Unlock Your Game's Next Level with TikTok

hello everyone and uh welcome to the webinar to unlock your games Next Level hosted by Tik Tok and pocketgamer.biz uh and thank you very much everyone for attending uh we'll be today we'll be exploring powerful strategies for driving player engagement and revenue growth in the live in live Ops and Hyper casual games uh leveraging Tik tok's platform insights and Q5 momentum for Maximum Impact uh so if we move to the next slide we'll do some introductions to ourselves thank you so my name for those that don't know is Craig Chapel I'm the head of content at pocketgamer.biz I run the editorial team here uh and also help put together our Pocket Gamer connects events so we're back in London on January 20 21st uh with me today uh is our experts on all figs Tik Tok and live Ops uh we've got Mayan with us so Mayan please do uh introduce yourself tell us

a bit about your role at Tik Tok as well as a bit about the role Tik Tok plays in the gamees ecosystem I think you're on mutes oh no sorry for that uh so just wanted to say first of all thank you Greg and uh great to be here and excited uh to to join you um so as you mentioned I'm an cther and I'm heading ape gaming at Tik Tok for business um and we what we do is we partner with gaming Publishers and studio uh to help them grow um and reach new audiences uh through Tik Tok we' like to see ourself as partners uh for their success um we we believe that Tik Tok that um that Tik Tok does play a crucial role in the gaming industry uh we drive Discovery engagement and and most importantly value we have over 1 billion active users so it's a for sure a key

platform for gamers to explore new titles and when 75% of users say that Tik to Tik Tok influences uh their decision to download or purchase a game it's really you know it's not us saying it it's actually uh the users uh which is a great testimonial for us um so if if I I just like try to to condense it into um in today's Mobile gaming landscape uh the success depends on um excelling in three areas this is how we like to look at it the culture of relevance the connection um and the community uh the cultural relevance helps acquire new users by staying uh in tune with Trends um and there's no other great place to do so on Tik Tok Trends uh is uh something that is cre in TI on Tik

Tok and the second one as I mentioned is connection which is uh a critical part uh players uh you know sick uh games for trusted Brands and Tik Tok offers that unique way for Brands to engage with uh with those players and the last one is the community which is a very very strong element on Tik Tok um it creates this retention um it does connect also to what I mentioned around brands building the community creates uh the um certification or uh testimonial to uh something that is big and we want to be part of it um and there's no uh better place to create those communities than um on Tik Tok one billion active users yes that's pretty big um you my I don't know don't think I know anyone I don't know anyone that doesn't have Tik Tok well my friends always sending me something that's going on um thank you for my if we move to the next slide

thank you so uh I'm sure many people here uh will know about liveops uh but to kick us off Mayan uh if you could actually tell us exactly what liveops is kind how you see it and why it's so important important to long-term success on mobile yeah sure so liveops is the uh continuous operation kind of a real-time management of the game as a live service um after it's launched so you're not just launching a game and uh believe that you know it will uh continue running by itself the idea is that uh you involve regular uh scheduled events updates and content releases and that will keep players engaged and ensure long-term success um of the game and why is it uh so important for the longterm success uh is because live robs is critical in the fast-paced gaming Landscapes game

are um releases all the time and it helps the uh uh adopt this evolving player uh expectations you know they're looking for something excited of every time you want to make sure that you're providing it um it's not just about adding new content or reward it's about creating really meaningful engagement um that keeps their invested over time in your game and part of it um and an effective liveops strategies uh do help improve key metrics that um like retention for example it doesn't matter if it's 30 days 60 days 90 days it's it's it will ensure the game remains uh fresh and and compelling um in short live ops isn't just about keeping the game alive it's about creating um a thriving evolving experience that keeps play uh engaged um and supports uh long-term

profitability yeah and for anyone that because there's lots of interesting stats on this uh for anyone that excuse me want to see uh that there's we've got the sources linked here so super scale games don't good games don't die uh got the UN gaming report and set tow state of gaming report so if you want to check out more please uh look at those a bit more I guess flavor on what we're talking about here um if we could move to the next slide thank you so uh the end of the holiday period is potentially one of the most lucrative types of the year for developers and Publishers with players highly engaged Tik Tok and a few experienced marketers I've noticed recently recording this there's a period where there they call Q5 which I I've think I've been in the industry since 2011 and somehow I I have missed this uh I think there's a mix of people that don't know what it is and you get the experienced marketers that are like we've been doing this for for years like

a decade um so please if you could explain exactly for those that don't know of what is Q5 and what period does that cover yeah sure so TR if we look at it traditionally Q5 is a six week period running from mid December through January I'll speak a bit more around why it's not limited to that time frame but traditionally it's this six uh week period that I just mentioned mid December through January uh during this time frame we will usually see a spike in Instone in a great combination of reduced cost which is of course a dream for any marketeer right um it's a critical period uh for mobile games many players have more time uh uh to engage their uh it's the holiday season um and it does lead to higher acquisition rates and increase their activity and again with the combination of reduced cost

that's an amazing uh uh period for marketeers um but I guess like what is the actual impact like so what can developers and Publishers kind of investing in their liveops actually expect to see in return during this period so as I mentioned and I I'll give some uh proof points uh or data points uh for that but Q5 is the prime time for game growth in the mobile markets um it has increased engagement and when I'm speaking about increased engagement we have seen Global gaming apps install increases uh by 7% last quarter last Q4 sorry uh with NAA a revenue up by 177% in December uh so that kind of shows the increase engagement that we're talking about and there's also the cost Effectiveness uh effective efficiency sorry Effectiveness we can call it uh both both ways but the cpms uh drops by

uh 133% post November post the uh shopping season uh providing cost-effective opportunities to uh attract and convert the players uh with the increased engagement that we talked about so again um I I probably will uh said it and we'll say it again and again but it is a perfect time um it's actually the most uh um important time of the year let's say for advertising that they shouldn't miss that lower CPN cpms um and enthusiastic uh use user base making it a high cost highly coste effective time to reach uh and convert new players uh more people downloading the games and apps seeing increased Revenue um so Q5 is really the ideal time for publisher to to Really lean in uh especially those by the way we talked about live especially those investing in

live Ops um there's no uh better time uh for live Ops than the holiday season there's always something to celebrate uh we can create a lot of campaigns around those uh so this period allows publisher to drive even greater engagement through these special events or content updates and promotion that they create uh they can create uh around those and what's the kind of the longtail impact so you're running kind of you're focused on Q5 uh but then like is there a long taale that you can expect to see after so you're not just investing in that period yeah so definitely and and I did give a hint be before but I'll speak a bit about that so running live robs campaign through uh Q5 does actually offer a longtail benefit uh that extends behind the traditional six uh weeks that I I mentioned before uh so Q5 typically ends in January uh but we did see that t talks momentum can carry into uh March

or even April uh in previous years uh with cpms continue to uh to be low and uh by starting campaigns now and creating this uh live Ops it's the time that you can capture uh with uh the the cost Effectiveness that we uh that I mentioned uh you can capitalize on the immediate search in engagement and install and setting a great Foundation uh for a sustained success uh and and for the year to come uh so I I did uh I did take a bit of cheeky look at some data so I used to work at sensor Tower so a bit of data analysis I'm always quite interested in um but for this I Ed app magic data so thank you to them I looked at the United States specifically in 2023 and it I think the most lucrative week of the year uh came in the period came in the week of December 25th to

31st uh with Revenue hitting about 376 million net uh that's app store Google Play and then player spending rose again during the week of January 1st to 7th to about 377 million uh there's kind of a bit of a decline but then you kind of I think generally other than the last couple of years you expect like each year to to grow so then Revenue kind of started increasing again uh and then just for comparison I guess uh I looked at kind of just the start of December and you could see uh revenue from November 27th to December 3rd was at an estimated 339 million uh and with player spending gradually rising from there um so I guess couple things it's interesting one kind of there seems to be a of Market recovery that's been happening kind of this year but also you can actually visibly see the uh the growth over the weeks uh in spending kind of as the period begins so yeah I think it's it was it's definitely

a really interesting uh q q is really interesting and first time first time I've been learning about it so yeah thank you for the insights there um I think we can move to the next slide thank you all right so we've covered liveops and the importance of Q5 lots of data uh and then so what role can Tik toop play here and and how do you how do you support developers so I'll start start and say we do see ourself as a leader in supporting live Ops and new tile launches um we invested quite a lot in that area in the past few years understanding how can we uh be a a strong partner for uh games launches and live Ops compaigns to to sustain this uh this growth we see that just for example in 2024 we saw nine times more liveops campaigns which shows Tik Tock Effectiveness in uh driving long-term player engagement um so you mention it

and um and I do want to touch on on what exactly our liveops program uh includes so we do have a a strong liveops program that provides um a global support outs across uh three key areas one um is the dedicated product and solution engineering backend support uh which uh support the optimization audience packages um and the the location the second one is the on the creative side uh the creative strategy teams um are ready to provide campaign insights uh optimize the creative assets and keep content fresh and engaging uh with customized packages and the last one um is the content support uh including live activation for ingame events and special protection for ad rejection throughout the duration because we know how you know that time is important so we we do provide provide that support which is

very um uh impactful and um so that that's kind of the comprehensive support that helps uh maintain uh the momentum of the campaign uh keep the content fresh and uh maximize the players's retention um and it does make Tik Tok an ideal platform for driving the sustainable success uh and I can see you got a you've worked with some big companies so there's a quote here from uh Pokemon go developer Niantic I guess could you elaborate a bit more on how you've been working with them and kind of supporting their live op strategy sure so um we through our strategic partnership with nanch as one of our uh Partners we have been um we see oursel as a key player in driving the user growth and um acquisition across their campaigns uh they've been working very closely with the our

liveops uh program that I just mentioned um and they leveraged our dedicated cross functional gaming teams and um and by that uh they were able to enhance their liveop strategy through the creative the product strategy the content Partnerships um so the campaign was designed with a full funnel approach so combining both the brand and user acquisition strategies um and our team supported Niantic uh with the brand ads and lower fun optimization techniques to create this effectively uh breakthrough uh for the noise you know and understanding better this full funnel uh approach that um um that sometimes it's it's it's a hard one to to crack uh but they've done it uh pretty well um and one of the key elements was utilizing the tikto creative challenge which allowed me antic to generate Tik Tok

native creatives uh that resonates uh with the platform Community um I think we we'll touch on Creative later uh but definitely a key factor for Success yeah absolutely we'll we'll we'll touch upon that in a minute uh definitely follow-ups there if we can go to yeah thank you so much um so uh what is user we've kind of touched upon this a bit but but what is user activity like on Tik Tok kind of during 20 sorry during Q5 we've got some data here and then why is an important period for user engagement in particular on Tik Tok so we talked about Q5 in general but I think that you know if even if we touch even further on Tik Tok specifically user activity on Tik Tok uh during Q5 is particularly High um it does make it a crucial time for user engagement um and Tik Tok has the unique combination of Discovery engagement and um I would say most importantly value

which uh align perfectly with the high intent activity scene during Q5 so if I I will elaborate a bit on on these um and give some uh some uh points around those so the discovery um on the Discovery uh part 75% of Tik Tok users say that the platform is a key factor in their decision to buy or download games and and this makes Tik Tock an a itial touch Point uh for game Discovery especially during Q5 when players are more active and looking for these new experiences on the engagement side um Tik Tok user are highly highly engaged when Tik Tok is part of the mobile gaming Journey users take twice more actions um so this means more interaction with your game uh whether it's uh through watching content sharing or participating in challenges is creating a deeper uh connection with

with the audiences and that also go uh back to the community I mentioned uh before and the last one is the value so Tik Tok also drives 1.6 times higher spend on inapp purchases compared to other platforms uh the increased user engagement uh do translate into higher monetization potential making Q5 an excellent period um for maximizing the in up Revenue so to summarize overall Q5 um is the key period for user activity on Tik Tok specifically if we we talk about Tik Tok and ITC it is because uh it amp amplifies Discovery depends uh depends the engagement and drives uh much greater value um all of which contribute to the long-term success of a game on the platform uh that's a question we obviously because we we're focusing on Q5 but I guess how how important is it

to kind of be using Tik Tok before Q5 throughout the year do you have to kind of build up some kind of community or or or you know people know that you're on Tik Tok to actually maximize the use of Tik Tok and Q5 to kind of see some of these stats actually in your game so um increase engagement on Tik Tok during Q has significant implication for mobile games in general with 10 times uh greater uh efficiency globally um on average and cost reduction of up to 28% um in top markets if we're you know we're looking at specific markets uh so it can get up to 28% and Tik Tok offers the high cost effective environment for the game Publishers to reach um and convert player um 6 1% of Tik Tok us are tting to spend

the same or more time gaming dur during Q5 and the platform provides uh High engageed audiences that uh primed for Discovery um and interaction so you're asking about uh the before I think that you need to be prepared for it you need to get into uh um you need to get prepared and and you be ready to capture this a these opportunity great and then and then you know to actually be able to do all this so what what Solutions does Tik Tok actually provide for Publishers to to support their live Ops uh so Tik Tok offers several really powerful solutions to support uh the live Ops campaign in addition to the to the uh program that uh we were talking about um and and this is a spe it's all year long but it's especially during Q5 you can really utilize this uh tools like our Smart Plus uh new uh uh lunch feature um which is an

automated campaign setup uh with our Advanced dedicated campaigns that helps optimize performance and improve uh their return on ad spend for both new and existing players um these are two very powerful tools uh the value based optimization vbo uh focuses on uh driving higher players boosting in-game purchases and retention and of course we have our ad Network Pungo uh with which gives a great opportunity to expand uh the reach especially for hyper casual games for example that are looking for large audiences um and all of those tools make it easier to drive long-term engagement U maximizing um Roi and effectively manage uh campaigns across Q5 and of course behind that and that leaves us very smoothly I mention hyper casual uh we're going to talk a little bit about yeah hyper casual uh and Q5 so uh

I guess uh I'm sure most people here know hyper casual but you know they're the the games that mostly monetized through ads so it's a genre kind of based on its business model they're always at the top of the charts the highest downloads very simple gameplay uh and yeah rely on high downloads and lots of uses to to monetize and then I guess we've also seen hyper casual evolving uh into hybrid casual uh which is just adding like kind of a simple progression layer on top of that and then adding bit more room for inapp purchases so you can in theory hopefully generate more uh more Revenue so you capture the ads capture the in purchase revenue and and but that's a really interesting exciting space that's probably a whole webinar uh me just explain what that is itself uh and this sort of evolving even into casual in in in some cases um so if we

move on to the next thank you so I guess talking about hyper casual specifically uh how can hyper casual games kind of benefit from C from the Q5 period and then see impacts beyond that so hyper casual as as you mentioned um is um is is living around the margin between the cost and uh the ad revenue on their games um and the idea is that if the costs reduces and the engagement is higher on the game that's where the margin is higher and this is where it's a perfect fit for hyper casual games uh it's it's the perfect time for them uh they can benefit uh um from it not less than any other genre or even or even more that's on on kind of the the

profitability um and it's uh again because of this these margins that they usually play on on really small margin this margin when it's uh bigger they can uh they can see that the impact of it uh very strongly and you mentioned the hybrid um and I think that's where we can look at creative Trends from other genres that can fuel into hyper casual game successes um hyper casual games can significantly benefit from Live Events seasonal updates which might not be very common but again because of these kind of hybrid uh models that we are seeing more and more and by the way one very interesting fact that I was I I was lately exposed to is that hyper casual um we know that hyper casual in the past few years is going more um into the hybrid uh model but also I games are

going uh um thirs hybrid model as well so we we're seeing it coming from both sides which is it's it's quite surprising at least for me it was uh but that's where if if that's the case it's it's really where they can benefit also from uh um what is very common for more I uh gen um um like the the creative trends that I mentioned so sorry go ahead I was going to say if you could if you could actually dive in a bit more on that so with Tik Tok I guess hyper casual is like about driving lots of users and then for IAP it's about kind of driving the right users so so kind of how does Tik Tok kind of feed into that how can you kind of get to the right users as well as well as the map the kind of the mass users so so that that's on on on different you know

um that's around the different targeting options and and how you work on it I think that I did mention the Smart Plus which is a great way for the the the the system to to be able to provide that and not um um and not think too much by yourself how do you get to those users um and the idea is that you know we're going more into um automatic automatic Solutions uh the Smart Plus is is is a great uh way for that and and I did want to mention I I uh about what I mentioned before uh tapping into creative Trends and expending uh uh to their appeal according to ajust an up loving uh 2024 report um incorporating successful uh mechanis mechanism uh from other genres into hyper casual games uh can attract

uh larger audiences so by adding elements that are popular in casual or midcore games for example uh like the live Ops that we mentioned hypercasual game can really deepen the engagement and extend their life cycle which we know for hypercasual the life cycle is is much shorter yeah really yeah really interesting just how that space is uh um so we mentioned a bit earlier about about creatives you kind of touch on it there but what should developers keep in mind about making our creatives for their marketing campaigns on Tik Tok and how do they actually create something that's impactful and relevant for Tik Tok users yeah so when creating ad creatives uh for Tik Tok uh for the campaigns on Tik Tok developers um should keep in mind that of course and I know it might be true for other platforms as well but I think

it's even more um on Tik toac that creative is a key success um and it's on both uh quality and quantity that are crucial uh for driving the performance so on the quantity side um running campaigns and if I go really into details um running campaigns with five to seven creatives per week um are 1.5 times more likely to see better uh return on ad spin the more variation you create the more opportunities you have uh to find what resonates with your audiences that's where you'll uh you'll see better uh performance the second one is the quality and that's where uh Tik Tok users are three times more likely to engage with ads compared to other platforms and as Tik Tok ads are more uh re let's say watchable and

sharable um and and that's where it comes from that's where they're more likely to engage with ads uh you know we're we were talking about Trends Trends is a very uh uh strong um thing on on Tik Tok and that's where the engagement we we are seeing the engagement in also in sharable kind of uh of elements and and um the fact that they won't watch only one time and to create the the impactful content you will need to ensure your ads feel native um to the platform uh authentic Dynamic um and it really helps if it is aligned with what I already mentioned Trends um lastly just to mention to so so to make ads that are relevant for Tik Tok users focus on Creative formats that are engaging fun easily to um use TR sounds uh effects and

interactive elements that feels native to Tik Tac so they it is not not to take something from other platforms and just put it because it won't work on Tik Tok it really needs to be uh um to to feel as part of Tik Tock um and also the community D driven culture the idea is that the trends sound shable the things that are uh part of this uh Community uh driven culture the more the creative will blend seamlessly into the Tik Tok experience the more likely that um they are to capture attention and drive the meaningful engagement that we're looking for so I guess it's um probably really what you just said but uh it's so guess if you run campaigns kind of usually on other AD networks and that you're running you're running creatives that you think are going to drive uh the most users and ultimately most engagement and ret mention but you're probably thinking about like

seasonal content and stuff and but with Tik Tok the point I'm trying to get to is that um you actually need to know what's happening on the platform I guess you actually need to take time to study that rather than just what's trying to think just what's like the best out elsewhere you need to know okay these are the top trends how can we get into that yeah so I I actually want to touch on that Craig because you know we're we're hearing a lot in the past year uh ears sorry that it it it makes it harder you know you need to invest into that you need to create specific ads you need to uh you need to think uh as much as they're more authentic which is can be easier to create it sometimes might uh need to put more thought into it um and with that we have been you know putting a lot of efforts um into creating tools that will simplify this process for uh for our

advertisers um so if speaking about these specific tools um we have uh Tik toac Symphony for example uh which is um leveraging AI to help uh scale creative efficiency and then and and it also enables uh to localized content uh w w which is amazing uh using AI avatars um and dubbing uh and translation translating so everything is is it makes it much more easier accessible and and getting into areas that you know a lot of um a lot of advertisers won't want to go there and it's cool of course because it's AI uh but it does make it easier to te kind of the campaigns to to the different regions and languages um and one other is the our tiktock one which is a uh it's we had several uh tools that we

have combined into into what we call today Tik Tock one um it's a comprehensive suit um that does um streamline the creative process so it there's the Tik toac creative challenge that I I mentioned on the Niantic example which is a program that allows uh to quickly uh Cate receive Creator Le assets so it's it's uh uh um connect you to creators and being able to create assets uh through creators uh that are um performance driven and tapping into Tik tok's community of creators to generate kind of the engagement content that resonates with users and creating this authentic authentity that we're looking for and within the Tik Tock one uh in addition to the Tik Tok creative challenge we have the creative uh the Tik Tok creative exchange uh which helps to

create uh connection with Service uh Services uh creative Services partners and agencies um to develop the assets that are more culturally relevant and aligned with the current Trend so these are um partners that uh we trust um that know what is needed for Tik Tok in order to to u to create an ad uh that is Tik Tok first let's say it that way yeah I guess that's the important thing for people here to understand it's that uh if you're going to create ads on Tik Tok it has to be within in the you have to be thinking about what what's good for Tik Tok rather than like what's good for all all across all ad platforms to take the most advantage of it um if we can move to the next slide thank you so uh I guess for those that want to see kind of some practical examples case studies of how other developers have gone about their live

campaigns do you have any examples you can share that show how Publishers kind of conducted their campaigns and the impact of them yes of course uh everyone can uh head to our website for uh case studies uh like the one um on the slide um we we will send it over but um as. Tik tok.com and there's a lot of gaming industry section under the gaming industry section A lot of uh of case studies um and and examples and INSP inspiration that you can gain from it um and um and and it's a great place to to think where is it that I can do more what am I missing out um so these examples uh can be easily uh found there and I want to encourage everyone to go into there um and look for those examples and the one that you know of course on

the on the slide um which is a p puzzle casual game um going global on iOS um it it was using the Smart Plus and ADC uh and we've seen great success uh great success with this uh very lately by the way oh interesting and I and I guess people if they're on Tik Tok they can be kind of checking out what everyone's doing and and seeing what they think works and and guess you can use other data to kind of see conversions and Pickups uh really interesting so uh if we go to the next slide so that does bring us to the end of the webinar uh but may I guess if you could sum things up you know what would you say are some of the key takeaways that develop developers and Publishers should actually take away from this yeah think that you know if we count the number of times we uh we

mentioned Q5 so definitely that is uh that is a clear uh point to take a Q5 is a pivotal time for mobile games um it will drive uh Surge and user activity and players planning to spend more time um to and and play more um and we we should take that uh this period of time the best time of the year for us uh and and make sure that we capture it um it's an ideal moment for game Discovery use acquisition uh maximizing uh engagement and especially on Tik Tok where the engagement is so um is so uh big part of the platform um and Q5 is a great momentum uh to extend well into 2025 driving long long-term uh player retention and success so whether you're working with liveops

Hyper casual or any other genre uh this period offers a cost effect efficient opportunity to set the SE the stage for the future initiatives for the year to come and the most important thing is that you shouldn't miss it thank you so much for that man really appreciate your insights uh and and and summing it all up for us uh so thank you very much and obviously thank you everyone else uh for for attending this webinar I I hope you found it insightful as we head in into the Q5 period uh it's certainly a term I've heard a lot about now over the past month and I I feel like I finally actually understand uh what people what people are talking about so and I kind of think it's a particularly interesting time for the industry at the moment because uh kind of we've had networks and platforms like Tik Tok kind of emerging or been been around for years really but it feels like dare I say that the duopoly of years ago

and and subsequent kind of privacy changes kind of changed the landscape a bit so there's there's lots going on for for marketers developers and Publishers uh to be uh lots of places to acquire uses so it's really really interesting time uh for for UA uh so yeah thanks everyone uh please note that following the webinar you should receive a thank you email uh that would include links uh to links to a feedback survey as well as details about Tik tok's live Op Services and how you can take advantage of them uh yeah so that brings us to the end thank you everyone uh have a great rest of your day be you soon bye byebye