Roblox
Immersive Ads
Reimagine advertising in an immersive, engaging way in the metaverse.
Overview
Context
Roblox is a 3D digital platform with "Experiences" created and played by users. As of Q3 '23, it boasts 70.2M Daily Active Users and 16B engagement hours globally, accessible on various devices in over 180 countries. Our ads are currently served on console, mobile, tablet, and desktop, with plans to expand into VR in the future.
Opportunity
While there are 220M monthly active users, only about 5% spend, and a subset of creators (with 5.1B visits to their experiences) resort to 3rd party ad networks to monetize. Establishing a formal ad platform within Roblox presents a significant opportunity to meet this demand and pioneer advertising in the 3D universe.
My Role
I led Ads product design from 0 to 1, including...
Designed a self-serve Ads Management Tool for advertisers, which launched in Q2 '23, and has over 9.5K ad accounts created, with an average of 3.75K daily visitors as of Q4 ‘23.
Collaborated with Brand Partnership and marketing teams, driving product visibility and attracting advertisers. Achieved 200+ branded activations, with top brands averaging $47K spend as of Q3 ‘23.
Designed Immersive Ads insertion/publisher reporting, which in Q1 '23 became available to 4,000+ creators (28% of total platform hours).
Designed mechanisms to improve player experiences with ads, such as “Return-to-Publisher Experience”, which increased player return rate by 13%, benefiting publishers adopting portal ads.
1 Senior Product Director
1 Senior Engineer Director
3 Product Managers
2 Engineer Managers
25 Engineers
3 Data Scientists
1 Content Strategist
1 Part-time UX Researcher
Multiple Cross-team designers
My Cross-Functional Partners
Brand Partnership
Sales Team
Technical Writing Team
Product Marketing Team
Advertisers on Roblox
This list is just a small sample of Immersive Advertisers on Roblox. Mixing across sports, entertainment, fashion, retail, and music.
What are Immersive Ads?
Immersive Ads are native ads within Roblox experiences that allow advertisers to reach their desired audiences at scale in an innovative, engaging, and safe way. Roblox game creators can choose where to place the ad containers and decorate them to best fit their game environments. Therefore, it feels natural and non-intrusive to users’ gameplay experience.
Ad Formats
We launched portal and image ads first, and currently wrapping up testing with video ads, with which we plan to launch officially in Q1 ‘2024.
Video Ad
Video ads capture and convey messages through dynamic visual storytelling, immersing audiences in a compelling audio-visual experience.
Portal Ad
Portal ads can transport users to an advertiser’s experience where the audiences can engage with brands in rich and meaningful ways.
Image Ad
Image ads are similar to real-world billboards, reaching audiences inside their favorite 3D immersive experiences.
Users
I. Advertisers
Brand/Traditional Advertisers: (e.g., Warner Bros., Gucci); focusing on promoting their products or services.
Individual Creators & Game Studios: focusing on promoting games and other digital creations.
II. Publishers
Roblox Creators who serve immersive ads in their experiences. (Creators who do not participate in Ads economy are referred to as creators, not publishers.)
III. Ad Audiences
Roblox Game Players who see/experience ads in games.
IV. Ad Moderators
Roblox Employees who review ad creatives submitted by advertisers and determine their compliance with Roblox’s policies.
Selected challenges for each user type:
I. Advertisers
I designed an advertiser self-serve tool - Ads Manager, with 3 major flows:
Ad creation flow:
Enabling advertisers to set campaign objectives, manage budgets and durations, define target audiences with bid pricing, and seamlessly preview ad creatives in a game environment.Ads Billing and Payments:
I designed two payment options, allowing advertisers to pay via credit/debit card and users under 18 to pay via Ad Credits. The design also incorporated robust payment validation and charging mechanisms, effectively preventing fraud and ensuring a trustworthy transaction process.Ads Reporting:
The tool provides advertisers with near real-time key performance metrics, such as impressions, teleports, spending, and cost per impression, empowering them with actionable insights for data-driven decision-making.
To enhance support for enterprise advertisers, I am collaborating with cross-functional teams to develop product and design strategies for ads org structure, user permissions, and billing tailored to large corporations. Additionally, we are actively working on partnerships with third-party verification vendors and demand-side platforms to further advance our product.
Impact
Over 9.5K ad accounts were created, with an average of 3.75K daily visitors as of Q4 ‘23.
200+ total branded activations with top brands having an average spend of $47K as of Q3 ‘23.
1. Ads Creation Flow
Challenge
Introducing a novel ad format poses the challenge of providing advertisers with a clear understanding of how their ads will appear, how will it be shown to their target audience, and educating them on optimal utilization.
Solution
Anticipating various ad formats and envisioning a future-proof solution, I designed a template that showcases visual thumbnails of each format, accompanied by necessary assets (e.g., 16:9 images or videos) and a description of their most effective use. The final design allows users to upload relevant assets and preview them within the game environment context, providing a clear understanding of how their ads will be displayed to their audience.
Advertisers
2. Ads Billing and Payment
Challenge
Roblox’s virtual currency (Robux) is commonly used by Roblox creators for any purchases on the platform, however, for traditional advertisers with substantial ad budgets, paying ads with Robux would introduce lots of friction and hinder their adoption of our Ad system. Therefore, our Economy team made the strategic decision to accept real money for ads. This move aimed to level the playing field for both traditional advertisers and Roblox creators, fostering a fair and comparable environment.
The initial launch solely with credit/debit card payments restricted usage to users over 18 due to legal constraints, prompting valuable feedback from creators. Two primary concerns emerged: users under 18 lacked credit/debit cards, and a strong desire to use Robux for Ads.
Solution
In response, we introduced Ad Credit, maintaining a 1:1 ratio with USD. This solution not only preserved familiarity for creators but also empowered users under 18 to run ads with Ad Credit. This shift in our payment system standardizes billing, ensuring fairness and comparability, marking a pivotal achievement in the evolution of the company's payment infrastructure.
Advertisers
3. Advertiser Reporting
Challenge
During the Beta phase, we initially introduced basic ad metrics reporting. However, a challenge arose when dealing with our unique ad formats like Portal Ads, where advertisers wanted to better understand the impact of ad spending on the new format.
Solution
In response, I devised a solution to augment our MVP reporting by incorporating average time and total time spent in these experiences. While this feature is currently in the planning stages and yet to be implemented, its future integration will effectively address the challenge, providing advertisers with valuable metrics to gauge user engagement in their immersive ad content.
Advertisers
II. Publishers
Publishers' primary concerns for immersive ads are the impact of ads on player engagement and the viability of earnings. I focused on building trust and accelerating adoption. My approach involved designing a streamlined ad insertion process, implementing an automatic real-time ad validation check, and incorporating intuitive revenue share reporting features. These designs not only prioritize simplicity and efficiency but also aim to provide publishers with a seamless and transparent experience in managing ads on the platform.
Impact
Early adopters like Scriptbloxian Studio and Brad_Developer derive 20% and 30% of their earnings, respectively, from Immersive Ads as of July 2023.
Our top 100-1000 creators who inserted immersive ads have 16% of their earnings from immersive ads as of Sep 2023.
1. Ad Insertion and Customization
Challenge
Streamlining the adoption of immersive ads for publishers posed a challenge that demanded a design solution centered on simplicity and speed.
Solution
Drawing inspiration from their existing familiarity with the Roblox Studio game builder, I crafted an intuitive approach. Publishers can seamlessly integrate ads dragging-and-dropping ad containers directly into their experiences. This design not only ensures straightforward insertion but also facilitates seamless customization, aligning with the familiar process they employ for constructing any 3D objects within the game.
Publishers
2. Ad Validation
Challenge
Balancing the need to empower publishers with ample control over customizing ad containers while imposing constraints to ensure effective ad impressions poses a challenge in the design for the publisher experience.
Solution
In response, I designed a live validation process that provides publishers with immediate feedback as they modify the ad container. For example, resizing the ad container too small triggers the ad placeholder turning red, accompanied by error reasons displayed in the top banner. Additionally, the error layer is highlighted on the side for enhanced visibility. This dynamic validation extends beyond size, checking for any objects obstructing the ad GUI (where ad creatives display) and scrutinizing various properties of the 3D model to guarantee an optimal setup for serving ads. This approach ensures that publishers can tailor the ad container to seamlessly integrate into their game environment while meeting advertisers' expectations for effective impressions.
Publishers
3. Publisher Ad Revenue Reporting
Challenge
Publishers depend on robust ad revenue reporting data to make informed decisions, including assessing the profitability of ads, identifying the most effective ad formats for their games, and strategically placing ads to optimize revenue while minimizing engagement impact.
Solution
One impactful solution I implemented addresses these concerns through the introduction of an Ad Instance breakdown view. This feature allows publishers to gain insights into which ads in their game garnered the most impressions and their respective locations. Moreover, it enables a comprehensive comparison of earnings across different ad formats, empowering publishers to discern and choose the formats that best suit their games. This design significantly enhances publishers' ability to make data-driven decisions critical for their revenue optimization strategies.
Publishers
III. Ads Audiences/Players
In Roblox experiences, users fall into two categories: 1) Ad Audience—users over 13 who meet the advertisers' criteria; and 2) Ineligible Players— users under 13 or those who do not meet the advertisers’ criteria. My design solution needs to account for both user types playing in the same experience and balance consistency and intentional differences to best enable players' cooperative play experience, which is crucial for player retention.
Impact
Predictive Teleportation Interface:
Introduced a low-friction opt-in method, reducing accidental teleports.
Seamless Return-to-Publisher Experience:
Boosted player return rate by 13% which helped increase publishers portal ads adoption rate as no-return was one of publishers major concerns before.
Custom Fall Back Image:
Gave publishers more control over ad containers, and preserved players’ immersive game experience.
1. Predictive Teleportation Interface
Challenge
Players teleporting through portal ads weren't noticing the ad image, impacting both their game experience and advertiser engagement. The issue was prominent in fast-paced games, where accidental teleportation rates were high. The initial solution proposed during the launch, requiring player action to teleport, faced resistance due to concerns about reducing teleportation rates.
Solution
To address this, I proposed a non-intrusive solution that predicts player intent. Upon colliding with the portal door, a non-modal hologram appears with a countdown timer. This gives players time to react, and walking away cancels the teleportation. The non-modal approach ensures minimal disruption to gameplay. Additionally, immediate teleport buttons are provided for players who prefer quicker interactions. This design optimizes player experience and ad visibility without introducing friction.
Audiences/Players
2. Seamless Return-to-Publisher Experiences
Challenge
Ensuring a seamless return experience for players teleported from an Ad Portal to an advertiser’s experience is crucial. Previous requirements for a return portal within advertiser experiences led to player confusion, as the location of the return portal was not standardized across experiences. Additionally, advertisers sometimes intentionally concealed it, causing players to manually quit the advertiser experience and not return to their original one. This situation created hesitation among publishers to adopt portal ads.
Solution
To address this challenge, I designed a platform-level UI under the Roblox icon menu, which players are familiar with accessing it for exit-related actions. The "Return Button" placed prominently in this menu became easily accessible for players. Testing showed a 13% increase in player return rates, effectively alleviating publishers' concerns and promoting the adoption of portal ads.
Audiences/Players
3. Custom Fallback Image
Challenge
To ensure fairness across all players, we faced the dilemma of displaying ad containers to ineligible users who wouldn't see any ads. To maintain consistency in the game's physics, we opted to show ad containers for everyone, using a default Roblox logo for ineligible players. However, this led to user confusion, as the logo seemed unrelated to the game.
Solution
To address user confusion, I proposed a solution that allows publishers to insert custom images as fallbacks when no ads are served. This empowered publishers to seamlessly integrate the ad space with their game's context, enhancing the overall user experience and reducing misunderstandings about game functionality. Publishers reported that this feature is easy to implement and makes them feel more in control, enabling the ads to feel more native to their games.
Audiences/Players
IV. Ad Moderators
The introduction of immersive ads brought forth a new use case for image, video, and text content on Roblox, necessitating adherence to both our general content policies and the new ads policies. Collaborating with designers from the Trust and Safety team, I utilized components from the existing library and introduced new, versatile components for reuse by teams beyond ads.
Impact
Designed new components that are scalable and reusable for other teams’ use cases outside of ads.
Designed and launched an ads moderation tool that allows ads-specific content to be shown simply and effectively, which enables speedy review by moderators.
1. Ad Creative Review Layout
Challenge
The challenge stemmed from the inability to differentiate between assets for various purposes and ads, leading to prolonged moderation times as information needed to be looked up outside the tool.
Solution
In collaboration with the Trust and Safety design team, I delved into their existing components and designed a layout that intuitively organized all ad information for efficient review.
The moderation ticket view now comprises three main sections. The first, the Asset and Owner section, appears on the left panel, guiding moderators to understand the asset's purpose based on factors like asset type ads, audience, and location. Moving to the second section in the middle, moderators examine the asset in a large preview window, equipped with filters such as invert, contrast, and brightness adjustments to scrutinize both hidden inappropriate content. The final section on the right is for actions, moderators can select decisions or reroute if needed.
Collaborating with our Safety team, I proposed incorporating this layout as a global component, where it has been used by other teams.
Ad Moderators
Brands My Products Have Served
-
![Netflix-stranger Things Watch Party Ad]()
Netflix - Stranger Things
-
![Paramount Pictures' TMNT Ad]()
Paramount Pictures - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
-
![Lamborghini Ad]()
Lamborghini
-
![Paris Hilton's Ad]()
Paris Hilton
-
![Tommy Hilfiger's Ad]()
Tommy Hilfiger
-
![Cirque du Soleie Ad]()
Cirque du Soleie
Closing
Designing for all stakeholders in the ads ecosystem – advertisers, publishers, and audiences – has been a fascinating journey. This challenge constantly prompts me to strike a balance that serves the best interests of each user group and our platform as a whole. My overarching vision is to change the perception of ads, transforming them from traditional annoyances to enjoyable and beneficial experiences for everyone involved and making ads a win for all parties. The journey continues as I strive to design an ad system that delivers value to advertisers, unlocks monetization opportunities without compromising the creative integrity for publishers, and safeguards the end-user experience, ensuring a sustainable and growth-oriented future for the platform.
Showcase Immersive Ads at the Annual Roblox Developer Conference with my PM, EM, and Product Marketing Lead.