New Channels
What Tencent, Amazon and Twitch’s great PUBG Mobile content giveaway means for game developers
Erick Fang discusses
New Face
Anzu appoints ex-Double Fusion co-founder Guy Ben-dov as strategic advisor
In-game advertising growth
Faster $$$
IronSource releases automated adtech LevelPlay so game devs can earn more with less work
It’s time to flatten your waterfall
Kicking Off
In-game ads outfit Anzu hires ex-Niker Mike Cookson as CSO
Mike Cookson joins the company
Breaking Borders
Adtech outfit Bidstack launches in US
Adam Fisher is new head of sales
Big Deal
CVC buys minority stake in mobile game monetisation outfit IronSource for $400 million
Cash will drive organic growth and M&A activity
Play To Win
Research: How playable ad optimization can double ad performance
Smart data from Playable Platform
Level Up
App Annie acquires mobile analytics firm Libring alongside rebrand
“The most successful companies find a way to capitalise on mobile”
Mobile Advertising
Discover the optimal ad unit combination
IronSource VP of global partnerships Nadav Ashkenazy outlines some best practices that can be followed to create the optimal ad unit combination for your game
Partnership
Animoca Brands and Winfinite firm Versus Systems sign $500k mutual investment deal
Hong Kong publisher may leverage ad tools through its existing partnerships with other firms
Counterpoint
Counterpoint: Offerwalls still deliver enormous value in 2019
As Apple enforces bans on offerwall-based CPI and CPE campaigns, CPA campaigns are still an option for developers
Header Bidding
Fyber launches new ad mediation platform FairBid
Marketing tech firm says it's in discussions with all major ad networks about gradually migrating from the waterfall to bidding
Hyper-casual
Voodoo’s ad monetisation and the recipe for hyper-casual success
Thanks to the Mintegral-led campaigns, the ad fill rate for Voodoo’s titles increased from 30 per cent to a high of 75 per cent
Jobs News
Rogue Games swoops for trio of marketing, UA and design hires
Publisher appoints new UA marketing manager, game designer and marketing art manager
Business Deal
Private equity firm Blackstone to acquire Vungle
Deal reported to be worth $750 million-plus
Global Advertising
The top global game advertisers in the US, Japan and South Korea for June 2019
SocialPeta data shows which games are generating the highest number of ad impressions
Ad Solution
IronSource launches cross-promotion solution for mobile ads
“IronSource's tool has given us the ability to treat both our ads and our ad units in a cross-promotion with a business mind”
Ad Monetisation
How to monetise your IAP-based game with ads
IronSource VP of global partnerships delivers the lowdown on in-game ads
Instant Demos
Synative Playable Studio now lets devs create Google Play ‘Try Now’ demos for free
, Google Play’s instant games are designed to be available instantly, without the need for a download
£££
Jagex subscription sales up 22.9 per cent in 2018
Offsets declines in microtransaction and advertising revenue
1,500 People Surveyed Globally
Redbox Mobile: Over 35s more likely to download apps via adverts
55 per cent opted to install via paid advertisements
Going Public
AppLovin wants to raise $1bn in 2020 IPO
Marketing platform and publisher has ambitious plans
Ad Fraud
Don’t let fraudsters dictate your user acquisition strategy
Scalarr's Olga Bazarova on how to combat ad fraud
Doors Open
Stack open-sources ad software BidMachine mobile apps publishers
Technology has been made an open source resource
Casual Expansion
WeQ: Investment in ad tech, development and publishing sets us apart from hyper-casual competition
Ad tech company has acquired Booster Studios to develop and publish in-house and third-party hyper-casual games
Mobile Monetisation
Facebook study: 57% of mobile developers say in-app ads can improve player retention
Users are six times more likely to make a purchase after seeing a playable ad
The Debate Continues
Germany considering new minor protections laws against loot boxes and mobile monetisation
The state of Bavaria has proposed new guideline citing the “exploitation of the inexperience and credulity of adolescents”
Global Launch
Codeless instant app creator AppOnboard Studio now free for all
Enables creation of instant apps on Google Play
Jobs News
Mobile ad tech firm Pocketmath appoints Joanne Joynson-Hewlett as CEO
“It is a time of unprecedented growth and opportunity for Pocketmath”
Good Dog
Zynga posts record mobile bookings of $341m in Q1 2019 thanks to Empires & Puzzles and Merge Dragons
However losses increased significantly due to the outperformance of these titles, resulting in bigger earnouts for Small Giant Games and Gram Games
Knocked Down
Devs lose out on thousands of dollars as Apple cracks down on offerwall ads
Developers on and off the record discuss impact
Stack
Appodeal is now a part of umbrella ad tech solution brand Stack
Stack wants to help mobile publishers compete with an encroaching ad network industry
Network Effects
How hyper-casual games use network effects to supercharge growth
Tenjin CEO Christopher Farm discusses the attention economy and how publishers attract returning users
To Infinity And Beyond
PepsiCo planned space campaign against "unjustified prejudices" towards gamers
Part of a push to promote new Russian energy drink
Strange
Brawl With The Stars brings Stranger Things to Supercell's arena fighter
Brawl Stars bets on fan favourites in a new show hosted by mobile esports influencer Chief Pat
Ads Partnership
Gameloft partners with PubMatic for in-game ads
French publisher has an audience of 114 million monthly users across its portfolio
Rapid Growth
IronSource claims $900m run-rate for 2019 as it eyes up acquisitions and IPO
Big year ahead for the ad tech firm
New Ad Network
Snapchat to launch the Snap Audience Network for third-party apps
Set to launch in the coming months
Ads
Mobvista revenue from programmatic advertising grew 99 per cent in the wake of its IPO
Ad tech platform reports a 38.9 per cent annual increase in total revenue, hitting $435 million
Mediate
Lab Cave’s birthday present to its customers is a new Advertising Mediation for Apps tool
Firm claims to offer unbiased, impartial way to mediate ads for mobile apps
Cinemagraph Ads
Facebook partner on using UnrealFront’s Cinemagraph ad creative to market your mobile game
High definition images offer an eye-catching solution to getting user attention
Automated Future
How automated reports helped Futureplay and Webedia improve ad monetisation
Why developers are turning away from manual admin to focus on deeper insights and strategy
Marketing
Google introduces new ad campaign tools aimed at re-engaging lapsed players
App Campaigns for engagement and smart segregation look to hone your advertising efforts
Instant Demo
AppOnboard Studio is a new codeless toolkit for creating app demos
“Our easy to use tool-set completely eliminates all barriers of entry to app development"
For The Tech
Fyber partners with Game of Whales to predict user lifetime value based on IAPs and ads
Solution designed to help optimise user acquisition campaigns
All In
2019 is the year of performance programmatic buying - are you ready?
MobileGroove's Peggy Anne Salz speaks with Playrix lead UA manager Sergey Grytsuk to get the lowdown on its user acquisition strategy and tips
Expansion
Animoca Brands agrees $8.9m deal to resell iClick advertising inventory
“This deal with Vigame is an important first step in our broader partnership with iClick”
Ad Tech
How live user comments for in-game mobile ads are boosting developer revenues
AdTiming explains the benefits of its Creative Timing and AdMuing tools
Scaling Up
N3twork launches new user acquisition platform for third-party mobile games
Tool was previously used on Legendary: Game of Heroes for iOS and Andorid
Hail To The King
Candy Crush maker King's revenue up in 2018 to $2bn, touts $100m ads business
"The next phase about where the ad business heading is about continued scaling"