Marketing reports and market data
1,537 documents·91 writers·5,954 charts and tables
Documents
GameMakers46 min
UA Creatives Testing | How Traplight Games Optimizes Mobile Ads for Battle Legion
Mobile user acquisition strategies for the title Battle Legion rely on a modular production pipeline that systematically tests creative variables to maximize install-per-mille.
- Creative assets must be tailored to specific placement types: shorter ads perform best in Facebook Feeds, while longer-form content yields higher conversion rates in the Audience Network.
- Performance optimization requires aligning video duration with algorithmic constraints, such as the 15-second unskippable limit for in-stream video placements.
- Traplight Games utilized a modular production pipeline to test 64 distinct ad variations over a three-month period to maximize install-per-mille (IPM).
GameMakersNov 2021
Deconstructor of Fun88 min
How to Brand a New Game Studio with Joe Nickolls, President of Timbre Games
Establishing a new game studio in the competitive Vancouver market requires a strategic shift toward human-centric employer branding.
- Prioritizing a values-driven, human-centric culture over traditional corporate prestige allows new studios to differentiate themselves and attract high-quality talent in competitive markets like Vancouver.
- Timbre Games achieved a workforce composition that is 67% women by removing exclusionary, jargon-heavy language from recruitment processes and prioritizing transparent communication.
- Operational success is driven by the philosophy that internal culture directly dictates creative output, ensuring team cohesion translates into high-quality player-facing game design.
Deconstructor of FunNov 2021
PocketGamer.biz29 min
Superstar Session: Widget as a Performance Tool
Twitch has emerged as a premier platform for performance-oriented influencer marketing, particularly for gaming brands seeking deep audience engagement.
- Widget-integrated Twitch campaigns achieve install rates of approximately 15 percent, significantly outperforming standard industry benchmarks.
- Dynamic, customizable widgets integrated via OBS transform passive viewers into active participants by displaying real-time data like game progress or download counts triggered by user actions.
- Twitch facilitates higher trust and conversion rates than static platforms like YouTube by allowing brands to integrate into native, unscripted streamer-community conversations.
PocketGamer.bizOct 2021
PocketGamer.biz46 min
Panel: Should influencers be at Arm’s Length or Considered Part of Your Team?
Influencer marketing has evolved from a superficial promotional tactic into a sophisticated, strategic pillar of modern brand growth.
- Influencer marketing is shifting from transactional, one-off promotions to long-term ambassador programs designed to build sustained audience loyalty.
- Effective campaigns prioritize creator autonomy, allowing influencers to leverage their specific community expertise to craft organic messaging rather than forcing them into rigid, brand-dictated niches.
- Brands should adopt a pragmatic, experimental framework by starting with small-scale tests to validate return on investment before committing to long-term partnerships or in-house management.
PocketGamer.bizOct 2021
PocketGamer.biz27 min
A Single Source of Truth for Measurement
The mobile marketing landscape underwent a fundamental shift following the introduction of iOS 14 and Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework.
- The shift to Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework and the loss of IDFA has created a fragmented measurement environment that requires reconciling anonymous SKAdNetwork data with traditional MMP reporting.
- Implementing a conversion studio allows advertisers to automate the encoding and decoding of conversion values, enabling the measurement of revenue, engagement, and funnel events without frequent code updates.
- Advertisers can extend post-install measurement windows up to 72 hours to capture more granular user behavior data within the constraints of privacy-centric design.
PocketGamer.bizOct 2021
PocketGamer.biz47 min
Panel: Creative Ways to Grow: Innovating in User Acquisition & Retention
Sustainable growth in the modern gaming industry necessitates a holistic strategy that bridges the gap between marketing, product development, and community management.
- Retention is the primary driver of revenue and long-term scale, as acquiring new users is ineffective if the first-time user experience (FTUE) fails to engage players or if the game suffers from technical instability.
- Maintaining creative integrity in user acquisition (UA) is critical; using misleading ads that do not reflect actual gameplay can damage long-term app store rankings due to high visit-to-download drop-off rates.
- Influencer marketing campaigns can drive significant short-term install spikes, but they require careful tracking and coordination to avoid negative impacts on store algorithms if the traffic does not convert into sustained downloads.
PocketGamer.bizOct 2021
PocketGamer.biz32 min
Balance Your Game’s Monetisation Mix for Greater Retention
A hybrid monetization strategy that integrates in-app purchases with in-app advertising is essential for maximizing both player retention and long-term revenue.
- A hybrid monetization model combining in-app purchases (IAP) and in-app advertising is necessary because only approximately 5% of a typical player base engages with direct sales.
- Diversified monetization strategies are driving a 17% year-over-year growth in industry revenue.
- Incorporating opt-in rewarded video allows developers to monetize the remaining 95% of non-paying users without cannibalizing existing IAP revenue.
PocketGamer.bizOct 2021
PocketGamer.biz32 min
The Key Role of Ad Creatives in Advertising Game & Tips on Creative Optimisation
The mobile gaming industry has entered a phase of extreme saturation, necessitating a shift toward high-volume, data-driven advertising strategies.
- The mobile gaming industry has reached extreme saturation, with the average number of ad creatives per game increasing by 110% year-over-year to 543 as of the first half of 2021.
- Top-tier mobile titles now require over 1,000 unique ad assets throughout their lifecycles to maintain effective user acquisition and revenue growth.
- Developers should validate market demand by testing game concepts with low-budget trailers and creative assets before committing to full-scale production.
PocketGamer.bizOct 2021
PocketGamer.biz30 min
Speed Panel: A Whole New Ballgame: How a Top Gaming App Publisher Tackled iOS 14+ & SKAdNetwork
The mobile gaming industry has undergone a fundamental shift in user acquisition and data strategy following the implementation of Apple’s iOS 14+ privacy requirements and the adoption of SKAdNetwork.
- Publishers must shift from granular, long-term tracking to predictive modeling based on user activity within the first 24 hours to compensate for the loss of long-term monetization metrics under SKAdNetwork.
- Successful App Tracking Transparency (ATT) opt-in rates are achieved through concise, localized pre-prompts that are kept separate from other regulatory disclosures like GDPR.
- Strategic timing for ATT prompts is critical, with optimal results often achieved by triggering the request immediately before a user interacts with an advertisement.
PocketGamer.bizOct 2021
PocketGamer.biz29 min
CTV's Recent Surge & How Gaming Fits in
Connected TV (CTV) is experiencing significant growth as a primary advertising channel, with global ad spend projected to rise from $8.11 billion in 2020 to $18.29 billion by 2024.
- Global advertising spend on Connected TV (CTV) is projected to more than double, rising from $8.11 billion in 2020 to $18.29 billion by 2024.
- Gaming has emerged as the fastest-growing content category within the CTV ecosystem, alongside traditional video-on-demand services.
- Between 85% and 90% of CTV viewers utilize mobile devices while watching, creating a dual-screening behavior that allows marketers to drive direct user acquisition through QR codes, vouchers, and push notifications.
PocketGamer.bizOct 2021
PocketGamer.biz53 min
Panel: UA & Retention: How to Pick the Ideal Tactic for Your Target Demographic
Effective user acquisition and retention in the mobile gaming sector require a strategic alignment between monetization models and specific payback windows.
- Developers must align monetization models with specific payback windows, prioritizing rapid returns for hyper-casual titles and long-term lifetime value for midcore games.
- Success in user acquisition relies on a formalized, iterative approach to creative testing to identify and scale concepts that resonate with target demographics.
- Machine learning and AI are essential for automating bidding and hitting return on ad spend targets, though they require human oversight to manage channel volatility and performance tracking.
PocketGamer.bizOct 2021
PocketGamer.biz46 min
Curated Panel: IDFA Effect' on UA Performance & New Changes for ASO
The mobile gaming industry is undergoing a fundamental transition from granular, device-level user acquisition to an aggregated, privacy-centric model following the implementation of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency framework.
- The implementation of Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) and IDFA deprecation forced a shift toward probabilistic attribution and the use of Apple's SKAdNetwork (SKAN) to maintain user acquisition measurement.
- To address limited data visibility, advertisers are utilizing Conversion Studio tools to measure flexible activity ranges (e.g., levels 1-3) and sequences of events rather than relying on a single 24-hour window.
- Game developers are increasingly shifting UA budgets toward Android and exploring alternative acquisition methods, such as web-to-app flows using landing pages and smart banners to bypass iOS tracking limitations.
PocketGamer.bizOct 2021