impact. Whether the goal is awareness, consideration, or direct sales, we help brands bridge the gap from screen to cart while keeping the player’s experience first.