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India saw a 32% rise in hypercasual installs in 2022

Google’s ban on interstitial ads caused ripples in the market, while India surged ahead

India saw a 32% rise in hypercasual installs in 2022

AppsFlyer’s report into the state of gaming app marketing in 2022 highlights the growing role of India in the mobile gaming landscape, with the company seeing a 32% growth in hypercasal installs on Android platforms compared to 2021.

Only one country, Turkiye, saw a larger rise in hypercasual installs, rising 35% year-on-year. However, while Turkiye is an established mobile gaming hotspot, India is a country which is growing stronger and stronger thanks to large-scale adoption of mobile devices.

This strong performance comes despite Google’s ban on interstitial ads in hypercasual games, which left many marketers struggling to adapt to the changing landscape.

Despite a marked slowdown in hypercasual installs on Android, iOS saw falls in nearly every market. Only one country, Indonesia, saw growth, rising 16%. India’s installs fell 9% while Turkiye’s fell 10%.

The cost of gaming

AppsFlyer attributes this discrepancy, in part, to the higher average CPI across gaming apps on iOS devices. However, the report does state that hypercasual games are seeing a cooldown in CPI, which could signal that hypercasual marketers can capitalise on 2023 to accelerate growth.

Hypercasual CPI on iOS platforms peaked at $0.75 in Q4 2021, falling to $0.56 in Q4 2022. In contrast, Android saw relatively stable CPI’s during the same period, falling from $0.17 to $0.12.

Hypercasual app install ad spent stabilised following a turbulent period. Android peaked in Q4 2021, reaching 14.46%, and stood at 13.27% in Q4 2022. While iOS saw a higher peak, standing at 17.19% in Q1 2022, it also fell to a lower level, 11.84% in Q4 2022.

Both platforms saw significant turbulence in terms of in-app ad revenue, with iOS peaking at 15.83% in Q1 2022 before falling to 11.32% in Q4 2022. Android, meanwhile peaked at 17.47% in Q2 2022, before declining to 15.47% in Q4 2022.

Earlier this year, we reported that hypercasual dominated download charts in 2022, while RPGs pulled ahead in terms of revenue. Last week, we reported on AppsFlyer's analysis of the British gaming market.

 


Staff Writer

Lewis Rees is a journalist, author, and escape room enthusiast based in South Wales. He got his degree in Film and Video from the University of Glamorgan. He's been a gamer all his life.