Mastering non-conventional UA channels - emergence, growth and trends for 2025

Sara Guerola, the Chief Growth Officer of Media Bodies, dives into the non-conventional user acquisition (UA) channels she believes every developer will need to understand in the year ahead.

At Media Bodies, Sara leverages her decades-long experience and analytical expertise to implement data-driven strategies & tactics that maximise ROI on Influencer and Podcast marketing campaigns.

It can be tricky to contextualise the ‘importance’ of non-conventional channels when you’re used to evaluating value from the lens of working with traditional channels. These channels are often not as easy to measure or don’t have the same visible impact in the short term compared to traditional channels.

But the true value of these channels - particularly the most popular ones like Influencer Marketing, Connected TV (CTV), and Podcasts - doesn’t just lie in the impact they can create short term or in isolation. They serve a vital function in the long tail and in improving the performance of your traditional channels. 

They’re also great for reaching broader or niche audiences that can’t be targeted through traditional methods, as a creative means to get around audience ad fatigue and a great contingency in an environment with changing privacy regulations.

Ultimately, these channels offer diversification, improved performance of traditional channels, new and unique creative opportunities, long-term brand and ROI impact, contingencies against market changes, and a competitive advantage.

What’s your background and experience with these channels?

I started in influencer marketing early on at Socialpoint, even before the term "influencer" was coined. I found success with YouTube creators, expanding our activations from Dragon City to Monster Legends, and establishing a lasting influencer program.

At the same time, I was exploring other non-conventional UA channels like TV, Instagram, and TikTok. Due to Socialpoint's performance-based UA culture, I had to ensure these efforts were measurable and profitable, working closely with data scientists to establish reliable methodologies.

At FunPlus, I scaled influencer marketing and explored emerging channels like CTV and Podcasts. These were nascent and lacked measurement tools, but my early involvement provided market understanding.

By the time I joined Bandai Namco Mobile, these channels had matured, allowing for immediate progress. Now, on the agency side, I leverage my client-side experience to help teams quickly adopt these increasingly popular channels.

How have these channels changed over time?

These channels have been around for a long time, but it was around 2020 when we saw the iOS 14 updates that really drove a massive paradigm shift - with many teams scrambling to find alternative sources for UA. Even then, the first instinct was to drive more budgets into Google Play, but that in turn meant more ad saturation and higher CPIs, so alternative channels became a real point of interest.  

Today, a lot more teams have begun to take an interest in building out alternative sources of higher-value players and also recognising the benefits of them from a creative perspective. 

Which are the most promising channels?

Podcasts and Connected TV seem to be the most promising.  

Whilst CTV is not a channel I've personally tested as extensively as Podcasts and not one we at Media Bodies cater to at the moment, it's definitely an interesting one to watch alongside Podcasts. 

The shift to streaming services from traditional TV has driven the growth of Connected TV (CTV) devices- which are essentially any such devices which can connect to and access content from the internet.

When it comes to advertising, CTV is basically traditional TV redefined for a digital and programmatic age. It combines the immersive experience of traditional TV with the precision of digital advertising. This opportunity to display gameplay and graphics on a larger screen and conduct more granular targeting and measurement presents a particularly valuable opportunity for game marketing. 

But be it CTV or Podcasts, the biggest issue we tend to have with emerging channels is that there isn’t yet established tech and infrastructure that can help measure their impact until the channels have had a chance to stabilise. 

But we’ve seen massive growth in consumption of CTV and Podcasts in the past few years, and with that, the tech and infrastructure we have to analyse and optimise campaigns on these platforms is only increasing and improving. We have already seen valuable player acquisition through these channels, so I see massive potential here. 

What are the biggest challenges in adopting and sustaining these channels?

The primary challenges tend to be around having the right budgets, finding the right partners, and convincing the higher-ups that these channels are worth investing in. 

Some companies still favour deterministic over probabilistic attribution, and these teams typically need more convincing. Either way, it’s important to make your case with plenty of data. Find partners who can give you transparency, advice and realistic estimates of how much you need to spend and what sort of impact you will see. Communicating the value of these channels beyond the immediate short-term impact will help management see it too. 

Once you’ve managed to get started, scaling comes with a new set of challenges. 

Measurement and tracking are common challenges. Although we’ve seen improvements in the tech and models we have, there’s always room to grow. 

One of the biggest challenges in sustaining these channels comes because most teams struggle with being patient when it comes to results. One campaign is likely never going to be enough to see true impact. 

What are some major pitfalls marketers commonly make?

Three come to mind. 

1. Not investing enough. Marketers need to be cautious, but these alternative channels will not show visible impact without sufficient investment. Without visible impact, you’ll never understand true potential. 

2. Finding the right partners. - I’ve seen several teams choose partners based purely on price or posterity and end up disappointed by the results. Find partners who speak the same language as you - they should understand industry jargon and KPIs. Get your internal data team(s) on calls with these partners so you’re all aligned on expectations.

3. Not considering the long tail. It’s easy to fixate on the short term and compare this to traditional channels. But like most other channels, Influencer Marketing, Podcasts, etc. take some testing and time to set up and get right. A lack of patience with these channels is where many teams lose out.

How do you see these channels and their place in the marketing evolving in 2025?

These channels have been evolving for years and are here to stay. However not all of these channels are in the same stage of maturity so the evolution we see from them will vary. 

Influencer Marketing is now well-established, so we may see changes in the medium and formats in which influencers share their content, and evolutions in the creative. 

Podcasts on the other hand, will see big shifts - this is still a growing channel - and more consumption means more advertiser interest. That in turn means more investment in research, better tech and better opportunities and outcomes. 

What are your recommendations to marketing teams looking to integrate these channels into their mix for 2025?

• Be bold, be open-minded, and test more. 

• Make sure you take your time to do it right - do your research and find the right partner. 

• Start thinking about the long tail of the game. 

• The competition is fierce and it won't ease up - If you want to stand out, you need to deliver different types of messages, and traditional channels may not be enough.

• Finally, have fun! Amidst the monotony of running UA campaigns, these unconventional channels can inspire you creatively and motivate your team to innovate further with your campaigns!

If you're looking for tailored guidance and support with exploring emerging and alternative channels like Podcast advertising and Influencer Marketing, reach out to Sara on LinkedIn or via the Media Bodies website.