Category: Blog

The past two decades have seen Internet penetration and engagement skyrocket. As a result, targeted personalized advertising has become the largest revenue stream for data-driven tech companies like Google and Facebook. Within the mobile ecosystem, in-app advertising has become a key source of revenue for app developers, including game makers.

More mobile game publishers and developers than ever are relying on in-game ad revenues, particularly those active in more casual genres (especially hypercasual). For example, Outfit7 (publisher of My Talking Tom) generated six times more revenue from ads than from game publishing in 2019.

Apple’s recent iOS 14 announcement is poised to completely change how advertising on mobile works. The update will see Apple revoking its identifier for advertisers (IDFA),
making it practically impossible for businesses to track end-user behaviour on iOS device (both via web browsers and in apps).

Without contextual insights from this tracking data, it will be challenging for publishers and developers to deliver targeted ads that fit users’ preferences. As a result, companies may face higher user acquisition costs and returns on investment may be far lower.

At Apple’s WWDC event, it was announced that iOS 14 would behave in the same way as iOS 11 and iOS 12. Apple announced a new rule requiring apps on Apple devices to obtain explicit user consent before using the device ID to track and associate. This requires apps to ask users for permission before tracking them with an advertiser’s app identifier, known as IDFA.

The outcome for publishers and advertisers?

There are grave predictions about disruptive consequences for publishers. Ads are the main source of income for most publishers, particularly when it comes to smaller publishers. Adobe and PageFair report says ad blockers would cost publishers about $22 billion in revenue loss this year.

This real threat of ad revenue losses forces publishers to think about other ways of making money:

• Less free content. It is possible that a big part of publishers, who currently offer free content in exchange for displaying ads, will turn to paywalls. Publishers could also switch from the web into their own mobile apps, where ads will not be blocked or transferred to social media apps such as Facebook.
  
• The growth of native ads. The mobile ecosystem will start a shift from script-based ads to so-called “native ads” that will avoid the blocking system. 

Moreover, Apple said it would allow users to disclose their approximate location with apps rather than their precise location. This means apps will not be able to identify exactly where you are. Last year, Apple enabled users to give over their location once so that apps won’t track users as they go.

Conclusion:

Make sure you are prepared for iOS 14 and the new privacy regulations by Apple because the iOS 14 ad blocking will change the future of mobile advertising. While the industry comes together to discover a solution that defends user privacy, others look for a sustainable future for advertisers and developers. 

credits: scaleo

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About Goama

Is a casual engagement solution that turns any digital platform into a gaming powerhouse to boost engagement, reduce the cost of acquisition and increase brand awareness.

Driven by a rock n’ roll team of more than 100 years of combined experience in digital space and gaming, spanning across 10 countries, we are dedicated to delivering fresh games on our competitive platform every week. Our key partners in over 17 countries are driving in excess of 2 million minutes of game time per week.

The number of mobile users in 2020 is believed to be on track to hit 3.5 billion, which is around 45 percent of the world’s total population.

In 2020, the total number of smartphone users worldwide will reach 3.5 billion, representing year-on-year growth of +6.7%. By 2023, there will be 4.1 billion smartphone users globally,
growing at a 2018-2023 CAGR of +6.2%. Much of the growth will be driven by emerging regions.

Active Smartphones and 5G-Ready Smartphones

Across the world, there will be 4.2 billion smartphones in active use in 2020, with a year-on-year growth of +6.3%. By 2023, the number of total active smartphones in use will reach 4.8 billion. Among all active smartphones, 199.7 million will be 5G-ready by 2020, representing impressive year-on-year growth of +1,214.7%. By 2023, there will be 2.1 billion 5G-ready smartphones globally, accounting for 42.7% of all active smartphones. The global number of 5G-ready smartphones will grow at a strong three-year CAGR (2020-2023) of +117.9%.

Mobile Game Revenue Forecast

In 2020, global mobile game revenues will grow to $77.2 billion, a year-on-year growth of +13.3%. By 2023, global mobile game revenues are set to cross the $100 billion line, reaching
$102.8 billion. In 2020, $38.8 billion in revenues—or 50.2% of the total global mobile game revenues—will come from the iOS platform. Revenues generated by mobile games downloaded from Google Play will reach $27.9 billion, 36.1% of the total market. Mobile game revenues from all third-party Android stores will account for the remaining $10.6 billion,
13.8% of the total.

From Hypercasual to Hybrid-Casual

The era of hypercasual on mobile is branching out into exciting new areas. Mobile advertising analytics company ironSource concluded at Gamefest 2018 that the hypercasual
genre is effectively a funnel for converting mobile players into mobile (game) payers by analyzing the aggregated data of 2.5 billion users in ironSource’s network over two years.

Hypercasual’s dramatic popularity spike between 2017 and 2020 led to an oversaturation of players, aggravated further by the increasing number of companies entering the space.
These factors—along with a lack of viable, long-term monetization for the genre—have led many publishers to rethink their hypercasual strategies.

One approach many companies have adopted is retaining the core principles and mechanics of hyper-casual game design but adding a layer of meta-design elements to increase the
lifetime value (LTV) of players, as exampled by Archero. This strategy shift led to the emergence of hybrid-casual games.

The hybridity of this new genre is twofold:

• Gameplay: While the games remain casual at their foundation, meta-game elements from
core genres—such as action-based role-playing games (ARPGs) and deck builders—are
added to the mix.

• Monetization: New ways to play lead to new ways to pay, including bundles and direct
purchases, as well as the ad-based revenues popular in the hypercasual space.

credits: newzoo

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About Goama

Is a casual engagement solution that turns any digital platform into a gaming powerhouse to boost engagement, reduce the cost of acquisition and increase brand awareness.

Driven by a rock n’ roll team of more than 100 years of combined experience in digital space and gaming, spanning across 10 countries, we are dedicated to delivering fresh games on our competitive platform every week. Our key partners in over 17 countries are driving in excess of 2 million minutes of game time per week.

With new reports of unprecedented growth, HTML5 games have secured their place as the hottest way to enter the Chinese gaming market. In the first half of 2020, WeChat Mini Games – one of the biggest HTML5 platforms – experienced a surge in revenue of 18 percent.

At a conference in August, WeChat product manager Li Qing shared insights on user growth, attributes, and popular genres in the Mini Games ecosystem. We have summarized key points below to help developers redefine their strategy for the ever-growing and changing Chinese gaming industry.

H5 User Footprint: 1 Billion and Counting

Since China’s biggest social media platform introduced Mini Games in 2017, the total number of registered users has exceeded one billion. This number has grown continuously over the past six months, indicating that mobile users – experienced gamers or not – are embracing the new WeChat mini-game model as a way to have fun on their phones.

With the steady release of new HTML5 games, alongside the optimization of existing ones, WeChat predicts an even faster growth rate for its Mini-Games business in the second half of 2020.

H5 User Attributes: The Pool Just Got a Lot Bigger

Data from WeChat highlights important differences between HTML5 game and app store game players, a key insight being that only a small percentage overlap.

For developers, this means complementary app and H5 strategies can help games reach a far greater audience than ever possible in the past.

Lifestyle.

Given their click-and-play nature, Mini Games appeal strongly to intermittent users who want to explore a game before committing to it. Once they’ve had a taste, they can go straight from your HTML5 game to an app store and download the full version.

Gender.

Where the male-to-female ratio for traditional mobile games is about 6:4 (see gender distribution for mobile gamers in China), WeChat Mini Games have proven more attractive to the female user base with a ratio of 5:5.

With mobile gaming market revenue for 2020 forecasted to hit 6 billion USD for China alone, Asia’s growing female gamer segment is becoming an increasingly important target audience.

Age.

HTML5 games give developers access to a wider age range of players. Data from the past six months shows that two out of three mini-game players are over the age of 30—in contrast to one out of two for traditional mobile games.

Location.

HTML5 games give wider access to the China mobile user population as a whole compared to apps. The market share of mini-game users in tier 3-5 cities now exceeds 58 percent, compared to 39 percent for Chinese mobile gaming apps (see distribution of Chinese gamers by city tier).

The HTML5 games market is attracting users who weren’t gamers before and expanding China’s player pool. It can be concluded that these users prefer Mini Games to game apps, which require a stable internet connection, more phone storage, and higher performance.

H5 Genres: Puzzle and Simulation among the Most Popular

Puzzle and simulation games are the most popular HTML5 game genres, attracting 600 and 500 million users respectively, and bringing in combined revenue of more than 2.2 billion RMB.

The strategy and RPG category account for over 300 million users and 2 billion RMB in revenue.

Also announced at the conference was the expansion of WeChat Mini Games’ physical cache to 200 megabytes, giving developers more room to experiment and allowing users to experience games of higher quality and greater variety.

Now is the Time to Leverage China’s HTML5 Games

For foreign game developers, the HTML5 games market paves a uniquely hassle-free path into the Chinese market—with immense commercial value and scalability.

If you already have games in China, getting them on the H5 platform is key to sustaining and enhancing your success: on top of bringing in their own revenue, HTML5 games can attract new users and drive downloads for your mobile games.

If you are outside China and you want to harness the power and potential of HTML5 games in your platform/superapp to drive engagement contact us

credits: https://www.pocketgamer.biz/

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About Goama

Is a casual engagement solution that turns any digital platform into a gaming powerhouse to boost engagement, reduce the cost of acquisition and increase brand awareness.

Driven by a rock n’ roll team of more than 100 years of combined experience in digital space and gaming, spanning across 10 countries, we are dedicated to delivering fresh games on our competitive platform every week. Our key partners in over 17 countries are driving in excess of 2 million minutes of game time per week.