Following his session at Pocket Gamer Connects London, titled: How to Leverage Branded Video to Better Monetise your Game, VP Games & Apps at Woobi, Shai Sasson, shares best practices and tips on how to get your game “brand ready”.
“The opportunity to monetise your game with branded videos is highly valuable for publishers, but they should invest the effort to make their game appealing for brands, and most of all focus on delivering top-quality results”, Sasson says.
“The advantages of branded videos are very clear: higher eCPM and increased total revenue, better user experience, and zero risk. But publishers need to invest in creating a brand-safe, complementing environment, and leverage their audience data to provide advertisers with true value”.
Check out Shai’s Pocket Gamer speaker session:
Gaming has become one of the most popular pass time activities globally across all demographics, ranking second behind social media activity in terms of time spent on mobile devices.
With premium brands realising the power of gaming as an advertising channel, now, more than ever before, developers can leverage the strength of the world’s leading branded video ads – to increase both game revenue and user LTV.
In order to get their games brand-ready and capitalise from the immense revenue potential of branded in-game video content, here is what they should focus on.
Get to know your users
Marketers turn to demographics, such as age, gender and location to target their ad campaigns. But for your audience to be extra appealing to them, you also need to uncover users’ interests and intentions.
What are their other hobbies? Are they gardening enthusiasts or football fans? Are they planning a trip abroad or a wedding? Get to know your players outside of your game. You can either collect this data yourself or partner with a credible third party DMP (Data Management Platform).
The advantages of branded videos are very clear: higher eCPM and increased total revenue, better user experience, and zero risk.Shai Sasson
The more data you have about your audience, the more advertisers are willing to pay for it. This information is also beneficial for your own user acquisition campaigns by enabling better targeting of new players.
Optimising ad space
Advertisers are on the lookout for high-quality games that complement their brand, to ensure successful campaigns and therefore – higher payouts. To this end, game developers should keep the following in mind:
- The game must be visually appealing. Clean graphics and smooth user experience encourage marketers to partner with you.
- The size, quality and viewability of the space are crucial. Video ads are better on full-screen, fully visible to the user. They should not compete for attention with other ads or elements on the screen.
- Native ads that present the brand as part of the gaming experience enhance players' engagement and are highly valued by advertisers. A good example is presenting a relevant ad when a player has completed a race or won a round and they are more likely to take a 'breather' before resuming the game.
User engagement
Advertisers want their message to be communicated in an enjoyable manner. If a user is not in the mood to watch a video ad − no matter how appealing, relevant or engaging it is − they usually find both the game and the brand annoying.
You and your advertising partner need to determine exactly if and when each user is in a receptive mindset to engage with an ad before displaying it, in order to maximise both the gaming experience and the ad value.
Opt-in ads often see higher completion rates, resulting in higher bids by advertisers for placements in games. In-game rewarded video ads are proven to be an exceptionally effective, engaging and revenue-generating monetisation format, ranking highest in terms of user experience.
Be careful not to over-populate, however. Presenting too many ads can create a ‘spammy’ feeling and drive both players and quality advertisers away.
Your own brand perception
Brand advertisers will want proof about the quality of your game and audience before deciding to partner with you. They will check your store ratings and your reviews - on the appstores, blogs, websites and social media. Take the time to build your own brand and make sure you have a good online reputation.
Keep your audience information up-to-date and collect campaign performance data as you go along. This will up your value tremendously.
To determine whether a publisher’s app is suitable for their campaign, advertising agencies use several tools and metrics and employ third party brand safety and fraud detection.
They are gearing towards “outcome-based buying”. They know that within a game, the longer the session and the user’s leisure mindset while playing, the better their receptiveness to targeted video ads. This means they want to see positive results when it comes to:
- User engagement
- View through, click through and completion rates
- Viewability
- Real quality views
- Beyond the view campaign impact
To help sell your in-game media you can work with your ad partner to create case studies, media kits and success stories of ad campaigns that previously ran within your app.
By formulating a good in-game brand advertising strategy based on the above, developers can increase their advertising revenues while improving player engagement and satisfaction.
Keep your audience information up-to-date and collect campaign performance data as you go along. This will up your value tremendously.
Brands are seeking to reach quality audiences where they spend their time. They want to know who they are, they want their attention, and they want the leisure to engage with them in a meaningful manner.
Invest time in making your game and user data appealing and valuable, and you too will be able to provide your users with a more premium, qualitative and engaging monetisation experience.
You can find out more information about Woobi on its official website.
