BIDS.L Regulatory News (BIDS)

Certain information contained within this Announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR") as applied in the United Kingdom. Upon publication of this Announcement, this information is now considered to be in the public domain.

22 April 2021

Bidstack Group Plc

("Bidstack" or "the Company")

Annual General Meeting Statement

Strong momentum with 14 new games added

Increasing accessibility for media buyers through partners and global DSP strategy

Bidstack Group Plc (AIM: BIDS.L), the native in-game advertising platform, provides the following update ahead of its 2021 Annual General Meeting ("AGM") which is being held today at 11:00 a.m.

As stated in the Company's Notice of AGM, shareholders were asked to complete and return a form of proxy due to the COVID-19 pandemic and accordingly, they will be precluded from attending the AGM in person.

As set out in its Annual Report and Accounts published on 26 March 2021, Bidstack continues to execute against its strategic objectives and is making strong commercial progress across its three key pillars; advertisers, publishers & platforms and product.

Key highlights of the business since 31 December 2020 are outlined below:

Advertisers - continuing to build traction with brands and partners

Bidstack announced in February 2021, the results of its work with leading media measurement vendor Moat by Oracle ("Moat") to verify in-game inventory as a trustworthy media channel. The campaign was run with Dentsu's DGame on Football Manager 2021 in the UK on behalf of a leading global financial institution that measured general invalid traffic ("GIVT"). The analysis of Bidstack's PC inventory compared to Moat's benchmark performed 3.5x better than the industry and more than 99% observed impressions were verified as GIVT free.

Bidstack continues to enhance accessibility to its premium inventory for agencies and advertisers through media partners and implementing its global demand-side platform ("DSP") strategy.

In March 2021 Verizon Media, a division of Verizon Communications Inc., became the most recent member of our Approved Partner Network for the Nordics and the Netherlands adding invaluable experience and a deeper understanding of two important strategic markets to the Approved Partner Network. The Nordics and the Netherlands are a vibrant and established market for esports and gaming. The arrangements will give Verizon Media's customers access to the Bidstack platform, strengthening the Company's global footprint and will facilitate Verizon Media's mission to meet the growing demand for premium and brand-safe in-game inventory. 

Bidstack's integration with a leading DSP in April 2021, will further increase ease of purchase by providing media buyers an increased variety of methods to access in-game inventory across key regions such as North America.

In April 2021, Bidstack's brand activations were publicly recognised in the Campaign Media Awards 2021 by winning the Fashion & Beauty category with Publicis' Starcom UK for Paco Rabanne, which significantly increased its online sales, spontaneous awareness and propensity among young men to see its "Invictus" fragrance as a great gift for men in their early twenties through its in-game campaign.

Publishers & Platforms - tangible evidence of incremental scale in key genres

Since 31 December 2020, Bidstack has added 14 titles to its portfolio of games which reinforces scale and reach of its key genres: stadium, racing and open world.

These titles added have diverse features such as free to play models across various channels, innovative formats including virtual reality, the first integration Bidstack's Unreal Engine SDK and growing hyper casual games which will attract a broader audience and wider brand appeal.

Game developer testimonials have been strong and centred around the ease of technical integration and efficiency of the onboarding process.

Bidstack's pipeline for further AAA and high-fidelity titles is robust as game developers of all sizes and channels are eager to adopt Bidstack's offer to deliver quality brand campaigns and provide an additional source of monetisation.

Product - progress made to standardise and define in-game measurement

Bidstack is driving and advocating to define in-game measurement and taxonomy to standardisation frameworks with industry bodies and peers to enable a frictionless scalable global offering. Momentum behind this is building each day with IAB UK and USA now establishing dedicated boards and committees for in-game advertising. The IAB's efforts to define gaming as a channel is outlined in their recently published "Guide to Gaming" whitepaper.

Outlook

As set out in the Annual Report and Accounts, the Board expects that revenues for 2021, while materially greater than 2020, will continue to be significantly second half weighted.

-ENDS-

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