79% of mobile gamers prefer opt-in rewarded ads to pre-roll video ads in free-to-play games, according to Tapjoy.

The mobile advertising firm has released its Advertising Preferences report for the "Modern Mobile Gamer", which surveyed 2,615 consumers in the US in April 2017 on the types of ads they like to see.

55% of respondents said they preferred "freemium" games to other payment models, with just 14% preferring paid, ad-free games. 21% of respondents most enjoyed games that were entirely ad-supported, without rewarded ads.

Frequency of play also influenced the types of ads gamers preferred. 83% of users who played games for 12 hours or more a week preferred rewarded ads to pre-roll video ads, for example.

Happy to watch

Overall, respondents seemed perfectly happy to watch rewarded video ads. 75% stated that they were "very likely" to watch rewarded ads, while only 10% reported to be unlikely to watch a rewarded ad.

As for what content the ads should feature, Tapjoy advises advertisers to focus on humour. 44% of respondents enjoyed humorous ads most of all, while only 12% of respondents enjoyed "sex appeal".

It is worth noting that Tapjoy is itself a rewarded video ad provider, so its stats are likely be skewed to presenting rewarded video ads as the preferred format. The full report is available on the company's website.