Brutally Honest #131

Hey, FAM! What’s up? 🥃 Drink talk I really admire people who know absolute jackshit about UA. Their conversations about UA are always great “popcorn” material. Keep talking! 🦩Tip of the week Diversification of your UA channel mix is crucial—we know that. This is one of my slides from last week’s Appfest presentation. The full deck, which is actually an article, will follow in the next few days. While none of these channels are NEW, I see them climbing up the UA channel ranks in the games I manage or the games we review on our no BS podcast. Diversification doesn’t always mean you have to run a million UA channels at once. It really starts with one channel. What am I talking about? What to diversify: Campaign optimization Attribution windows (campaign types) GEOs Creatives Placements Monetization (IAA, IAP, hybrid) […]

Matej Lancaric September 27

Journal

Slingshot Hook: The Evolution of a New Trend

🎉 Slingshot Hook: The Evolution of a New Trend 👇 Guess what's making a comeback from the "ancient history" of gaming? The classic slingshot mechanic! It's been out of the spotlight for a while, but it's exciting to see this tried-and-true feature from Angry Birds being reinvented in creatives.From Dice Dreams using it in their ads (congrats to SuperPlay for joining the Playtika family!) to its recent appearance in Evony or Royal Match.Evony is quite an interesting beast. They run a ton of creatives and are already iterating on the Slingshot hook. Looks like this is the next big thing on the menu for multiple games!And now, even Royal Match is experimenting with this and incorporating the Slingshot Hook in their creative testing.Plus, a big surprise coming from Century Games recently. This is a new creative for Whiteout Survival (very […]

Matej Lancaric September 27

Journal

Creative Trends in Mobile Gaming – August 2024

In the ever-changing world of UA & creatives, staying ahead of the curve is essential. Here is why: 👇▶ Celebrity endorsements can significantly impact game marketing and user acquisition.▶AI is becoming increasingly important in game development and marketing strategies.▶User-generated content is influencing game trends and player engagement.▶Game creatives are becoming more sophisticated & more complex, utilizing various game features.▶Understanding player psychology in marketing strategies is crucial.▶Trends in app marketing are shifting towards more personalized and targeted approaches.▶The future of game creatives will likely involve more integration of AI and user-generated content in long format, meaning 1minutes and longer videos.As the UA landscape evolves, so do the creative trends that shape how games communicate with their audiences. Let's check the trends! Creative trends in mobile gaming - August 2024 version. Yes, that's it! 👇 📺 Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/d5fX2i7v🎧 Listen on […]

Matej Lancaric September 25

Journal

My 2017 vs. 2024 Presentation Saga

From Stomach Aches to (Mostly) Keeping It Together: My 2017 vs. 2024 Presentation Saga 👇 Back in 2017, the mere thought of giving a presentation gave me a serious case of the jitters (read: absolute stomach ache). Fast forward to 2024, and while I'm not exactly auditioning for TED Talks, let's just say we've made some progress.Despite what you might think, I'm not the biggest fan of public speaking in front of actual humans. I'd much rather be tucked away recording a podcast in my daughter's room—no audience, no judgments, just me and the mic.I have ridiculously high standards for the talks I attend. If it's full of fluff and vagueness, you'll probably catch me rolling my eyes and, yes, bitching about the bullshit.But here's the thing: I genuinely enjoy sharing knowledge, diving into case studies with real numbers, […]

Matej Lancaric September 24

Journal

Elder Scrolls Castles: $70K Daily in Revenue

Elder Scrolls Castles is currently earning around $70k daily in revenue. It's a big IP on PC but terrible on mobile. Is this another Warcraft Rumble case? 👇 In this episode, we discuss Bethesda Softworks's global launch and performance of this mobile game. Jakub discusses gameplay mechanics, innovative features, and monetization strategies, and I talk about the marketing approach.We are very concerned about the game's long-term viability and the lack of content updates, so we are drawing parallels to other mobile games like Warcraft Rumble.The UA basically doesn’t exist, using only a few static images and one long video cut into pieces. That's pretty sad! 📺 Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/d_8-3VA8🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/dKfmk_2x🦄 Subscribe to the Brutally Honest newsletter: lancaric.substack.com🗣 Join the discussion in our Slack channel: https://lnkd.in/dbrDdGiJThanks a lot, Sensor Tower, for all the data!two & a half gamers

Matej Lancaric September 23

Highlights

Brutally Honest #130

Hey, FAM! What’s up? 🥃 Drink talk Came back from Appfest Barcelona. A great event full of great content. (not because I had a presentation about UA diversification) Going to share the deck next week, stay tuned! 🦩Tip of the week Manual campaigns & "Lookalikes are dead.” That’s what some UA people want to believe. I have found success with both recently. You should try to diversify from the Automated Campaign setup that Facebook pushes into your face at every step of the campaign creation. When was the last time you created lookalikes? at least 37826783 years ago, I know! Here is a list I usually create: ENGAGEMENT events XY+ quests achieved in the game (in the last XY days/months) XY+ times App launched in the last XY days/months engaged with high LVL - e.g. all players with level 100 […]

Matej Lancaric September 19

Journal

Offline Games – No Wifi: The Most Profitable Game!

Offline Games - No Wifi Games: the most profitable game 🤑(sorry, Scopely, it's not Monopoly GO) in the world, making $550K/day in ads, no UA 👇 The game really delivers what it says it does. You can play all of the games offline. It has already crossed 100 Mil. downloads with no UA! We couldn't even find any creatives or UA channels. This is a brilliant masterpiece of ASO & SEO strategy with proper link building that connects Jindoblu website and the YouTube channel - well actually two YouTube channels with MILLIONS of views. The game also cross-promotes the other similar portfolio games—two-player games and Antistress. Let's not forget ASO here, since this game is ranking in the No.1 position for a lot of "offline games" related keywords in the US and other countries. Truly a great case study of […]

Matej Lancaric September 13

Journal

Impulse – Brain Training Scaled to $6 M A Month

A hyper scaling app masquerading as brain training making 🚀 $6mil in the last 30 days!Impulse is a brain training app with significant revenue & download growth in the last months. The app offers hypercasual games and cognitive training programs to improve IQ, memory, and mental abilities.Their creatives showcase multiple gaming creative trends, mainly psychological tests, and "only psychopaths can solve these" hypercasual headline variations. This UA know-how is probably one of the main differentiators between the other "apps" trying to achieve this same result.It uses clever monetization strategies, including subscription plans and discounts, to encourage users to upgrade to premium.The app's ad monetization is heavily segmented, with different ad experiences based on the user's usage and payment status. The app also includes prompts that resemble the official Google Play UI to encourage users to make in-app purchases.Regarding team size, […]

Matej Lancaric September 9

Highlights

Brutally Honest #128 by Matej

Hey, FAM! What’s up? 🥃 Drink talk Not being a d1ck to people pays dividends. Remember to be friendly and offer help as much as you can (if you can). It doesn’t cost too much and can improve other people’s life. Also, you never know who you walk into in a different job or engagement. I always remember all the people who didn’t pay my invoice (for whatever reasons), and they should. We had already met multiple times, and oh boy, the look on their faces when I was the decision maker and suddenly on the other side of the barricade. Fun times… 🦩Tip of the week Creatives -> icon –> screenshots = one seamless experience. Create a perfect expectation flow for your players with Custom Product Pages & Custom Store Listings (CSLs on Facebook only work after you get […]

Matej Lancaric September 8

Highlights

Brutally Honest #127 by Matej

Hey, FAM! What’s up? 🥃 Drink talk There are a lot of rumors coming from Gamescom. blablablabla.. Key headline: Survive to 25! Anyway, there has been much talk about CTV. I have been planning to try CTV for a looooooong time. Many different UA channels have this placement. Now, even Unity has come up with something interesting! Let’s see! 🦩Tip of the week How long should we be in the soft launch? There is no correct answer to this. The goal of the soft launch is not to be in a “tweaking mode” forever and, step by step, improve the game. Not every time it’s possible. How long your game can stay in the soft launch is influenced by multiple variables: CPI vs LTV or Dx ROAS goal hit Retention KPIs Monetisation KPIs Money in the bank account Kill the game, save your company […]

Matej Lancaric August 30

Journal

🚀 BIG Update with +100% Revenue Uplift for Squad Busters

😑 Mega Troops removed and moved to Skins. Megas were one of the two kinds of battle consumables, but they weren't successful in fulfilling the role they were designed to fulfill. Most players didn't find them very satisfying as a comeback mechanic, and some even labeled them as unfair for certain game modes.Instead of adjusting these powerful troops, the development team has decided to discard the concept while reusing most of the content and ideas involved. For example, if you have unlocked the Dragon Chicken, you'll receive a Dragon skin for your Chicken. You can then select this skin for your Chicken in the Squad tab.✖ Chest MultipliersIf you liked Chest Doublers, wait until you see the 4x Multipliers!Chest Multipliers are getting a significant improvement. You will no longer be constrained by time and push to play at an inconvenient […]

Matej Lancaric August 20

Highlights

Brutally Honest #126 by Matej Lancaric

Hey, FAM! What’s up? 🥃 Drink talk Well, well, well. Isn’t this a Gamescom week? It is. There were a lot of survival guides last week flying around for Gamescom. Do you want to hear the ultimate tip on how to survive Gamescom? .. .. .. .. Stay home! 🦩Tip of the week Feedback is a gift! With creative feedback, it’s not always true. In my humble opinion, feedback for UA creatives should be ONLY between the creative & UA teams: no producers, no game artists, no CEOs, no janitors. Ideally, the fewer people, the better. Why? Because everybody has a fucking opinion about everything. Even when they don’t understand the context. I believe in a very straightforward creative framework and feedback loop. Creative framework: How to win in 2024? Me and the person who works on the specific video. That’s it. I […]

Matej Lancaric August 19

Matej Lancaric

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