Southeast Asia mobile game report for 2024

Advertisers in Indonesia and the Philippines surpass Japan and South Korea, making hyper-casual games the second largest global battleground in Southeast Asia.
socialpeta southeast asia report for august 2024

With its youthful population and widespread smartphone use, the Southeast Asian mobile game market has rapidly become a key growth driver in the global gaming industry. In this competitive landscape, precise market insights and effective strategies are essential for success.

SocialPeta’s latest report, “Insights into Marketing Trends in Southeast Asian Mobile Games in 2024” report, offers an in-depth analysis of market trends, popular creatives, and top advertising strategies to help companies seize global opportunities and achieve success.

Here are the highlights from the report:

Top-performing overseas mobile game icons in the Southeast Asian market

The average number of monthly advertisers exceeds 21,000, with new creatives accounting for nearly 70% in July and August.

In 2024, the Southeast Asian mobile game market saw steady growth, averaging over 21,000 active advertisers per month, a 9.5% year-on-year increase, despite a brief dip in June and July. Overall, market performance remains strong.

New advertisers performed well in 2024, averaging 3.7% throughout the year and peaking at 8.5% in June, signaling a significant influx of new games. Despite lower numbers during Lunar New Year months, the overall growth trajectory of the Southeast Asian mobile game market remains positive.

Source: SocialPeta

In 2024, new creative placements in the Southeast Asian mobile game market showed notable shifts. In July and August, 63.8% of advertisers launched new creatives, hitting the highest levels of the year despite a slight 0.8% year-on-year decrease. On average, 39.6% of creatives were new, peaking at 49.1% in June. These figures emphasize advertisers’ focus on creative updates, especially mid-year, to boost ad appeal and engagement.

Source: SocialPeta

Advertisers in Indonesia and the Philippines Surpass Japan and South Korea, with RPGs Leading as the Most Competitive Genre in Marketing

The Asia-Pacific mobile game advertising landscape reveals significant regional differences. In Southeast Asia, Indonesia and the Philippines have surpassed Japan and South Korea in the number of advertisers, averaging 12.3K and 9.8K per month, respectively, while Vietnam follows with 9.2K. Thailand is notable for having over 100 new creatives monthly, averaging 103, with Singapore and Malaysia close behind at 94.

Overall, Southeast Asia averages 20.1K advertisers and 110 new creatives per month. However, most Southeast Asian countries, aside from Thailand, have fewer than 100 new creatives monthly. In contrast, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan significantly outperform, averaging 10.2K advertisers and 127 new creatives per month, surpassing other regions.

Source: SocialPeta

RPGs (Role-Playing Games) are the most competitive advertising category in Southeast Asia, boasting an average of 231 creatives per month—16% of the total and 3.8 percentage points above the global average. This volume far exceeds that of other categories, surpassing strategy games by 50 creatives.

Casual games lead in advertiser share, making up 28.4% of the market, which is 1.4 percentage points higher than the global average. However, their creative share is 29.6%, 1.9 percentage points below the global average. Casino and puzzle games follow closely, with 13.9% and 11.3% of advertisers, respectively.

Source: SocialPeta

Strategy games lead in video creatives, while mini-games capture attention with IP-based elements.

In Southeast Asia, mobile game advertising emphasizes video creatives, which make up 65.8% of all ads—above the global average of 54.8%, but down from 71.3% last year. Notably, nearly 70% of these videos are longer than 30 seconds, suggesting that long-form ads are more effective in the region.

Strategy games lead with 76.5% of their ads as videos, while casino games rely more on image creatives, which account for 44.3%. Most video ads are 30 to 60 seconds long, representing 59.1% of the total.

In terms of image ads, 67% are in landscape format, while portrait and square images make up 13.5% and 7.1%, respectively. This data reflects the diverse creative types and advertising strategies employed across different game genres in Southeast Asia.

Southeast Asia has emerged as a key battleground for mini-games’ overseas expansion, following Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Many classic domestic marketing strategies have been successfully adapted in this region, highlighting a diverse range of creative formats.

Source: SocialPeta
  • Leveraging IP for Growth: Advertisers use popular IP characters to capture players’ attention, enhancing exposure and conversion rates for their creatives.

  • AI Filters: AI filter technology transforms real people into anime characters, adding visual appeal and enhancing the interactivity and personalization of game promotions.

  • Side Gameplay + Voice-over: Showcasing side gameplay features with voice-overs makes ad content more engaging and immersive, increasing player participation.

  • KOL Commentary + Gameplay Footage: Collaborating with Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) to provide commentary alongside gameplay footage adds dynamism to ads, leveraging the KOL’s influence to attract their fanbase’s interest in the game.

These creative formats have effectively enabled mini-games to establish a strong presence in the Southeast Asian market, utilizing diverse marketing strategies to capture the attention of local players.

The report also provides an in-depth analysis of three recently trending mobile game products in the Southeast Asian market: Ghost Story: Love Destiny, the popular mini-game Legend of Mushroom: Rush – SEA, and the hit cartoon pet-themed MMO Draconia Saga. The marketing strategies employed by these products in Southeast Asia offer valuable insights for industry professionals.

Source: SocialPeta

The report spans 24 pages and includes data up to August 2024. After a thorough analysis of Southeast Asian mobile game marketing data and comparisons with past overseas game marketing experiences, SocialPeta has compiled this report to guide your international market journey and support your global expansion efforts.

Download the full report to stay ahead in the ever-evolving mobile gaming landscape.

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