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"). Upon publication of this Announcement, this information is now considered to be in the public domain. 

6 December 2018

Bidstack Group PLC ("Bidstack or "the Company")

Contract with Codemasters

Bidstack Group plc (AIM: BIDS.L), the native in-game advertising group, is pleased to announce that it has signed a contract with Codemasters, the AIM listed award-winning video game developer and publisher, to provide native in-game advertising within two of Codemasters' titles, beginning with DiRT Rally 2.0, the sequel to the successful BAFTA nominated DiRT Rally.

Bidstack will provide native in-game advertising that will enable brands to reach a unique gaming audience through some of the most recognised racing franchises in the world.

The three-year exclusive contract positions Bidstack to manage the virtual advertising real estate for Codemasters across multiple platforms.

According to Codemasters, Dirt Rally 2.0 will launch on the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system and the Xbox One family of devices including the Xbox One X and Windows PC, on Tuesday 26th February 2019.

James Draper, CEO, said, "Our agreement with Codemasters, a AAA rated games developer, provides us with further evidence that our proprietary technology is relevant and in demand by the world's leading games creators."

Frank Sagnier, CEO of Codemasters, commented, "We've been impressed by both the technology and brand reach of the Bidstack team. Most importantly they understand the importance of the quality of our assets and the need to deliver a solution that appeals to both brands and our loyal gamers. We look forward to working with them."

Contacts

Bidstack Group PLC

James Draper, CEO via Alma PR

Spark Advisory Partners

Mark Brady/Neil Baldwin/James Keeshan +44 (0) 203 368 3550

Peterhouse Capital Limited

Eran Zucker/Lucy Williams/Duncan Vasey +44 (0) 20 7409 0930

Alma PR

Josh Royston/ Sam Modlin +44 (0) 203 405 0205

Notes to editors

Bidstack is an advertising technology company which provides dynamic, targeted and automated native in-game advertising for the global video games industry across multiple platforms. Its proprietary technology is capable of inserting adverts into natural advertising space within video games across multiple video games platforms (mobile, PC and console).

Bidstack's customers are games publishers and developers (on the supply side), and advertising agencies, brands and programmatic advertising platforms (on the demand side). Bidstack contracts exclusive access to the native in-game advertising space within video games from their developers or publishers and sells that advertising space either direct to specific brands and their agencies or through programmatic advertising platforms.

About DiRT

The first game in Codemasters' fully owned "DiRT" franchise was launched in 1998 as "Colin McRae Rally". This was broadened from pure rally car racing to off-road racing including buggies and trucks, with the launch of the rebranded "DiRT" in 2007. Critics and consumers consider "DiRT" to be one of the best off-road racing franchises in the industry. "DiRT", "DiRT 2", "DiRT 3" and "DiRT Rally" all earned BAFTA nominations, and "DiRT Rally" and "DiRT 4" are tied as the second highest rated racing games on PS4 across all racing categories (85 per cent. Metacritic).

"DiRT 4", the most recent release in this franchise, was also awarded 2017 Racing Game of the Year by Game Informer, a leading US games publication. The franchise has in excess of 450,000 fans on Facebook and over 400,000 monthly active gamers.