In our latest speaker spotlight, the PG.biz team speak to Pangle's Maria Andriyenko, a business development director focusing on gaming clients and driving growth of Pangle worldwide, about the company's approach to the rapidly evolving global mobile market.

PocketGamer.biz: What does your company do?

Maria Andriyenko: As the ad network of TikTok for Business, Pangle enables app developers and publishers of all categories to maximise revenue by granting them access to exclusive ad demand. Our diverse network of global apps also makes it easy for advertisers to reach engaged audiences in 36 markets via automated, high-performing campaigns that drive real business results.

PocketGamer.biz: Give me a sense of what your company does differently from your competitors.

Maria Andriyenko: Pangle enables developers to reach beyond TikTok for Business users and tap into a larger audience. According to our current data, Pangle enables developers and app publishers to tap into a large audience of 700 million daily average users (DAU), and an average of 115 billion global daily ad requests.[Data source: Pangle 2022]

Additionally, Pangle has great insights and proven success in emerging markets. Pangle helps developers and publishers maximise revenue with in-app bidding, using mainstream popular ad formats such as rewarded video ads, interstitial ads, native ads, banner ads, and app open ads. Additionally, Pangle covers the mobile app lifecycle in its entirety, from user acquisition to monetisation.

PocketGamer.biz: Can you point to one new opportunity or development within your sector that you're excited to explore? What developments do you think have been undervalued by the mobile games industry?

Maria Andriyenko: Emerging markets like Latin America (LATAM), Southeast Asia (SEA), and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), to name a few, will provide great new opportunities for developers to expand their audience. Data shows that these emerging markets make up a 58 percent share of game market revenue worldwide, so it’s certainly an area we’re excited to explore. The seasonal trends of these diverse markets also create new and interesting developments that we must be aware of, such as spikes of e-commerce demand on key dates for each market (November 11 and December 12 for SEA, Black Friday for LATAM and MENA, etc.)

We have also observed new developments in ad formats, specifically the emergence of app open ads. These ads appear when a user first opens an app, and results from Asian markets in which this format is already widely used show that app open ads are greatly successful, with a result of a 32 percent increase of eCPM. European developers have also started leaning towards using this format as well, so we will have more data to analyze soon. [Data source: Pangle 2022]

PocketGamer.biz: What are the biggest opportunities for the gaming sector in the next 18-24 months?

Maria Andriyenko: The gaming sector is rapidly growing, so the best way to maximise growth opportunities in this sphere is to keep up with new ad products and seize the chance of emerging markets. For example, we could recommend acquiring new users and monetising emerging markets like Brazil, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Vietnam etc.

As a publisher, it's important to customize your ad monetisation strategy by aiming for your target market which will lead to maximised revenue. For instance, seizing the current trend of transferring from waterfall to bidding. Customization tools might include using different ad formats, pushing your UA side to generate more users, and increasing placement variations. Make sure to follow Pangle for updates!

PocketGamer.biz: What trends and/or technologies do you see significantly impacting the global games market in the near future?

Maria Andriyenko: Recent trends calling for increased data protection and privacy will surely have a significant impact on the global games market in the near future. Pangle’s suggestion for game developers is to target broader audiences for an easier start period and to diversify monetisation options. For instance, adding IAA (In-App Advertisement) in a mid-core game in order to monetise more non-paying users.

It is more challenging than ever to acquire new high-value users, so retaining current key players is vital. With this in mind, developers should utilize a variety of viable strategies such as live operations, loyalty programs, and app-remarketing etc.

PocketGamer.biz: Outside development and publishing, where are the next big opportunities in the mobile games market?

Maria Andriyenko: Taking advantage of the next big opportunities that arise in the mobile game market will require an understanding of the key issues that currently face mobile apps, namely: user acquisition within this environment of stricter data protection policies.

Pangle is working to develop new solutions to help developers acquire new users more efficiently and precisely. We offer game developers comprehensive lifecycle solutions and the capacity to reach high ARPU players, thus increasing their user acquisition. Pangle also improves the conversion of lower funnel events, encompassing a player’s life cycle entirely: install, register, retention, number of payments, paid value, and lifetime value.

In a world concerning privacy, we're committed to continuously exploring solutions that bring greater efficiency and effectiveness to our partners and help them drive real business results.