Casual game marketing

When it comes to marketing mobile games, this field is rife with competition as hundreds of new apps are released every month, in contrast with PC or console games, where only a handful get released in the same period, with most of these being indie titles that appeal to specific niches from the very beginning.

Regardless of the type of game you release on the mobile market, odds are that hundreds of other developers have already done a similar job, which means that your success goes far beyond what your app has to offer. In order to succeed in this field, you need to have a good marketing strategy to draw users to your game.

The quality of your app only really comes into play after the user has downloaded, installed, and launched your app—if they like it, they will become recurring users, potentially leading to increased revenue from IAPs or other forms of monetization. From the above example, we can appreciate the importance of marketing in the success of your app. Luckily, now.

Since users can access games by clicking on links through now. Furthermore, since your games are accessed via links, marketing it is much easier as you can share these tailored ads and links virtually anywhere. From your project website and its social media pages, to your users sharing them with their friends and family, everything is fair game when it comes to marketing your games on now. When it comes to casual games, titles that often feature simplistic mechanics and visual designs, and which are specifically created so players can pick them up at any time and play them for a few minutes, now.

Considering that there are over 2. Lo, Cardi B, and in this case, Joan Collins. The concept behind this and other influencer ads for Coin Master is simple. The goal is to make people think celebrities play this game. The author Robert Cialdini coined this term back in the 80s. That can be applied to marketing — people look for reviews or recommendations from others. Influencers, of course, have the immense power to influence those decisions.

Furthermore, this ad shows the viewers how to download the game and explains the basics. For that reason, it also works as a tutorial. In other words, who is the target audience for this Coin Master influencer creative?

Joan Collins is the most famous for playing Alexis in Dynasty, a popular 80s soap opera. This is the first clue that this ad is not intended for younger audiences like Gen Z, who were not even born when Dynasty was running. I bet even some Millennials might not know who Joan Collins is. The former grew up watching the show, and the latter were adults also familiar with the show. This tells us people between the ages of 41 and 56 Gen X and older than 56 Baby Boomers are the primary target audience for this ad.

Additionally, Joan Collins has a big gay following. This is another group of people this ad might appeal to. If you do it right, people will stop and watc h your ad. On the other hand, if nothing exciting or interesting is happening at the beginning of your ad, people will keep scrolling. In the first few seconds, we see Joan Collins and her butler. They garner attention just by appearing in an ad. This Coin Master video ad includes the most basic features of this game.

More specifically, Joan Collins wonders what it means to get three hammers on the slot machine. Furthermore, the ad demonstrates how simple the game is — anyone can pick it up in seconds.

Most mobile game creatives are motivation-based. In other words, they t arget groups of players based on their motivations for playing mobile games. For example, some play games to relax, while others are driven by competing with other players. From these motivations, we can also identify common player archetypes.

When it comes to this Coin Master ad, we see a strong social aspect — players can play against other players. Thus, it appeals to players who consider gaming a social activity.

The player archetype that corresponds to this motivation is King of the Hill. GameRefinery describes this player archetype as enjoying the sense of power from competing with friends or other people. Once again, the social aspect of this game is highlighted. When I think about the overall atmosphere and the tone of this Coin Master ad, the words that come to mind are humorous, light, and fun.

By keeping the atmosphere lighthearted and playful, the ad viewers get a sense that Coin Master is not a dark or serious game but rather a lighthearted and entertaining one. The setting of this ad creative is quite formal.

Joan Collins is sitting at a dining table while her butler stands next to her. The background music follows this theme — it complements the fine dining setting. Granted, it has more weight because Joan Collins is telling people to download this game. A more personalized call to action would work much better. Fear of missing out is the feeling of anxiety that comes from thinking others are having a great time without you.

Published by Magic Tavern in , Project Makeover quickly became one of the top-grossing games in the casual genre. As you can see, this game has a lot to offer besides the simple match-3 mechanics, which is why it became so popular so quickly. All that while solving puzzles.

This is the starting point of many Project Makeover ads; this is just one variation of it. What makes Project Makeover creatives stand out is their shock value. The makeover starts with the girl not covered but drenched in mud from head to toe. It is followed by Korea and Japan. During the lockdown, marketers have noticed a significant increase in first-time downloads and organic installs.

When comparing data from this period and making future predictions, marketers have to take these specific fluctuations into account. In order to better understand the trends for hyper casual games, it is important to know which data to look at.

We know the main monetization channel in this genre is ad revenue. For this to work, keeping CPIs low and conversion rates high is a must. When it comes to acquisition costs, they highly depend on the country. According to data from Unity, there were significant changes in acquisition costs from September till the end of March.

Traditionally, the U. The starting CPI was approximately 0. To compare, the APAC region started the same period with 0. During Q1 , the global user acquisition cost averaged at 0. User engagement and conversion rates are equally important. All things considered, before going all-in on paid advertising, define the areas where you want to advertise. You can define the importance of CPI vs. After your game ad is shown a thousand times, how many installs should you expect?

With this information, you will find it easier to effectively plan your advertising budget. The biggest change this period brought is that five more users would hit the install button. Starting with 26 users, at the end of Q1 , 31 of them would install the game after stumbling upon an ad. That makes for an Some areas affected these numbers significantly more than others. To put it simply, user interaction with ads increased. Once attracted by the ad and engaged, these people will likely convert.

Even though the U. It had an average of 30 installs per mile IPMs. In comparison, EMEA averaged at All of this means hyper casual games have successfully engaged and converted prospects into players.

So, how do you measure the ultimate goal of your hyper casual advertising efforts — conversions? The relationship between three important metrics will help you get to the bottom of this. Compare CTR, install rates, and conversion rates. Click through rate equals ad effectiveness.

But this is in no case the only metric to rely on. Keep in mind that getting conversions is the most important thing in mobile advertising, and this includes anything from the first impression to the install. The average conversion rate for this genre is 3. These numbers beat other popular genres such as action, adventure, and RPG. Split testing makes the foundation of hyper casual gaming.

Adjust data reveals how in-app advertising affects the way users interact with the game. Despite that, these games also need to make players stay as long as possible.