Rewarded UA is now a core marketing channel, with 61% of surveyed studios planning to increase their budget in 2026 and 65% of studios allocating between 11% and 50% of their total UA spend to the channel.
02
Extending reward structures beyond traditional short-term windows is critical for retention; for example, Candivore increased their Match Masters reward structure from 50 to 90 days, resulting in a 50% increase in D60 retention and a 70% uplift in D90 ROAS.
03
Campaigns that layer multiple event types outperform single-event campaigns, with IAP/hybrid games utilizing an average of 3.25 distinct event types per campaign to drive long-term engagement.
04
Automation is a primary industry focus, as evidenced by Almedia’s MaxROAS system, which has delivered up to a 35% ROAS uplift and a 100% increase in spending for participating advertisers since December 2025.
05
Rewarded UA is increasingly viewed as a go-to-market strategy, with 93% of studios launching rewarded campaigns within the first year of their game's lifecycle and 46% implementing them within the first three months of global launch.
06
Non-gaming apps are emerging as the next frontier for rewarded UA, leveraging gamification mechanics like daily streaks and loyalty tiers to mirror the success seen in the $103B mobile gaming market.
07
To mitigate common concerns like the 'D30 cliff' and fraud, studios should treat rewarded UA as a long-term loyalty program and utilize platform-level, first-party anti-fraud tools rather than relying solely on MMP-level checks.
Insights
01
Rewarded UA is now a core marketing channel, with 61% of surveyed studios planning to increase their budget in 2026 and 65% of studios allocating between 11% and 50% of their total UA spend to the channel.
02
Extending reward structures beyond traditional short-term windows is critical for retention; for example, Candivore increased their Match Masters reward structure from 50 to 90 days, resulting in a 50% increase in D60 retention and a 70% uplift in D90 ROAS.
03
Campaigns that layer multiple event types outperform single-event campaigns, with IAP/hybrid games utilizing an average of 3.25 distinct event types per campaign to drive long-term engagement.
04
Automation is a primary industry focus, as evidenced by Almedia’s MaxROAS system, which has delivered up to a 35% ROAS uplift and a 100% increase in spending for participating advertisers since December 2025.
05
Rewarded UA is increasingly viewed as a go-to-market strategy, with 93% of studios launching rewarded campaigns within the first year of their game's lifecycle and 46% implementing them within the first three months of global launch.
06
Non-gaming apps are emerging as the next frontier for rewarded UA, leveraging gamification mechanics like daily streaks and loyalty tiers to mirror the success seen in the $103B mobile gaming market.
07
To mitigate common concerns like the 'D30 cliff' and fraud, studios should treat rewarded UA as a long-term loyalty program and utilize platform-level, first-party anti-fraud tools rather than relying solely on MMP-level checks.