Best of Casual: Apptica Report on Top Advertisers 2018

The 2018 analysis of the casual mobile gaming sector identifies the most active advertisers based on ad impression volume. The primary objective is to evaluate competitive advertising trends and identify market leaders within the rapidly expanding casual game category throughout the 2018 calendar year. The findings are derived from proprietary in-app advertising analytics, focusing on impression-based data to rank performance across the industry.

The top five most active advertisers for the year were Bubble Shooter by Happy Dragon Inc., Coin Master by Moon Active, Homescapes and Gardenscapes by Playrix, and Candy Crush Saga by King. Other notable performers maintaining stable positions in the top ten included Angry Birds 2, Township, Shoot Bubble - Fruit Splash, My Talking Tom 2, and a second Bubble Shooter title by Retooldirox. Quarterly leadership shifted throughout the year: Coin Master dominated the first quarter, while Playrix’s Homescapes led in the second and third quarters, and Bubble Shooter by Happy Dragon Inc. secured the highest volume in the fourth quarter.

Beyond ranking, the analysis highlights specific strategic trends for major titles. For instance, Coin Master’s 2018 campaigns were most prominent in India, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand. These campaigns primarily utilized in-app traffic sources within the casual, educational, and arcade categories, with playable ads emerging as the preferred and most effective ad format. This data underscores the reliance of top-tier casual games on high-engagement, interactive ad formats to maintain visibility and user acquisition momentum across diverse international markets.