Q3 2026 Wrapped: preparing brands for GTA VI, 1,150 streamers for AXE and a no-fluff Guide for Brand Managers.

One launch to prepare for: GTA VI.

871,765 full views for AXE.

Four industry stages in five weeks.

GTA VI arrives on November 19, and it is set to be the biggest gaming launch of the decade. For brands, the weeks around it are when gaming attention will peak. We spent Q3 getting marketers ready for that moment, while shipping new proof from live campaigns and sharing our perspective on four industry stages. Here is what happened between July and September.

Q3 was about getting ready for GTA VI

GTA VI launches for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, with no PC version announced. Rockstar has also ruled out real brands inside the game. That leaves millions of fans watching rather than playing, and brands asking how to be part of the moment without a licence.

We answered that question in a three-part series on our blog:

• 8 ways brands can leverage the GTA VI hype (September 2): eight industries with a natural way into the launch, from FMCG and telco to automotive and fintech.
• GTA VI will bring the biggest contextual ad opportunity for brands yet (September 3): why the missing PC version creates a captive spectator audience. The gameplay reveal alone drew a peak of nearly 4 million concurrent viewers.
• Maintain your brand safety during GTA VI launch (September 28): how to separate the risk of a single moment from the risk of a whole M-rated title.

The thread running through all three is simple. Brands don’t need a licence to show up around GTA VI. They need a clear trigger, one focused idea and a measurement plan set before launch week. Wiktoria Wójcik also took this argument to an international audience in a column for The Drum.

AXE gave 1,150 streamers an instant aura boost

In gaming culture, confidence has a new name: aura. AXE (Unilever) positioned itself as the fastest way to get it, and our contextual technology delivered that message at the moments it made sense on stream.

The campaign ran 8 creative variants triggered by gameplay, from a headshot or an ACE to a win streak. It also showed up after a loss, offering to wipe away the smell of defeat.

• 1,150 streamers across League of Legends, CS2 and Fortnite
• 871,765 full views
• 6,075 verified clicks at a 0.7% CTR
• +16 pp Ad Recall and +7 pp Brand Association with the concept of aura

Unilever’s brand team counted the livestream activity, delivered with 2012agency and Mindshare (WPP Media), among the most effective parts of AXE’s wider campaign. Read the AXE case study.

A no-fluff guide for brand managers entering gaming

In August, New Game + and inStreamly released Gaming Marketing for Brands, a free guide that answers the three questions brand managers ask us most. How do I stop paying more for less attention? How do I reach Gen Z when they skip TV and block ads? How do I enter gaming without a campaign nobody remembers?

In about 20 minutes, it walks through the gaming ecosystem from a brand’s point of view, the formats available inside and around games, and what works versus what burns budget. Its core advice: pick your brand’s role in gaming culture before you pick a format. A brand can be an enabler, a rewarder, a co-author of fun or a mentor, but never just a logo in the corner.

On stage: gamescom, Havas, INSUMMIT and ProductTank

gamescom, Cologne (August 26–30). Our team was at the world’s largest gaming event, meeting brands, agencies and partners looking to build a presence in gaming communities across their markets.

Havas Retail Summit (September 9). Wiktoria Wójcik presented gamers as consumers: their purchasing power, how they shop and how brands can reach them.

INSUMMIT, Warsaw (September 16). At Poland’s largest insights festival, Wiktoria took the audience inside Polish Twitch culture: why people watch others play, and why it isn’t really about the game. The same day, she joined the panel Does wellbeing have ROI?

ProductTank Warsaw #31 (September 23). Szymon Kubiak, co-founder and CRO, told the story of inStreamly’s own pivot. Copying the Polish model market by market stopped scaling, so we rebuilt the product into technology that partners use to run their own marketplaces. His talk: Stop building features, start building business models.

Two jury seats and a spot on the Sifted 100

IAB MIXX Awards 2026. Szymon Kubiak joined the jury of the 20th edition of Poland’s leading digital marketing competition, judging categories including Games & eSport, Online Marketing with Influencer and Performance Marketing.

Innovation 2026. Wiktoria Wójcik joined the jury in the Business Innovation category.

Sifted 100: DACH & CEE. Sifted’s September ranking of the 100 fastest-growing startups in DACH and Central & Eastern Europe placed inStreamly at #97. It ranks companies by revenue growth over three financial years, and this year it includes 11 Polish companies, up from three in 2025.

Also this quarter

Creator Experience. We turned our Streamer Zone from Pyrkon 2026 into a format brands can book for their own events. Instead of passing a booth, visitors take a seat at a professional streaming setup and go live. At Pyrkon, some stayed for 30 minutes or longer. See how the format works.

Wójcik Sawicki podcast. Our founders released four new episodes on building companies and leading people. Listen on Apple Podcasts.

What we’re taking into Q4

Q3 confirmed three things. Creative that reacts to gameplay earns attention a static banner can’t. Measurement builds trust when it is shared, not just promised. And the biggest gaming moment of the year will be watched before it is played.

Q4 starts with GTA VI’s launch on November 19. To close the Q3 conversation, on October 22 we hosted a webinar for CMOs and brand managers on how brands can show up around GTA VI safely and with results they can measure. See the event.

For Polish marketers, Wiktoria Wójcik hosts GTA VI dla marek: Jak wykorzystać hype wokół premiery?, a Polish-language webinar on October 29 at 2 PM CET, live on LinkedIn. Join the webinar.

The same week, Maciej Sawicki spoke at LeadWell (October 21–22) about running a fully remote company on trust instead of control.

The direction stays the same: sharper measurement, smarter creative formats and more ways for brands to become part of gaming culture without interrupting it.