Report · January 1, 2021

White Paper on Global Mobile Games

Published by SocialPeta Data Research Institute

Summary

The white paper argues that mobile‑game advertising has entered a new phase of intensity and sophistication, driven by rapid creative growth, the dominance of video formats, and evolving privacy regulations. In 2021 ad creatives surged by 200 % YoY while CPMs rose 34 %, with video ads now accounting for over 85 % of spend. The market continues to expand, projecting more than 70 000 advertisers by 2023, yet advertiser growth has slowed post‑pandemic to just 5 % YoY. Android remains the primary platform, hosting roughly two‑thirds of advertisers, and high‑spending Tier 1 markets—particularly the United States, Japan, and Korea—retain their status as key targets for publishers. Geographically, the United States shows a casual‑game bias among advertisers (26 % of spend) but still supports high‑spending titles such as *Free Fire* and *Subway Surfers*. China’s landscape is shifting from RPGs to casual titles, with puzzle games capturing the largest creative share. In the Middle East, strategy and shooter games like *Rise of Kingdoms* and *PUBG Mobile* dominate downloads and revenue, whereas the CIS market displays a more diversified mix of strategy, shooter, and casual titles. Across all regions, vertical video ads—especially 30–34 second formats with end‑card elements—outperform horizontal variants for mid‑ and hard‑core titles, achieving conversion rates around 0.15 %. Playable ads also deliver significant lift for mid‑core games. Privacy changes from Apple and Google have accelerated a shift toward probabilistic attribution models such as SKAN, compelling advertisers to prioritize creative design over granular targeting. Hybrid monetization platforms that blend bidding and non‑bidding networks are gaining traction, while developers increasingly adopt innovative in‑app purchase mechanics (limited‑time offers, battle passes) and social features (chat, PvP, guilds) to enhance engagement and retention. These trends collectively underscore a mobile‑gaming ecosystem that is more video‑centric, privacy‑aware, and focused on long‑cycle strategy titles in high‑engagement markets.

From the report

Second, more ad creatives are taking the form of video which dominates and accounts for over 85% of all forms of ads. It can be very challenging for a team to produce a great number of creatives. But having access to the ad creatives of other games or competing games can greatly help improve the production efficiency of creatives. Third, the cost is soaring. The average CPM on Facebook increased by 34% in 2021. Without any cost intelligence about the specific areas, an advertising budget can’t be set, which will undermine the smooth running of the advertising and further lead to the inefficient acquisition of customers. Preface Besides, Android advertisers have been making as much advertising effort as iOS advertisers, which is a noticeable result of the iOS privacy policy. VP of SocialPeta：Constance Gao With the rapid development of the game industry, “involution” has become an inevitable consequence in the game market. As the saying goes, if you know yourself and know your enemy, you will gain victory a hundred times out of a hundred. So, a company’s product strategy and publishing strategy, for a top product, and unexpectedly successful product, or a directly competing product, would be greatly affected by whether the company has quick access to correct ad intelligence. Competition in the global market is getting more intense as the number of creatives is surging and CPM is significantly increasing. According to the overall data, there are 3 major trends in the global mobile game market.

ffected by whether the company has quick access to correct ad intelligence. Competition in the global market is getting more intense as the number of creatives is surging and CPM is significantly increasing. According to the overall data, there are 3 major trends in the global mobile game market. First, market competition is getting increasingly intense, which can be seen from the number of advertisers and the number of ad creatives. In Q3 2021 as compared to Q3 2020, the number of advertisers maintained at around 26,000, but ad creatives increased by 200% YoY, indicating very fierce competition. Personalized promotion has become a mainstream model. It’s worthwhile to pay attention to local platforms in local markets. And, there have also been some changes in choosing a target market. Early exporting strategies were globalization. Companies didn’t know which were key areas and therefore adopted globalization strategies. As game companies gained more and more experience in exporting games, they gradually developed special skills in exporting certain types of games into certain areas. For example, Kunlun focuses on the Southeast Asia, and efun on China’s Taiwan. Now companies would decide where to export games based on their resources and the game features. Many games have target users before they are published, or even have target markets even before they are developed. even before they are developed. With those companies getting established over time, market conditions and trends of all areas have been known to the whole industry. For instance, the US, Japan, and South Korea are classified as T1 markets with higher paying user rates and higher ROI.

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Type: Report

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