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The Importance and Growth of Online Events | PocketGamer.biz RoundTable
The gaming industry has undergone a fundamental transformation in its approach to professional gatherings, shifting from a reliance on physical trade shows to a digital-first strategy necessitated by the global pandemic.
- The gaming industry is permanently shifting toward a hybrid event model that combines the logistical efficiency of digital platforms with the high-value networking of in-person gatherings.
- Digital-first strategies have democratized industry access by lowering cost barriers, allowing smaller publishers and indie developers to gain visibility that was previously restricted by travel and exhibition expenses.
- Online events offer measurable advantages in accessibility, cost-efficiency, and environmental sustainability, establishing them as essential components of the industry ecosystem rather than temporary substitutes.
The Diary of a Modern PR Campaign: How to Plan Your Game's Promotion
Successful game promotion requires a transition from passive awareness to a structured sales funnel that guides potential players from initial interest to long-term advocacy.
- Successful promotion requires transitioning from passive awareness to a structured sales funnel that guides players from initial interest to long-term advocacy.
- Developers must build direct communication channels, such as newsletters and Discord servers, to maintain audience engagement throughout the pre-launch phase rather than relying on unpredictable store features.
- The promotional lifecycle follows a rigorous five-phase process, starting with peer-tested pitches and high-quality asset creation, and concluding with strategic post-launch support.
The Future of UA | Surviving the Death of Performance Marketing
The landscape of user acquisition is undergoing a fundamental transformation as the industry pivots from manual, granular media buying toward automated, machine-learning-driven platforms.
- User acquisition is shifting from manual, granular media buying to automated, machine-learning-driven platforms, rendering traditional tactical campaign management obsolete.
- The deprecation of identifiers like IDFA and stricter privacy regulations have necessitated a move toward custom attribution and media mix modeling over traditional performance metrics.
- Marketing roles are evolving into a hybrid function requiring a synthesis of data science, brand strategy, and product development to navigate complex, automated data environments.
Audio Ad Engagement in Mobile Games
This analysis examines the efficacy of in-game audio advertising as a non-intrusive alternative to traditional video and banner formats within the mobile gaming industry.
- Audio ads achieve a click-through rate (CTR) of approximately one click per 1.4 listens, vastly outperforming the 0.08% average CTR of static banners.
- A Warner Music Group campaign targeting 18-to-30-year-olds achieved a 1.78% CTR, representing a 1,000% increase over traditional banner standards.
- Behavioral testing shows 100% of participants continued gameplay during audio ad delivery, with 100% brand recall when ads were paired with a companion banner.
The State of Mobile Game Advertising 2021
The report examines U.S. mobile game advertising in 2021, focusing on ad network share of voice (SOV), creative formats, genre-specific trends, and demographic alignment.
- Gaming-centric networks including Chartboost, Unity, Adcolony, ironSource, and Vungle maintained over 90% share of voice (SOV) for mobile game advertising on iOS and Android throughout 2021.
- AppLovin and MoPub aggressively pivoted toward hypercasual publishers, increasing their game SOV to approximately 90% on iOS and 80% on Android by early 2021.
- AdMob increased its focus on Google Play titles, raising its game SOV from 60% to 80% by Q2 2021.
1Q FY2021 Presentation Material: October to December 2020
CyberAgent achieved record-high consolidated sales of 131 billion yen during the first quarter of fiscal year 2021, representing a 13.3% year-over-year increase.
- CyberAgent achieved record-high consolidated sales of 131 billion yen in 1Q FY2021, a 13.3% year-over-year increase driven by strong performance in the Media and Advertising segments.
- The Media segment grew revenue by 67% to 20.4 billion yen, bolstered by ABEMA’s premium subscriber base exceeding 921,000 users and an elevenfold increase in WINTICKET transaction volume.
- The Game business experienced a 15% revenue decline to 29.9 billion yen and a 77.8% drop in operating profit, attributed to seasonal factors and increased marketing spend.
Trialogue Negotiations on the Proposal for an e-Privacy Regulation: Key Considerations from the Video Games Industry
Video Games Europe, representing 17 major publishers and national trade associations across 15 European countries, urges trialogue negotiators to craft an e-Privacy Regulation that aligns with GDPR consistency while preserving the sector’s capacity to innovate and protect users.
- The European video game industry, comprising 5,100 studios and 90,000 employees, generated €12 billion in annual turnover and saw 22 percent year-on-year growth as of 2020.
- Video Games Europe argues that in-game chat rooms must be excluded from the definition of interpersonal communication services to allow for essential monitoring of cheating, hate speech, and child safety risks.
- The industry advocates for Article 8 provisions that permit processing terminal equipment data for security, fraud prevention, and performance updates without requiring individual consent.
2021 H1 Global Mobile App Marketing Whitepaper
The global mobile marketing landscape experienced a massive surge in activity during the first half of 2021, characterized by a 108% year-on-year increase in advertising creatives totaling over 19 million.
- Chinese developers dominated the global market in 2021 H1, accounting for 70% of top-charting mobile game media buying and 100% of the top ten advertisers on Facebook’s News Feed.
- Advertising costs surged significantly, with Facebook’s average CPC and CPM increasing by 128% year-over-year due to heightened competition.
- Apple’s IDFA policy changes triggered a 13% decline in the share of iOS advertising creatives, forcing a strategic shift in focus toward Android platforms.
Post-IDFA Mobile Game Advertising Costs: Casual vs Core
The analysis quantifies how Apple’s post-IDFA privacy updates have reshaped user-acquisition economics for mobile games, contrasting casual titles with core experiences.
- Core games experienced a 78% surge in iOS CPI following the iOS 14.6 release, driven by intensified competition for a shrinking pool of high-value, trackable users.
- Casual games saw a 38% decline in iOS CPI post-iOS 14.6, while Android CPI for the same segment rose by 16%.
- Android CPI for core games increased by 36% during the same period, reflecting broader market volatility across platforms.
The State of Mobile Game Advertising: An Analysis of U.S. Mobile Game Advertising Trends in 2021
Mobile game advertising in the United States remained resilient through the first half of 2021, showing no immediate negative impact from privacy changes such as the deprecation of IDFA.
- Mobile game advertising in the U.S. remained resilient through H1 2021, showing no immediate negative impact from the deprecation of IDFA.
- Playable ads have become a dominant creative format, accounting for over 40 percent of the gaming share of voice on AppLovin.
- Specialized ad networks like AppLovin, Chartboost, and Vungle maintain a gaming-focused inventory exceeding 90 percent share of voice, while platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube provide broader audience reach.
Panel: How do we Prepare for the End of IDFA?
The deprecation of the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) represents a fundamental shift in the mobile gaming industry, necessitating a move away from granular, user-level tracking toward more sustainable, privacy-centric growth strategies.
- The deprecation of IDFA necessitates a shift from granular, user-level tracking to privacy-centric growth strategies like SKAdNetwork, incrementality testing, and media mix modeling.
- Performance-based advertising and retargeting are experiencing immediate volatility, resulting in initial declines in eCPM and overall ad revenue.
- Studios must transition toward predictive lifetime value modeling and cohort-based analysis to replace the lost efficacy of traditional user acquisition tactics.
Speed Panel: Using Preloads as the Ultimate Playable Ad
Mobile user acquisition faces significant hurdles as traditional advertising methods increasingly struggle with consumer ad fatigue, misleading creative, and the widespread adoption of ad blockers.
- Approximately 26% of gamers identify pre-loaded games as a more effective discovery method than traditional television or online advertising.
- Preloading bypasses traditional ad funnels and reduces friction by installing games directly onto devices, which results in superior user retention rates compared to standard digital marketing.
- Platforms like Digital Turbine’s Ignite enable fraud-free, high-intent installations by integrating directly into the device lifecycle rather than relying on conventional ad placements.