Creative Ads reports and market data
342 documents·27 writers·195 charts and tables
Documents
Two & a Half Gamers56 min
Boost your UA with channel diversification & high performing creative frameworks w/ Mistplay (#67)
Loyalty-driven engagement serves as a primary engine for sustainable user acquisition and long-term lifetime value in the mobile gaming sector.
- Mistplay operates as a performance-driven loyalty app with a team of approximately 200 people, leveraging data analytics as the central stakeholder for all product, sales, and commercial decision-making.
- Effective creative testing requires a high volume of output, with the team aiming to test 10 to 14 new creatives per week, totaling 40 to 50 per month to combat creative fatigue.
- When evaluating new UA partners or testing campaigns, the team typically allocates a 1 to 2-month window to move through learning, optimization, and scaling phases.
Two & a Half GamersMay 2024
Two & a Half Gamers57 min
Triple Tile vs. Triple Match 3D showdown! In-depth UA, creatives, Admon, Game design review (#65)
The tile-matching puzzle genre has evolved into a highly lucrative sector defined by two distinct monetization philosophies: pure ad-driven revenue and hybrid in-app purchase models.
- Triple Match 3D generates approximately $14 million in monthly revenue, significantly outperforming the original Triple Tile, which has seen its revenue decline from a $7 million monthly peak in early 2022 to roughly $2.5 million.
- Triple Tile exhibits a distinct platform split with 87% of its downloads and revenue originating from Android, whereas Triple Match 3D maintains a 60% iOS and 40% Android revenue distribution.
- Triple Tile demonstrates strong early retention with 50% Day 1 retention on Google Play, though it tapers to 24% by Day 7 and 10% by Day 30.
Two & a Half GamersMay 2024
Two & a Half Gamers59 min
Creative trends Q1 2023, Mobile games Soft launch Sonar, Meta enhanced interaction in admon (#64)
The mobile gaming landscape in early 2023 is defined by a strategic pivot toward risk mitigation, characterized by reliance on established intellectual property and aggressive, often deceptive, creative advertising tactics.
- To combat rising user acquisition costs, mobile studios are increasingly utilizing high-production influencer partnerships and narrative-driven ads that often feature altered or deceptive gameplay.
- Publishers are shifting toward risk-averse product strategies, favoring long-term soft launches for hybrid genres and franchise-based titles over high-risk innovation.
- The industry-wide transition to full bidding, specifically within AdMob, requires publishers to diversify ad stacks to protect eCPMs and maintain portfolio health.
Two & a Half GamersMay 2024
Two & a Half Gamers52 min
Admon smoky backroom, Midcore UA step up with Viva La Dirt League, Honkai: Star Rail Review (#63)
AdMob is mandating a transition to real-time bidding auctions by October 31, 2023, effectively ending the practice of manual placement refreshing.
- AdMob will mandate a transition to real-time bidding auctions by October 31, 2023, effectively ending manual placement refreshing and forcing publishers to adopt automated, mediation-driven monetization.
- The mediation market is consolidating into a duopoly between Google and major third-party platforms like AppLovin Max and ironSource, requiring developers to focus on inventory efficiency rather than legacy optimization hacks.
- Honkai: Star Rail generated over $40 million in its first week with 20 million pre-registrations, demonstrating that high-production, console-quality mobile experiences are driving significant market returns.
Two & a Half GamersMay 2024
Two & a Half Gamers64 min
Legend of Slime review - User Acquisition, Creatives, Ad monetisation, Game design deep dive (#61)
Legend of Slime functions as a high-performing idle RPG that demonstrates the viability of aggressive, high-frequency ad monetization within the mobile gaming sector.
- Legend of Slime demonstrates strong retention metrics on iOS, achieving 61% Day 1, 30% Day 7, and 11% Day 30 retention rates.
- The game utilizes a 'merge gacha' system that avoids the steep exponential difficulty curves of traditional shard-based gachas, allowing for a more lenient and player-friendly progression model.
- A significant revenue spike occurred in December following a game update that introduced new rewarded ad placements, including a 'welcome back' boost and gameplay speed-up features.
Two & a Half GamersMay 2024
Two & a Half Gamers53 min
11 UA & Creative tips, 🦩 unleash your inner UA flamboyance (#59)
Modern user acquisition strategies rely on a rigorous synthesis of technical precision and aggressive creative experimentation to combat rising costs and market saturation.
- Prioritize long-term metrics like Day 30 or Day 90 retention over volatile short-term indicators to ensure optimization decisions support scalable growth.
- Establish a rigorous data health check to resolve misconfigured tracking and inconsistent reporting across mobile measurement partners, which are primary drivers of high cost-per-install figures.
- Implement a high-frequency creative refresh cadence to combat asset decay, utilizing a structured anatomy consisting of a compelling hook, gameplay, and a clear call to action.
Two & a Half GamersMay 2024
Two & a Half Gamers52 min
Frozen City vs Whiteout Survival, ad monetisation potential, UA, creatives & GD review (#56)
Century Games has experienced rapid financial expansion, with monthly revenues surging from $1 million in 2020 to $21 million by early 2023.
- Century Games is missing significant revenue potential in Frozen City by failing to implement robust ad monetization, leaving an estimated $2.6 million per month on the table based on current DAU levels.
- Whiteout Survival is outperforming Frozen City in early retention metrics, with Day 1 retention at 58% compared to Frozen City's 51% and Day 7 retention at 30% versus 22%.
- Frozen City has reached a scale of 4.2 million players, split evenly between iOS and Android, yet the developers have prioritized IAP revenue from whales over ad-based monetization.
Two & a Half GamersMay 2024
Two & a Half Gamers51 min
two & a half gamers session #47 - Creative trends 2023, 1 year anniversary - kudos to you
Mobile gaming user acquisition in 2023 is defined by a strategic shift toward hyper-casual mechanics and deceptive creative concepts.
- Mobile gaming development is shifting toward a philosophy where core game loops are designed specifically to match high-performing marketing creative concepts.
- Top-tier strategy games like Kingdom Guard and Top War are integrating popular mini-game mechanics directly into their tutorials and narratives to align user acquisition hooks with actual gameplay.
- The industry is moving away from purely deceptive advertising to avoid player backlash and poor retention, opting instead to embed proven ad mechanics into the core product experience.
Two & a Half GamersMay 2024
Two & a Half Gamers47 min
two & a half gamers session #45 - (ironic) predictions 2023, is next year the end of sexists ads?
The mobile gaming industry faces a period of significant structural transition as traditional monetization models encounter headwinds from regulatory shifts and platform-level restrictions.
- Amazon Publisher Services is emerging as a top-tier mobile ad monetization network, frequently ranking third or fourth in impression volume due to strong e-commerce demand.
- Generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney are already being integrated into App Store Optimization (ASO) and creative workflows, with video generation AI expected to be a major industry disruptor in the coming year.
- The 'fake' playable ad trend, exemplified by games like 'Hero Wars' and 'Mighty Party' incorporating hyper-casual mechanics (e.g., 'Save the Dog') into their gameplay, is expected to see a rise in clones throughout 2023.
Two & a Half GamersMay 2024
Two & a Half Gamers50 min
two & a half gamers session #44 - New creative strategy from CN, UA winner of 2022, games update
The mobile gaming industry is currently defined by a tension between aggressive, often ethically questionable creative strategies and the necessity of data-driven user acquisition.
- TikTok has emerged as the top-performing acquisition channel for 2022, consistently delivering lower costs per install and higher returns on ad spend compared to traditional platforms like Facebook and Google.
- Top-tier titles such as Survivor.io and Goddess of Victory: Nikke are driving revenue through sophisticated live-ops and event-driven spikes, while Marvel Snap utilizes progression-based bundles to maintain monetization.
- The industry is shifting toward more direct sales of power and progression to stabilize revenue streams amidst a broader move toward diversifying user acquisition channels.
Two & a Half GamersMay 2024
Two & a Half Gamers59 min
two & a half gamers session #41 - Stop with sexist ads, Q4 Admn round up, Goddess of Victory review
Mobile gaming experienced a notable surge in eCPM performance during the fourth quarter, with growth ranging from 3.15% to 25.4% as advertisers intensified holiday spending.
- The mobile game 'Goddess of Victory: NIKKE' generated $83 million in revenue during its first month, significantly outperforming the launch trajectory of similar titles like Azur Lane.
- US consumer spending on Black Friday reached $9.12 billion, a 2.3% increase over the previous year, though a 72% surge in 'Buy Now, Pay Later' financing suggests future consumer purchasing power may be constrained.
- The 'waifu' (character-collecting) game genre is successfully migrating from Asian markets to the West, with titles like NIKKE and Azur Lane demonstrating that these mechanics can achieve stable, long-term performance in Western territories.
Two & a Half GamersMay 2024
Two & a Half Gamers43 min
two & a half gamers session #38 - Q4 Admon pro tips, Survivor.io clone Heroes vs. Hordes, TikTok SPC
Optimizing mobile game revenue during the Q4 holiday season requires a dual focus on technical infrastructure and tactical creative adjustments.
- Q4, specifically Black Friday and Christmas, represents the peak eCPM season, requiring ad monetization managers to lock down all waterfall placements by November 20th to ensure each placement fills at or near 1% while generating at least 1% of total ad revenue.
- Seasonal store assets like holiday-themed icons can significantly harm organic performance; one case study showed daily downloads dropping from 50,000 to 10,000 after a Christmas icon change, with traffic only recovering after reverting to the original icon in mid-January.
- TikTok's Smart Performance Campaigns (SPC) are currently yielding higher quality users at a cost four times lower than equivalent campaigns on Facebook, making them a priority for UA managers focusing on CPI optimization.
Two & a Half GamersMay 2024