Interview

As UA extends from launch into lifecycle, you need sharper analytics, says Adjust's Japanese MD

Shawn Bonham on the influence of re-engagement

As UA extends from launch into lifecycle, you need sharper analytics, says Adjust's Japanese MD

Berlin-headquartered mobile analysis outfit Adjust recently announced its expansion into key Asian markets; notably setting up offices in China and Japan.

So, with that opportunity in mind, we caught up with Shawn Bonham, previously of Upsight, who's heading up Adjust's Tokyo office to find out the key trends bubbling under in the Japan's mobile game market.

Pocket Gamer: What do you think is the biggest challenge in the Japanese mobile games market that Adjust can solve?

Shawn Bonham: As publishers devote more resources to user acquisition, I think there is a growing market need for unbiased user attribution and the analytics which ties in-app KPI performance of users to their specific acquisition channel.

These features are really the core of Adjust's product.

Obviously there are plenty of local companies offering the same services as you so why do you think that a German-based company will be a success in this region?

I think that the combination which we provide of unbiased attribution across Facebook, Twitter, and hundreds of global networks, coupled with deep in-app analytics, and app store statistics places Adjust in a quite unique place in the market right now. Other competitors offers certain pieces, though we provide a fully integrated package.

Other competitors offers certain pieces. We provide a fully integrated package.
Shawn Bonham

Also, while Adjust was founded in Germany, it's really grown into a global company with offices across the world. In Japan especially, we are dedicated to supporting customers locally in Japanese and offering a fully localized dashboard and documentation which are a pleasure to use.

Do you think the Japanese market is becoming more westernised?

In terms of business operations, I think Japan is moving towards a more data-driven approach to game design and marketing strategy, which is similar to western markets.

However, if you look at the app store rankings, it's quite clear that Japan is a unique market and, with several exceptions, there is still a fairly clear divide between the games which succeed in Japan and abroad.

Finally, what are the key trends you're seeing in the Japanese mobile games market at the moment?

Re-marketing trends such as re-attribution and re-engagement are becoming increasingly prominent and we'll see this trend strengthen over the next year.

User acquisition used to happen exclusively at the beginning of the user lifecycle, but with re-marketing, mobile developers are now using a myriad of KPIs to selectively target dormant users and incentive them to return to the game.

This makes user acquisition a focus throughout the user lifecycle, not just the beginning, and really emphasizes the need to tightly tie together marketing with analytics metrics throughout the user lifecycle.


Contributing Editor

A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.