Activision Blizzard Media

One of the largest first-party gaming advertising networks globally, operating as part of Microsoft's advertising ecosystem

Activision Blizzard Media is the advertising sales and monetization division of Activision Blizzard, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2023 for approximately $69 billion. The unit connects brands with one of the largest first-party gaming audiences in the world, spanning console, PC, and mobile platforms. Key properties include the Call of Duty franchise, World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and the King mobile portfolio — most notably Candy Crush Saga — collectively reaching over 400 million monthly active users globally. The platform offers a range of advertising formats tailored to gaming environments, including rewarded video ads, interstitials, playable ads, branded in-game integrations, and audience-targeted display units. Its mobile advertising capabilities, largely powered by the King/Candy Crush network, represent one of the most scaled mobile gaming ad inventories available to programmatic and direct buyers. The division also provides audience insights and data tools that allow advertisers to target gamers based on behavioral and contextual signals without relying on third-party cookies. Within the AdTech ecosystem, Activision Blizzard Media occupies a distinctive position as a walled-garden first-party publisher network with massive scale. Its integration into Microsoft's broader advertising stack — including Microsoft Advertising and Xbox advertising — positions it as a significant competitor to other gaming-focused ad networks and a compelling alternative to social media platforms for reaching the 18-34 demographic. The unit is particularly valued for brand-safe, high-engagement environments where traditional digital advertising formats often underperform.