We held the Mobidictum Business Meetup in Istanbul on January 27. In this networking event, where we are excited to host many competent people from the mobile industry worldwide, we discussed many topics and hosted veteran names from the industry and listened to their experiences. At a panel at the event, attendees from industry leaders Adverty, Moloco, Adjust, and TapNation took a deep 360-degree look at mobile ads and the mobile industry.
Choosing the Right Advertisement and the Right Platform for Mobile Games
Advertising in the mobile game industry is one of the critical factors of success. We asked William Melzer of Moloco about DSPs (Demand Side Platform) at the panel.
DSPs are required to achieve key metrics. Through DSPs, advertisers collect the necessary data and make their advertising plans and pricing. The essential data here is called KPI (Key Performance Indicator). After choosing the right DSP, some metrics should be considered in the data obtained.
William Melzer says that “transparency” and “visibility” come first among these data. Providing visibility is the primary purpose of an advertisement. High visibility means that the game you’re advertising is noticeable to your target audience.
You need to analyze the data and KPIs you get from the DSP you use to provide visibility. The data you get through DSP and KPIs helps you understand what your customer expects from you. If your product and advertisements meet customer demands, you are one step closer to success. In summary, DSPs and KPIs are essential when creating a marketing strategy. Therefore, the DSP must be selected correctly.
Many publishers and advertisers use technology to evaluate this data. Willam Melzer says that they use machine learning to process the data and draw models after understanding this data.
MMPs and Automation in Mobile Advertising
MMPs (mobile marketing platforms) greatly benefit from providing meaningful and processed data to advertisers. MMPs, in short, are partners that enable publishers and advertisers to track campaign performance across multiple channels. For example, Adjust is one of the companies that provide such advantages.
MMPs, give you an idea of where and how much money you should spend during an advertising campaign. Today, there are many channels where you can advertise. MMPs are very useful for determining which of these channels you can get the most through.
Studios looking to market their games without working with an MMP can have a hard time sometimes. Companies that will market a game for the first time will have difficulty making the necessary measurements and accessing the data. The budget required to make these measurements can also be a compelling factor.
Ozan Can Şişman from Adjust says that it is necessary to make wise choices, especially when advertising in the hyper-casual area. The fact that studios who want to market in the hyper-casual field, where there is fierce competition, spend money on the wrong channels can lead to a significant failure. In order to avoid such a situation, accurate determinations and measurements must be made. Here, too, MMPs come to the fore.
Another of the biggest advantages that MMPs provide is the automation of advertising. Many MMPs provide their partners with tools they can use to analyze data. Thanks to these tools, many data that would take time to detect and process manually can be easily processed.
Ozan Can summarizes the importance of automation as follows:
“As humans we can make mistakes, but computers don’t.”
Next Generation Ads
The spread of the metaverse concept leads to some changes in the entire game industry. Traditional games meet concepts like blockchain and NFT, and as games change, so do advertisements. For example, In-game ads technology is one of the new generation ad types.
Unlike traditional ads, in-game ads do not have an effect that undermines the game experience. Players frequently complained about the ads that popped while playing the game. Advertising companies realized this situation and developed new solutions. With the spread of the metaverse concept, in-game advertisements emerged.
To better explain what an in-game advertisement is, imagine you are playing a racing game. While your vehicle is driving on the road, you see signs on the side of the road, and there are advertisements on these signs. If you are not careful enough, you may not see these ads. Or, when you stop to change your car’s tire, you notice the brand on the tire. Or, in a cutscene in the play, a beverage can is standing on the table, and you can see its brand. Such advertisements do not adversely affect the gaming experience but also enable users to show interest in the advertised product.
Thorbjorn Warin from Adverty says in-game ads have become very useful with Unity’s latest moves. In-game ads, which were previously seen as “inefficient,” have become very useful with the spread of the metaverse concept and the development of new technologies for this area.
There is a very important point to note about in-game advertising. Theme and ad must be compatible. Thorbjorn Warin points out that it may be pointless to advertise “coke” in a Dungeons & Dragons game. Indeed, it would be strange to put a state-of-the-art car from one of the luxury auto companies in a medieval-themed game. In such a case, the advertisement cannot reach the desired target audience and may even receive a negative reaction from the user.
Developing Games Suitable for Advertising?
For in-game ads to be compatible with the game, developers may need to design their games accordingly. When game designers design based on future advertisements, it is convenient for both developers and advertisers.
Of course, not every game has to be developed in accordance with advertisements. Today, it is possible to find suitable advertisements for every game with many different types of ads and methods. However, it will be advantageous for developers who want to earn income from in-game advertisements to design their games in accordance with this new generation advertisement type.
More
In this panel, where we hosted Adverty, Moloco, Adjust, and TapNation, we discussed many topics from hybrid-casual to multiplayer hyper-casual games. If you are interested in reaching a wider audience, marketing tricks, important marketing data, and blockchain games, and are curious about the ideas of industry leaders, you can watch the panel video we prepared for you.
