admonetization

When evaluating an investment, I often ask: Is this company suited for the VC-backed path? For early-stage investors, a major risk is determining whether a follow-on VC will invest in the company down the line. While some startups may never need additional funding, this is the exception rather than the rule—99% of startups that raise pre-seed and survive will require further capital.Let's approach this from first principles:1) Will a later-stage investor give money to this company in 18-24 months?2) What conditions or milestones need to be met for that fundraising to take place in 18-24 months?3) What actions need to be taken now to ensure this happens?4) Is this team capable of executing these actions with the capital and resources available to them?

Creative Decode №2 has arrived, just in time for the holiday cheer! 🎄In this special Christmas edition, we're diving into the wintery magic of the Merge Mansion mobile game. In this issue, AdQuantum’s Creative Production Director Ivan Razmakhov decodes the ad creative for the game, highlighting the intricate blend of art, storytelling, and interactive design that creates an immersive atmosphere ❄️The link to the ad video: https://lnkd.in/e5J9Uxra So grab a cup of hot cocoa, cozy up, and let's decode the winter creative together! hashtag#CreativeDecode hashtag#MergeMansion hashtag#WinterWonderland hashtag#GameDesign

The State of Play from Real-Time payments to Web Shops (DOF podcast (Dec 15, 2023)1.    Real-Time PaymentsListen on Spotify: DOF Spotify 0:11Definition: Instantaneous transactions between bank accounts, including on holidays and weekends.Global Growth: Expected to constitute 30% of all electronic payments by 2027.Regional Examples:Brazil's PIX: QR code-based, used by over 131 million users.India's UPI: Accounted for 46% of all real-time transactions worldwide in 2022.US's Fed Now: A national system for instant payments, projected to handle 11.5 billion transactions by 2027.2.    Alternative PaymentsListen on Spotify: DOF Spotify 11:43Definition: Payment methods other than cash or credit cards, crucial for financial inclusion.Importance: Vital for markets where major platforms don't include all payment methods, enabling transactions for those without traditional banking.Examples:Japan: Convenience store payments like Konbini, Pay Easy, Bit Cash.Africa: Rapid growth in mobile gaming, underserved audience.Market Reach: Essential for global expansion, especially in emerging markets.3. […]

Pocket Champs has scaled to $100k/day in IAP revenue with a whopping $40k/day on top of that in Ad revenue. We were joined by Madbox’s Game Director Arthur Michel to help us dissect the game and make sure we’re not talking BS! Pocket Champs does some pretty clever things to maximize ad revenue without taking away from the user experience. The first is the clever use of rewarded ads that reduce cool-down timers for the training bags. Most networks assume that users who watch many RV videos in a row, pay less attention to the ad. Thus the networks are willing to pay less for those subsequent impressions. The drop-off in revenue is usually around 5 IMP/DAU per session. Training bag timers can be reduced by 30 min per RV video, which can be watched consecutively with a 5 RV […]

As I wrote in my previous articles (here and here), in May 2023. Google announced that they will stop showing ads to users in the EEA and UK regions unless the publishers implement a Google-certified CMP that would enable them to collect TCF 2.2 compliant consent. The deadline for implementation was 16th January 2024, which has recently passed but even though Google didn’t make any official statements, it seems that Google will only start to gradually enforce this policy from 1st February and will fully enforce it by the end of that month. In this article, we’ll cover how the top 100 grossing games responded to Google’s CMP requirements but will also include other games that we consider important to reflect on and try to highlight some best practices and other important aspects on this topic. Apart from that, we […]

TWIG #263 The DOF Game Industry Awards (Listen on Spotify)AI's Transformative Role in Gaming (DOF Spotify 5:30)Development and Marketing Impact: AI's influence on game development and marketing costs is a central topic, with diverse perspectives on its potential.Industry Shift Indicator: King's acquisition of Peltarion highlights AI's significant impact, signaling a major industry transition.Major Industry MovementsMicrosoft-Activision Acquisition: A pivotal event, marked as one of the biggest acquisitions in gaming history.Unity's Controversial Fee: Caused speculation and trust issues in an engine powering 70% of mobile games.Off-Platform Payments: Notably, Playtika's off-platform revenues account for 30%, and Huuuge Games shows rapid growth in this area. (previous DOF podcast summary detailed analysis on Webshops)Unlocking New Demographics in Console GamingHarry Potter Hogwarts Legacy's Success: Contrary to expectations, the game sold around 16-17 million units, broadening the console market to include more women and children.Opportunities and Challenges […]

Tips for founders looking for angel investors: 😇 Create your own angel investors. Not many people say on their social media profiles that they are angel investors. But many industry professionals could be up to angel investing, so just ask!📚 Do your research. Many angel investors are out there, but it's important to find ones who are a good fit for your company. Free-to-play? Find Free-to-play people. Premium? Find premium people.🖥️ Be prepared to pitch your company. Angel investors are busy people, so you need to be able to give them a concise and persuasive pitch.💪 Be clear about what you're looking for. Angel investors want to know what you need the money for, how you plan to use it, and what other support you are looking for.

Where is the growth for app publishers? It’s a fundamental question and the hardest to answer. How exciting to get straight answers from my guerilla interview with Dow Jones’ Andrew Rauner and lively debate with Digital Turbine’s Shalom Mikaeli and Product Madness’ Piyush Mishra that drive home the key points that you need to make part of your marketing modus operandi. Thought-provoking. This is what you get when you match two brilliant minds (Piyush and Shalom) in a no-holds-barred debate. Four questions and four rounds with two experts who know the drill. Round 1: Power and profits The latest episode of Mobile Explorers, powered by Digital Turbine, cuts them loose to discuss how disruptive alternative distribution channels will really be in a volatile environment where app publishers are hungry for wins that will seize power from gatekeepers and give them […]

📈 Tower War By SayGames earns somewhere between $68-75k/day in ad revenue. On top of that, the game earns around 40k/day in IAPs meaning that the title earns the majority or 60-70% of its revenue from ads. Interstitials are shown after each completed level 🌪 . A main level takes about 2 min to complete meaning that from an average 15 min game session a user will see around 8 interstitial ads. This number is 2x higher if the user plays secret missions where the average game time is 1 min. Taking the eCPMs and DAUs from the last 10 days into account that would mean $45k/day from 6.2m inter impressions or 60% of the overall adrevenue. ✅ 📍 Rewarded ads are implemented in a very clever way. Most likely the highest converting rewarded ad unit is the spin after […]

The advance of AI accelerates the pace at which companies can arrive at the Nirvana of one-to-one marketing. But the sharp focus on how AI and automation can improve, scale and tailor lead-activation campaigns (primarily through the mass production of what cartoonist Tom Fishburn calls “infinite words nobody wants”) blinds marketers to the real benefit of AI: detecting patterns to understand people better. This is because AI tools are great at delivering very smart but very similar results. And whether it's AI-generated or human-generated, sameness is not a winning strategy. The bottom line: Companies can’t break through the clutter by adding to it. That’s why I am watching the early signs of the Second Wave of AI and how AI is evolving to help companies stand out. It was also the topic of my keynote at App Growth Week, the […]