Let’s talk about mobile game marketing

Part 4: Now let’s talk about mobile game marketing

These are going to be based on very anecdotal data from talks with different market leaders in Europe and sprinkled with personal opinion. Take them with a grain of salt.
Challenge me on them, so we all learn.

1. The difference between which are the top iOS UA networks and the top Android networks is increasing. Networks that you wouldn’t see on the top 5 of one being top 2 on the other. Not naming names, but DM me and I can provide what I’ve been seeing. The key point here being that ever since the IDFA deprication it was different, but never this much. It might be that learnings from Android don’t translate to iOS as much anymore – which would make me wonder: how are you doing creative tests on iOS? On Facebook android and then assuming the same learnings apply to other networks and platforms? I challenge that. Haven’t been seeing that working well in years now.

2. Ad revenue is increasing overall for all games and IAPs decreasing (not as much, and due to the consumer economy macros). So, there’s a rise in non-IAP ROAS campaign adoption, but not as much as one would think, because the amount of studios leaving hypercasual onto hybrid is so big, it offsets demand for these algorithms considerably. So, IAP ROAS Value campaigns are still a huge (possibly biggest) optimization type and will continue being king. The only variable here is how can studios leverage multiple campaign types at once. The secret is that these are different audiences with different creative needs. The more studios diversify their creatives, the more they can acquire successfully.

3. Misleading ads are getting more cheeky. It seems like as more studios adopt this strategy, the less it gets policed and the worse the user expectations are. Seen games being review bombed for their ads, but the user pushback isn’t being taken seriously, nor are the platform holders / networks enforcing checks and balances on this. So, what do to?
Minigames.
And that’s all I’ll say for now, as we’re getting ready to reveal the results of our study on this in the coming weeks.
Come meet me at Mobidictum or PocketGamer.biz ‘s PGC Helsinki – we’ll be sharing some of this. And… some articles and podcasts upcoming. Stay tuned.