ironSource

<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*kpA66BhdwK4GE-N-UcIRww.jpeg" /></figure>Ad content is something that’s very important to myself and the team at TutoTOONS. We see ourselves as not only creators of games but guardians of our users’ experience. The majority of our users are minors — we make games meant to be played by everyone. And that means we have to think of everyone when considering what content our players will see or interact with, including in our ads.Some might think that inappropriate or frustrating ads are not necessarily harmful, or aren’t that big of a deal. This is a feeling that I think is not just incorrect, but shows an ignorance of the impact that harmful content can have — particularly when it comes to younger audiences. An adult may see an ad that is inappropriate and it leaves a bad taste in their mouth, for children it’s a whole other ballgame.The same is true for frustrating ads, while an adult may see an ad that’s buggy or has a hidden x-button and be able to navigate around the problem, younger users can get stuck. For these reasons, bad or frustrating ads have the ability to ruin a day and leave a real lasting impression when we’re talking about younger users.On top of these ethical concerns, as a family friendly studio, we need to ensure that we’re compliant with app store policies that govern what games can be advertised as for everyone. As a result, we have strict guidelines for what ad content can be shown in our titles.We do a huge amount of work at TutoTOONS to ensure we don’t show frustrating or inappropriate ads in our games. Here’s how we protect our brand and ensure the best possible experience for our users.Get to know what ads are running on your appsThe first step in ridding your app of bad ads is to monitor what ads are running on your supply. To do this, we use Ad Quality from Unity LevelPlay. This tool allows us to see what ads are running and from which demand source, giving us a transparent and detailed view of what our users are seeing.Dedication to the best possible user experienceWe believe that protecting our brand and ensuring good user experience should be a top priority, and so we’ve created a dedicated role just to track and monitor the ads we run. This Ads Quality Manager follows a multi-level process for finding and reporting unwanted ads, starting with an application that notifies us through Slack whenever we receive a negative review that contains keywords like “ads” or “inappropriate.” They then use the Ad Quality tool to review what ads were running at the approximate time of the review and in the user’s region, if we have it.If any problematic ads are discovered they’ll report the ads to the network. Otherwise, they’ll check the source of the ads to see if the apps being advertised are the cause of concern, as some apps contain mature content even if their ads don’t.Another way our Ads Quality Manager works to keep our apps free of bad ads is by actually playing our games. This allows them to see what our users are experiencing when they play, seeing what ads they see.Prevention is the best cureHowever, as effective as this process is at detecting ads that have negatively impacted a user’s experience, a better alternative is to stop these ads from being shown at all. But with a huge influx of ads each day, this is a monumental task. So to accomplish this we’ve created an internal dashboard that allows us to document problematic sources and preemptively report them.The dashboard is made possible by the Ad Quality from Unity LevelPlay’s Raw Data API. Using it, we’re able to quickly monitor the ads being shown with a whitelist for trusted sources and ads and a blacklist for problematic ones This enables us to get a bird’s eye view of the ads running on our apps and bulk report or approve them.A layered defense against bad adsAll these processes are combined into a layered methodology for reporting and preventing ads that might negatively affect the user experience and tarnish our brand. First, we preempt the ads by using our dashboard and blacklist. Second, if a bad ad evades this measure and a user leaves a negative review mentioning a bad ad experience, we can track down the offending ad and report it. Lastly, we spend a significant amount of time engaging with our own apps to ensure that no bad ads have escaped our notice.In conclusionThe industry is putting more and more emphasis on the user ad experience, and for good reason. A bad ad experience can seriously damage your brand’s reputation and cause users to churn and not return. But tools like Ad Quality from Unity LevelPlay are a huge help in understanding where there may be an issue with your ad user experience, finding it, and fixing it — a must if we’re to ensure that the ad monetization ecosystem keeps thriving.<img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=9d69ef13babb" width="1" height="1" alt=""><hr><a href="https://medium.com/ironsource-levelup/how-tutotoons-protects-our-brand-and-our-users-with-ad-quality-9d69ef13babb">How TutoTOONS protects our brand and our users with Ad Quality</a> was originally published in <a href="https://medium.com/ironsource-levelup">ironSource LevelUp</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Ad content is something that’s very important to myself and the team at TutoTOONS. We see ourselves as not only creators of games but guardians of our users’ experience. The majority of our users are minors — we make games meant to be played by everyone. And that means we have to think of everyone when considering what content our players will see or interact with, including in our ads.
Some might think that inappropriate or frustrating ads are not necessarily harmful, or aren’t that big of a deal. This is a feeling that I think is not just incorrect, but shows an ignorance of the impact that harmful content can have — particularly when it comes to younger audiences. An adult may see an ad that is inappropriate and it leaves a bad taste in their mouth, for children it’s a whole other ballgame.
The same is true for frustrating ads, while an adult may see an ad that’s buggy or has a hidden x-button and be able to navigate around the problem, younger users can get stuck. For these reasons, bad or frustrating ads have the ability to ruin a day and leave a real lasting impression when we’re talking about younger users.
On top of these ethical concerns, as a family friendly studio, we need to ensure that we’re compliant with app store policies that govern what games can be advertised as for everyone. As a result, we have strict guidelines for what ad content can be shown in our titles.
We do a huge amount of work at TutoTOONS to ensure we don’t show frustrating or inappropriate ads in our games. Here’s how we protect our brand and ensure the best possible experience for our users.
Get to know what ads are running on your apps
The first step in ridding your app of bad ads is to monitor what ads are running on your supply. To do this, we use Ad Quality from Unity LevelPlay. This tool allows us to see what ads are running and from which demand source, giving us a transparent and detailed view of what our users are seeing.
Dedication to the best possible user experience
We believe that protecting our brand and ensuring good user experience should be a top priority, and so we’ve created a dedicated role just to track and monitor the ads we run. This Ads Quality Manager follows a multi-level process for finding and reporting unwanted ads, starting with an application that notifies us through Slack whenever we receive a negative review that contains keywords like “ads” or “inappropriate.” They then use the Ad Quality tool to review what ads were running at the approximate time of the review and in the user’s region, if we have it.
If any problematic ads are discovered they’ll report the ads to the network. Otherwise, they’ll check the source of the ads to see if the apps being advertised are the cause of concern, as some apps contain mature content even if their ads don’t.
Another way our Ads Quality Manager works to keep our apps free of bad ads is by actually playing our games. This allows them to see what our users are experiencing when they play, seeing what ads they see.
Prevention is the best cure
However, as effective as this process is at detecting ads that have negatively impacted a user’s experience, a better alternative is to stop these ads from being shown at all. But with a huge influx of ads each day, this is a monumental task. So to accomplish this we’ve created an internal dashboard that allows us to document problematic sources and preemptively report them.
The dashboard is made possible by the Ad Quality from Unity LevelPlay’s Raw Data API. Using it, we’re able to quickly monitor the ads being shown with a whitelist for trusted sources and ads and a blacklist for problematic ones This enables us to get a bird’s eye view of the ads running on our apps and bulk report or approve them.
A layered defense against bad ads
All these processes are combined into a layered methodology for reporting and preventing ads that might negatively affect the user experience and tarnish our brand. First, we preempt the ads by using our dashboard and blacklist. Second, if a bad ad evades this measure and a user leaves a negative review mentioning a bad ad experience, we can track down the offending ad and report it. Lastly, we spend a significant amount of time engaging with our own apps to ensure that no bad ads have escaped our notice.
In conclusion
The industry is putting more and more emphasis on the user ad experience, and for good reason. A bad ad experience can seriously damage your brand’s reputation and cause users to churn and not return. But tools like Ad Quality from Unity LevelPlay are a huge help in understanding where there may be an issue with your ad user experience, finding it, and fixing it — a must if we’re to ensure that the ad monetization ecosystem keeps thriving.

How TutoTOONS protects our brand and our users with Ad Quality was originally published in ironSource LevelUp on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How TutoTOONS protects our brand and our users with Ad Quality

Going direct-to-consumer with a web store is a pivotal strategy for mobile game growth in 2024. But should you build your tech in-house, or use a white label web store platform?Editor’s note: This article was originally published on <a href="https://appcharge.com/">Appcharge’s blog</a>.In 2023, nearly every major mobile games publisher launched a web store. There’s a reason for this: by carving out a direct-to-consumer sales platform, publishers bypass the traditional 30% fees on all transactions. In doing so, they can provide users with exclusive and generous offers while significantly increasing profit margins.It’s a much-needed win for publishers, who are feeling the squeeze due to challenging <a href="https://appcharge.com/5-industry-trends-fueling-the-rise-of-web-stores/">industry trends</a>, and it’s also a win for players, who receive far more value for their money in the offers presented to them in web stores.With these tailwinds, we expect to see a surge in web store adoption in 2024 from both medium and large sized publishers. Which begs the question: how do you actually create a web store?There are two options: building your web store in-house from scratch, or using a white label, out-of-the-box web store platform.By the end of this guide, you’ll understand the pros and cons of each approach and be a step closer to executing your game’s web store.Let’s dive in.<h3>What’s behind a successful mobile game web store?</h3><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*w-UVkrvalbd4n_T4hMeemg.png" /></figure>The list shown above demonstrates just some of the key components of a mobile game web store.With this in mind, let’s take a look at the pros and cons of building a web store in-house from scratch, before looking at the alternative approach — leveraging a white-label platform where the tech is already taken care of.<h3>Building your own game web store from scratch</h3>Various gaming giants have built direct-to-consumer web stores in-house, including Rovio, Supercell, Moon Active and Scopely. What are the main benefits of this approach?<h4>The pros of building your own web store</h4>Ownership and controlBuilding a web store in-house means your tech and tools are yours and only yours. You’ll always be in full control, eliminating any risks posed by the reliance on a third-party vendor, and keeping communication internal — especially useful if you have a big team.In addition, your web store will become part of your studio’s core IP, adding value to your company.Complete customizationWhen you have a team of in-house engineers and product designers building your web store from scratch, you’re able to mold your store whatever way you’d like to meet the specific needs of your game.That’s an attractive proposition for many developers, but it comes with a cost. Dedicating a team to not only take a web store from 0 to 1 but then maintain and customize it constantly once it’s live is a major commitment, both in time and money.Higher margins on salesWhite label web store solutions take anywhere from 5% to 15% per transaction. While still a far cry from the traditional platforms’ 30% cut, some developers may deem it worth the investment to avoid fees altogether by building their web store in-house.This means they can pocket the highest possible margins per transaction. However, that must be weighed against the considerable cost of hiring a dedicated team of engineers and product designers to build and manage the store.<h4>The cons of building your own web store</h4>It’s an (expensive) burden on your core businessSome studios with enough manpower can put together a team from their existing workforce to at least build an MVP of a web store.But to build a robust web store, equipped with all the functionality and features that keep players coming back and making repeat purchases, you’ll need to hire a team of specialist engineers and product designers.We’ve seen large publishers dedicate 10 to 15 people to building a web store. Not only is it a lengthy process to hire the right people, but once you have them it also takes considerable time to build, launch, and manage the store.That’s a burden on your core business — you’ll have less time and resources to spend on improving your game design, LiveOps, and marketing.Being your own Merchant of Record is a headacheWhen you start selling to players outside of the traditional App Stores, which take care of all Merchant of Record services as part of their 30% cut, you need to manage all this entails by yourself.Becoming your own Merchant of Record means hiring experts to handle local taxes, currencies, exchange rates, invoicing, billing and fraud prevention. This newfound responsibility also introduces the risk of exceeding chargeback limits, potentially resulting in penalties or even the blocking of your game by payment providers.If managing these financial intricacies seems overwhelming, opting for a <a href="https://appcharge.com/">third-party payment solution</a> is a prudent choice.Management is an ongoing burden — and you’ll be one step behindA successful web store isn’t completed once it’s been launched. Just like a mobile game, it is a living, breathing entity that requires constant iteration and optimization.If you build your web store internally, every change to your web store — from new artwork to new gamification mechanics — will require development work. Ultimately, this slows down your time-to-market for every iteration and creates operational overheads.In addition, you’ll always be one step behind in releasing the latest web store features and incorporating the most advanced tech.The <a href="https://appcharge.com/">white label platforms</a> that are spearheading web store innovation for the games industry will be first-to-market for all the latest advancements.<h3>Building your own web store: a brief summary</h3>Building your own mobile game web store is a huge investment in time, effort, and money. But building in-house does give you the ownership, control, customization, and margins per transaction you need to make top-grossing games.If you have the team size, the expertise, and the financial resources to make it happen, as well as the capacity to execute with speed and quality, then it’s a smart move to build out your own game web store.The problem?Well, you’re looking at a minimum of five highly-skilled (and very expensive) software engineers just to get you started.Once you’ve found them, they need to become closely intertwined with the game development, LiveOps, and game monetization teams, ensuring that as new features, events, and offers are added to the game and product roadmap, the web store is able to support these initiatives simultaneously.All the while, you need to ensure all of this effort is supported by robust Merchant of Record services to handle the complex world of payments — which also requires hiring specialists.It’s a tall order to execute, but done right, it pays off. But is it worth it? Well, it depends on what the alternatives are.<h3>Using a white-label web store for your mobile game</h3><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/0*BlPzhWcRMzyYMUJf.png" /></figure>Using a white-label platform, instead of developing your own technology, can be an incredibly efficient and powerful way to build out your mobile game web store.<h3>The pros of using web store tech for your game</h3>When chosen smartly, ready-made and purpose-built web store technology can supercharge your mobile game’s bottom line profit. Let’s take a look at four of the top reasons why.Maximize your profitsHiring a team of specialist engineers and product designers to develop just a ‘vanilla’ or MVP version of your web store can take around 4 months and is expensive.Fortunately, in the same way, you can bypass the traditional app stores’ 30% fees by launching a web store, you can also bypass the aforementioned development costs by leveraging an out-of-the-box platform, which has done all the heavy-lifting for you.Not only does this save you significant development costs, but it expedites your time to market so you can start selling items faster. More on that below.Faster time-to-marketWith a seamless API integration using a white label platform, you can get a web store to market in a matter of weeks. One based on battle-tested technology and with all the features you need to succeed. Compare that to the time it takes to actually begin earning from an internally built web store — remember you need to assemble a team of specialists, develop a platform, and ship it — you’re saving a huge amount of time. And time is money.Payments taken care ofPayment infrastructure is one of the biggest headaches faced by publishers who opt to build web stores in-house. A white-label web store platform like Appcharge handles all of your Merchant of Record needs, which is a game-changer for any company facing the prospect of hiring experts to handle local taxes, currencies, exchange rates, invoicing, billing, chargebacks, and fraud prevention.Easy updates and optimizationThe right white-label web store platform makes it easy to update your store with new designs, artwork, gamification mechanics, special offers, and more.Given that most games these days operate as live services with dynamic LiveOps and frequent optimization, it’s crucial that you can update your web store frequently and without unnecessary hassle to keep up with this cadence.<h3>The Clear Advantage of White-Label Web Store Platforms</h3><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/0*2W58nINZgTyvGYNP.png" /></figure>The choice between building an in-house web store from scratch and leveraging a white-label platform is pivotal.While the allure of ownership and control, customization, and higher margins may tempt some to pursue the former, the reality of the investment in time, effort, and resources required is undeniable.Building a mobile game web store in-house demands a significant commitment, from assembling a team of highly skilled engineers to navigating the complexities of becoming your own Merchant of Record. The ongoing maintenance and iterative development further add to the operational burdens.On the other side of the spectrum, the white-label web store platform is a clear winner. Choosing this path allows game developers to maximize profits by avoiding hefty development costs, with platforms like <a href="https://appcharge.com/">Appcharge</a> receiving just a 5% fee per transaction.The speed-to-market is a huge advantage, with seamless API integration enabling a rapid launch compared to the prolonged timeline of in-house development.In addition, using a white-label platform that <a href="https://appcharge.com/">takes care of Merchant of Record needs</a>, including taxes, currencies, chargebacks, and fraud prevention, removes the headache of managing payments.And last but not least, the ease of updates and optimization you experience with a white label platform ensures your web store remains dynamic and aligned with the evolving demands of players.In conclusion, while building your own web store may offer a sense of control, the pragmatic choice lies in embracing the efficiency, expertise, and cost-effectiveness of white-label web store platforms.As we anticipate a surge in web store adoption in 2024, the advantages of maximizing profits, faster time-to-market, and simplified operations make the case for choosing a white-label platform compelling for savvy game developers aiming for success in the direct-to-consumer landscape.<img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=ff6f0c551f2c" width="1" height="1" alt=""><hr><a href="https://medium.com/ironsource-levelup/mobile-game-web-stores-should-you-build-or-buy-your-tech-ff6f0c551f2c">Mobile Game Web Stores: Should You Build or Buy Your Tech?</a> was originally published in <a href="https://medium.com/ironsource-levelup">ironSource LevelUp</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Going direct-to-consumer with a web store is a pivotal strategy for mobile game growth in 2024. But should you build your tech in-house, or use a white label web store platform?
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on Appcharge’s blog.
In 2023, nearly every major mobile games publisher launched a web store. There’s a reason for this: by carving out a direct-to-consumer sales platform, publishers bypass the traditional 30% fees on all transactions. In doing so, they can provide users with exclusive and generous offers while significantly increasing profit margins.
It’s a much-needed win for publishers, who are feeling the squeeze due to challenging industry trends, and it’s also a win for players, who receive far more value for their money in the offers presented to them in web stores.
With these tailwinds, we expect to see a surge in web store adoption in 2024 from both medium and large sized publishers. Which begs the question: how do you actually create a web store?
There are two options: building your web store in-house from scratch, or using a white label, out-of-the-box web store platform.
By the end of this guide, you’ll understand the pros and cons of each approach and be a step closer to executing your game’s web store.
Let’s dive in.
What’s behind a successful mobile game web store?

The list shown above demonstrates just some of the key components of a mobile game web store.
With this in mind, let’s take a look at the pros and cons of building a web store in-house from scratch, before looking at the alternative approach — leveraging a white-label platform where the tech is already taken care of.
Building your own game web store from scratch
Various gaming giants have built direct-to-consumer web stores in-house, including Rovio, Supercell, Moon Active and Scopely. What are the main benefits of this approach?
The pros of building your own web store
Ownership and control
Building a web store in-house means your tech and tools are yours and only yours. You’ll always be in full control, eliminating any risks posed by the reliance on a third-party vendor, and keeping communication internal — especially useful if you have a big team.
In addition, your web store will become part of your studio’s core IP, adding value to your company.
Complete customization
When you have a team of in-house engineers and product designers building your web store from scratch, you’re able to mold your store whatever way you’d like to meet the specific needs of your game.
That’s an attractive proposition for many developers, but it comes with a cost. Dedicating a team to not only take a web store from 0 to 1 but then maintain and customize it constantly once it’s live is a major commitment, both in time and money.
Higher margins on sales
White label web store solutions take anywhere from 5% to 15% per transaction. While still a far cry from the traditional platforms’ 30% cut, some developers may deem it worth the investment to avoid fees altogether by building their web store in-house.
This means they can pocket the highest possible margins per transaction. However, that must be weighed against the considerable cost of hiring a dedicated team of engineers and product designers to build and manage the store.
The cons of building your own web store
It’s an (expensive) burden on your core business
Some studios with enough manpower can put together a team from their existing workforce to at least build an MVP of a web store.
But to build a robust web store, equipped with all the functionality and features that keep players coming back and making repeat purchases, you’ll need to hire a team of specialist engineers and product designers.
We’ve seen large publishers dedicate 10 to 15 people to building a web store. Not only is it a lengthy process to hire the right people, but once you have them it also takes considerable time to build, launch, and manage the store.
That’s a burden on your core business — you’ll have less time and resources to spend on improving your game design, LiveOps, and marketing.
Being your own Merchant of Record is a headache
When you start selling to players outside of the traditional App Stores, which take care of all Merchant of Record services as part of their 30% cut, you need to manage all this entails by yourself.
Becoming your own Merchant of Record means hiring experts to handle local taxes, currencies, exchange rates, invoicing, billing and fraud prevention. This newfound responsibility also introduces the risk of exceeding chargeback limits, potentially resulting in penalties or even the blocking of your game by payment providers.
If managing these financial intricacies seems overwhelming, opting for a third-party payment solution is a prudent choice.
Management is an ongoing burden — and you’ll be one step behind
A successful web store isn’t completed once it’s been launched. Just like a mobile game, it is a living, breathing entity that requires constant iteration and optimization.
If you build your web store internally, every change to your web store — from new artwork to new gamification mechanics — will require development work. Ultimately, this slows down your time-to-market for every iteration and creates operational overheads.
In addition, you’ll always be one step behind in releasing the latest web store features and incorporating the most advanced tech.
The white label platforms that are spearheading web store innovation for the games industry will be first-to-market for all the latest advancements.
Building your own web store: a brief summary
Building your own mobile game web store is a huge investment in time, effort, and money. But building in-house does give you the ownership, control, customization, and margins per transaction you need to make top-grossing games.
If you have the team size, the expertise, and the financial resources to make it happen, as well as the capacity to execute with speed and quality, then it’s a smart move to build out your own game web store.
The problem?
Well, you’re looking at a minimum of five highly-skilled (and very expensive) software engineers just to get you started.
Once you’ve found them, they need to become closely intertwined with the game development, LiveOps, and game monetization teams, ensuring that as new features, events, and offers are added to the game and product roadmap, the web store is able to support these initiatives simultaneously.
All the while, you need to ensure all of this effort is supported by robust Merchant of Record services to handle the complex world of payments — which also requires hiring specialists.
It’s a tall order to execute, but done right, it pays off. But is it worth it? Well, it depends on what the alternatives are.
Using a white-label web store for your mobile game

Using a white-label platform, instead of developing your own technology, can be an incredibly efficient and powerful way to build out your mobile game web store.
The pros of using web store tech for your game
When chosen smartly, ready-made and purpose-built web store technology can supercharge your mobile game’s bottom line profit. Let’s take a look at four of the top reasons why.
Maximize your profits
Hiring a team of specialist engineers and product designers to develop just a ‘vanilla’ or MVP version of your web store can take around 4 months and is expensive.
Fortunately, in the same way, you can bypass the traditional app stores’ 30% fees by launching a web store, you can also bypass the aforementioned development costs by leveraging an out-of-the-box platform, which has done all the heavy-lifting for you.
Not only does this save you significant development costs, but it expedites your time to market so you can start selling items faster. More on that below.
Faster time-to-market
With a seamless API integration using a white label platform, you can get a web store to market in a matter of weeks. One based on battle-tested technology and with all the features you need to succeed. Compare that to the time it takes to actually begin earning from an internally built web store — remember you need to assemble a team of specialists, develop a platform, and ship it — you’re saving a huge amount of time. And time is money.
Payments taken care of
Payment infrastructure is one of the biggest headaches faced by publishers who opt to build web stores in-house. A white-label web store platform like Appcharge handles all of your Merchant of Record needs, which is a game-changer for any company facing the prospect of hiring experts to handle local taxes, currencies, exchange rates, invoicing, billing, chargebacks, and fraud prevention.
Easy updates and optimization
The right white-label web store platform makes it easy to update your store with new designs, artwork, gamification mechanics, special offers, and more.
Given that most games these days operate as live services with dynamic LiveOps and frequent optimization, it’s crucial that you can update your web store frequently and without unnecessary hassle to keep up with this cadence.
The Clear Advantage of White-Label Web Store Platforms

The choice between building an in-house web store from scratch and leveraging a white-label platform is pivotal.
While the allure of ownership and control, customization, and higher margins may tempt some to pursue the former, the reality of the investment in time, effort, and resources required is undeniable.
Building a mobile game web store in-house demands a significant commitment, from assembling a team of highly skilled engineers to navigating the complexities of becoming your own Merchant of Record. The ongoing maintenance and iterative development further add to the operational burdens.
On the other side of the spectrum, the white-label web store platform is a clear winner. Choosing this path allows game developers to maximize profits by avoiding hefty development costs, with platforms like Appcharge receiving just a 5% fee per transaction.
The speed-to-market is a huge advantage, with seamless API integration enabling a rapid launch compared to the prolonged timeline of in-house development.
In addition, using a white-label platform that takes care of Merchant of Record needs, including taxes, currencies, chargebacks, and fraud prevention, removes the headache of managing payments.
And last but not least, the ease of updates and optimization you experience with a white label platform ensures your web store remains dynamic and aligned with the evolving demands of players.
In conclusion, while building your own web store may offer a sense of control, the pragmatic choice lies in embracing the efficiency, expertise, and cost-effectiveness of white-label web store platforms.
As we anticipate a surge in web store adoption in 2024, the advantages of maximizing profits, faster time-to-market, and simplified operations make the case for choosing a white-label platform compelling for savvy game developers aiming for success in the direct-to-consumer landscape.

Mobile Game Web Stores: Should You Build or Buy Your Tech? was originally published in ironSource LevelUp on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Mobile Game Web Stores: Should You Build or Buy Your Tech?

<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*jPbTJNh5SySKSpOxMKv4Mg.png" /><figcaption>How Top 100 Grossing Games Responded to Google’s CMP Requirements</figcaption></figure>Google’s recent policy shift, which I previously <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/game-over-navigating-google-tcf-22-requirements-consent-bo%25C5%25BEo-jankovi%25C4%2587/?trackingId=8%2BL9V5%2FJSu2JYZDC%2FtI1zw%3D%3D">discussed in more detail</a>, mandates that publishers must implement a Google-certified Consent Management Platform (CMP) to continue displaying ads to users in the EEA and UK, ensuring compliance with TCF 2.2 consent standards.The deadline for this requirement was January 16, 2024. Although there hasn’t been an official statement from Google, it appears that the enforcement of this new policy is set to start gradually from February 1st, aiming for full enforcement by the end of the same month.In this article, my team and I examined the reaction of the top 100 grossing games to Google’s CMP mandate, alongside other notable games, to shed light on effective practices and critical insights within this realm. We will also present actual CMP statistics, including opt-in rates, <a href="https://www.gamebizconsulting.com/about-us">from our clients at GameBiz Consulting.</a><h3>Which Games Did We Examine?</h3>For a better understanding of how the mobile video game industry responds to Google’s requirements, we analyzed more than 120 games based on App Magic data from December 2023. In addition to the top ten most downloaded games, we also included some games from the kids category. We analyzed all the games after 18th January — a couple of days after the official deadline.Out of the top 100 grossing games, 63 of them didn’t have a “Contains ads” tag on their Google Play Store page. We used this as an indication to categorize them as games that don’t use ads as part of their monetization strategy. Also, out of the top 100 grossing games, 34 were focused on the Asian market (defined as making more than half of their revenue from one or more of the following countries: Japan, China, South Korea, and India).When we excluded the games mentioned above and added games outside of the top 100 grossing list, we manually checked 61 games for their CMP implementation and this will be the total pool of games we will be referring to in this article, moving forward.<h3>How Many Top 100 Games Have CMP Implemented?</h3>In our analysis, only 28% of games (which equals 17 games) had a Consent Management Platform (CMP) in place. This reveals that more than three-quarters of games, that use ads as a revenue source, do not use a CMP. There are a few reasons why CMPs might not be more widely adopted:<ol><li>Google’s policy, which requires the use of CMPs, only affects the monetization of users from the EEA and UK. If a game doesn’t earn much from ads in these regions, there’s less motivation to implement a CMP. Based on the <a href="https://www.gamebizconsulting.com/ad-monetization">data from GameBiz clients</a>, these regions, on average, contribute 27.4% to their revenue, although this varies widely from 0.2% to 95.1%.</li><li>Currently, only Google’s ad network requires a CMP. Other ad networks like Meta Audience Network, UnityAds, ironSource, Applovin, and Mintegral haven’t made this a requirement. With around one-third of ad revenue in these regions coming from Google, some developers might decide it’s not worth the effort to add a CMP, choosing to focus on other tasks instead. Yet, with ad networks such as Amazon Publisher Services, Verve Group, and Ogury starting to require TCF 2.2, it’ll be interesting to see if this influences more developers to adopt CMPs.</li><li>Some game publishers may be waiting to see how the industry standardizes the implementation of CMPs before they make their move.</li></ol><h3>What Are The Most Commonly Used CMP Providers?</h3>In our review of 17 games that included a Consent Management Platform (CMP), it was notable that 13 chose Google as their CMP provider. The rest opted for SourcePoint or OneTrust, with Outfit7 being the unique case of developing their own CMP. Surprisingly, despite being frequently mentioned by many publishers we spoke with, popular providers like Didomi and Usercentrics were not found in any of the games we looked at.Our in-depth analysis highlighted two major benefits of using Google’s CMP over others:<ul><li>It’s free.</li><li>It’s easier for developers to integrate with major ad mediation platforms’ SDK updates, and Google’s CMP operates mostly automatically, simplifying the technical process. For additional information, it’s beneficial to refer to your mediation provider’s documentation.</li></ul>However, Google’s CMP also has its downsides when compared to paid options:<ol><li>The customization possibilities are very limited.</li><li>It doesn’t allow for combining the CMP notice with Terms of Service or Privacy Policy notices, which could help reduce the number of interruptions for users.</li><li>You can’t tailor settings for different countries, such as offering a “Reject all” option in some places and a “Manage options” choice in others. This lack of customization forces publishers to decide between being more legally cautious or aiming for higher user opt-in rates.</li><li>There’s no capability for A/B testing, which might not be a deal-breaker for publishers given the overall slow adoption of CMPs.</li><li>Google provides no direct customer support for its CMP service.</li></ol><h3>Do The Games Show The Option To Reject Consent On The First UI Layer?</h3>All of the games we checked are showing “Manage options” and not “Reject all” buttons. We used VPN to check the implementation in the UK, Germany, and France.Publishers implementing CMP messages are strategizing to maximize opt-in rates from users. This approach, while potentially increasing user consent rates, carries legal implications, especially considering that some countries adopt stricter regulations regarding personal data processing.For example:<ol><li>France: information banners are still not compliant because they do not allow the user to refuse the deposit of cookies as easily as to accept it [<a href="https://www.cnil.fr/en/refusing-cookies-should-be-easy-accepting-them-cnil-continues-its-action-and-issues-new-orders">source</a>]; CNIL (Commission Nationale Informatique &amp; Libertés) has been quite active in enforcing GDPR and particular requirements and has issued quite a few fines on the subject:</li><li>Google fined 150 million EUR and Facebook 60 million EUR [<a href="https://www.cnil.fr/en/cookies-cnil-fines-google-total-150-million-euros-and-facebook-60-million-euros-non-compliance">source</a>]. Google followed up by updating their cookie notice [<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2022/4/21/23035289/google-reject-all-cookie-button-eu-privacy-data-laws">source</a>]</li><li>TikTok fined 5 million EUR [<a href="https://www.cnil.fr/en/cookies-cnil-fines-tiktok-5-million-euros">source</a>]</li><li>United Kingdom: One clear example of often harmful design are cookie consent banners. A website’s cookie banner should make it as easy to reject non-essential cookies as it is to accept them. [<a href="https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/media-centre/news-and-blogs/2023/08/it-s-time-to-end-damaging-website-design-practices-that-may-harm-your-users/">source</a> and <a href="https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/media-centre/news-and-blogs/2023/11/commissioner-warns-uk-s-top-websites-to-make-cookie-changes/">source</a>]</li><li>Spain: La Agencia incorpora a la nueva versión de la Guía el criterio del Comité Europeo, que recoge que las acciones de aceptar o rechazar cookies tienen que presentarse en un lugar y formato destacados, y ambas acciones deben estar al mismo nivel, sin que sea más complicado rechazarlas que aceptarlas. [<a href="https://www.aepd.es/prensa-y-comunicacion/notas-de-prensa/aepd-actualiza-guia-cookies-para-adaptarla-a-nuevas-directrices-cepd">source</a>]</li></ol>As we move forward, it will be interesting to see how regulators from these and other countries treat mobile games and their CMP implementation practices.<h3>How Many Partners Are Featured In The Consent Message?</h3>While checking the consent pop-ups in different games, we found that almost all of them showed a list of about 200 vendors. Only Outfit7 stood out, with a list showing around 800 vendors. This is an important point because the latest rules from the TCF (version 2.2) say that games need to show how many vendors they work with right at the start of the consent process.It’s also worth noting that there are over 800 vendors that games can choose from, listed by the IAB. Plus, some games work with additional vendors not listed by the IAB.The fact that we saw about 200 vendors in most games suggests that many are using a default list provided by Google’s CMP. This list, called “Commonly Used Ad Partners,” includes 190 vendors. It looks like many games start with this list and then add a few of their own choices.On the other hand, the few games we looked at more closely had far fewer vendors on their lists, fewer than 20. However, this practice isn’t representative of the broader trend we observed in the majority of games.<h3>How Are Terms Of Service And Privacy Policy Represented In The New Onboarding Flow?</h3>Looking at 17 games that included Consent Management Platforms (CMP), we found a mixed approach to handling Terms of Service and Privacy Policies:<ul><li>Eight of the games didn’t display their Terms of Service or Privacy Policy at all.</li><li>Another eight had a separate pop-up for the Terms of Service/Privacy Policy, distinct from the CMP pop-up. This likely stems from the limitations of Google’s CMP, which doesn’t offer the functionality to incorporate Terms of Service and Privacy Policy notices within the CMP notification itself. It would be interesting to analyze whether having an extra pop-up affects the games’ Day 1 retention rates.</li><li>Only one game managed to combine the Terms of Service/Privacy Policy with the CMP in a single pop-up. This exception was Voodoo, a company that had been fined 3 million EUR by France’s privacy authority, CNIL, in December 2022. The fine was for using a technical identifier for advertising purposes without obtaining user consent.</li></ul>Let’s take a look at Voodoo’s implementation in their game Snake vs. Block, since this is the most interesting case from the above.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/587/1*rrVxFzUQNQIemRFeM-nTNQ.png" /></figure>The user can only proceed if they state that they are above 16 years of age and if they accept the Privacy Policy. However, they can proceed even if they don’t agree to personalized ads. We also want to highlight that Voodoo has only 24 vendors on their list.<h3>Is The ATT Pop-Up Shown Before Or After The Cmp Pop-Up on iOS Devices?</h3>Interestingly, despite clear guidelines from Google suggesting that the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) pop-up should appear after the Consent Management Platform (CMP) pop-up, we’ve observed several instances where the order was reversed. For further insight, you can refer to a discussion by a Google representative about this topic in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBW_gW02xz0">this video</a>, specifically at the question located at the 8:14 timestamp. Google highlights one advantage of this sequence: if a user declines “Purpose 1” in the CMP pop-up, then displaying the ATT becomes unnecessary, as the developer won’t be able to use the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA).When discussing games that present the ATT before the CMP pop-up, it’s worth mentioning Supercent’s game, Outlets Rush. They’ve taken an innovative approach by renaming the “Consent” button to “Play game.” This creative strategy raises curiosity about whether it has helped enhance their opt-in rates. You can check out the implementation below.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/603/1*6tTJ6GG9FTxy6f1_R1b8ew.png" /></figure><h3>Have Publishers Who Do Not Show Ads Implemented CMPs?</h3>We examined numerous top-grossing games from leading publishers and found that none had implemented a Consent Management Platform (CMP).The question arises: why would these publishers need to implement CMP? According to previous Google communication, which aligns with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) becoming effective for gatekeepers from 6th March 2024, “If consent is missing for EEA users, then the consent value is determined as not consented. Data from unconsented EEA users won’t be processed and cannot be used for ad personalization using Customer Match. To adhere to the EU user consent policy and continue using Customer Match for users in the European Economic Area (EEA), advertisers must integrate with the Google Ads API v15.” Google’s representatives further clarified that this requirement extends to the UK, despite it not being explicitly mentioned. They also noted that “campaigns targeting EEA/UK users will die down over the course of a maximum few weeks if the Google-certified CMP is not implemented.”Therefore, CMP compliance is crucial not only for publishers relying on ad revenue but also for those undertaking significant User Acquisition (UA) activities on Google in the EEA and UK.This raises the possibility of delaying the CMP pop-up until just before ads are shown, to minimize disruption for users who may not encounter ads or might exit before ads are presented. However, considering UA activities, delaying CMP activation until ad display is impractical, as data for UA wouldn’t be available until the ads are activated.Regarding King’s games, our direct observation revealed no CMP pop-up at the app’s start. However, we could initiate the CMP process from the Settings menu, both from the UK (our actual location) and several EEA countries (via VPN). The process was consistent across locations: no initial pop-up, but the CMP could be activated from the settings.Accessing the CMP flow requires navigating through Settings &gt;&gt; My Account &gt;&gt; Privacy and Security &gt;&gt; Personalized Ads. It’s worth noting that King’s CMP implementation appears not to comply with TCF 2.2 standards, as it does not display the number of vendors on the CMP flow’s initial screen.<h3>What are the CMP Opt-In Rates as of Now?</h3>While we don’t have access to opt-in rates for the examples previously discussed, we do have insights from the games managed by our clients that we’re eager to share.The data reveals significant variations in opt-in rates across different games, even among those with identical Consent Management Platform (CMP) setups. The rates range broadly from 64% to 90%, indicating that player engagement with consent mechanisms can vary widely.Interestingly, we observed that the minimum and average opt-in rates are consistent across platforms. However, the highest opt-in rate recorded was on iOS, surpassing that on Android.Moreover, when comparing the performance of various CMP solutions, it’s noteworthy that non-Google CMPs have yielded an average opt-in rate of 82.6%, which is noticeably higher than the 72.9% average rate achieved with Google’s CMP. Despite this difference, it’s important to highlight that it’s entirely possible to attain high opt-in rates using Google’s CMP as well.<h3>What Did We Learn?</h3>Our investigation into the adoption and implementation of Consent Management Platforms (CMP) across top-grossing games reveals a landscape of varied compliance and strategic choices.While a significant portion of games have yet to adopt CMPs, likely due to the perceived complexity, limited geographical necessity, or the challenges posed by Google’s policy requirements, those that have implemented CMPs show a wide range of opt-in rates, suggesting that the approach to consent can significantly impact player engagement.The data indicates that, despite the hurdles, achieving high opt-in rates is feasible with careful implementation. This underscores the importance of publishers not only adhering to regulatory requirements but also strategically optimizing their consent mechanisms to balance legal compliance with user experience and retention.<img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=32bbdd100862" width="1" height="1" alt=""><hr><a href="https://medium.com/ironsource-levelup/how-top-100-grossing-games-responded-to-googles-cmp-requirements-32bbdd100862">How Top 100 Grossing Games Responded to Google’s CMP Requirements</a> was originally published in <a href="https://medium.com/ironsource-levelup">ironSource LevelUp</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How Top 100 Grossing Games Responded to Google’s CMP Requirements
Google’s recent policy shift, which I previously discussed in more detail, mandates that publishers must implement a Google-certified Consent Management Platform (CMP) to continue displaying ads to users in the EEA and UK, ensuring compliance with TCF 2.2 consent standards.
The deadline for this requirement was January 16, 2024. Although there hasn’t been an official statement from Google, it appears that the enforcement of this new policy is set to start gradually from February 1st, aiming for full enforcement by the end of the same month.
In this article, my team and I examined the reaction of the top 100 grossing games to Google’s CMP mandate, alongside other notable games, to shed light on effective practices and critical insights within this realm. We will also present actual CMP statistics, including opt-in rates, from our clients at GameBiz Consulting.
Which Games Did We Examine?
For a better understanding of how the mobile video game industry responds to Google’s requirements, we analyzed more than 120 games based on App Magic data from December 2023. In addition to the top ten most downloaded games, we also included some games from the kids category. We analyzed all the games after 18th January — a couple of days after the official deadline.
Out of the top 100 grossing games, 63 of them didn’t have a “Contains ads” tag on their Google Play Store page. We used this as an indication to categorize them as games that don’t use ads as part of their monetization strategy. Also, out of the top 100 grossing games, 34 were focused on the Asian market (defined as making more than half of their revenue from one or more of the following countries: Japan, China, South Korea, and India).
When we excluded the games mentioned above and added games outside of the top 100 grossing list, we manually checked 61 games for their CMP implementation and this will be the total pool of games we will be referring to in this article, moving forward.
How Many Top 100 Games Have CMP Implemented?
In our analysis, only 28% of games (which equals 17 games) had a Consent Management Platform (CMP) in place. This reveals that more than three-quarters of games, that use ads as a revenue source, do not use a CMP. There are a few reasons why CMPs might not be more widely adopted:

Google’s policy, which requires the use of CMPs, only affects the monetization of users from the EEA and UK. If a game doesn’t earn much from ads in these regions, there’s less motivation to implement a CMP. Based on the data from GameBiz clients, these regions, on average, contribute 27.4% to their revenue, although this varies widely from 0.2% to 95.1%.
Currently, only Google’s ad network requires a CMP. Other ad networks like Meta Audience Network, UnityAds, ironSource, Applovin, and Mintegral haven’t made this a requirement. With around one-third of ad revenue in these regions coming from Google, some developers might decide it’s not worth the effort to add a CMP, choosing to focus on other tasks instead. Yet, with ad networks such as Amazon Publisher Services, Verve Group, and Ogury starting to require TCF 2.2, it’ll be interesting to see if this influences more developers to adopt CMPs.
Some game publishers may be waiting to see how the industry standardizes the implementation of CMPs before they make their move.

What Are The Most Commonly Used CMP Providers?
In our review of 17 games that included a Consent Management Platform (CMP), it was notable that 13 chose Google as their CMP provider. The rest opted for SourcePoint or OneTrust, with Outfit7 being the unique case of developing their own CMP. Surprisingly, despite being frequently mentioned by many publishers we spoke with, popular providers like Didomi and Usercentrics were not found in any of the games we looked at.
Our in-depth analysis highlighted two major benefits of using Google’s CMP over others:

It’s free.
It’s easier for developers to integrate with major ad mediation platforms’ SDK updates, and Google’s CMP operates mostly automatically, simplifying the technical process. For additional information, it’s beneficial to refer to your mediation provider’s documentation.

However, Google’s CMP also has its downsides when compared to paid options:

The customization possibilities are very limited.
It doesn’t allow for combining the CMP notice with Terms of Service or Privacy Policy notices, which could help reduce the number of interruptions for users.
You can’t tailor settings for different countries, such as offering a “Reject all” option in some places and a “Manage options” choice in others. This lack of customization forces publishers to decide between being more legally cautious or aiming for higher user opt-in rates.
There’s no capability for A/B testing, which might not be a deal-breaker for publishers given the overall slow adoption of CMPs.
Google provides no direct customer support for its CMP service.

Do The Games Show The Option To Reject Consent On The First UI Layer?
All of the games we checked are showing “Manage options” and not “Reject all” buttons. We used VPN to check the implementation in the UK, Germany, and France.
Publishers implementing CMP messages are strategizing to maximize opt-in rates from users. This approach, while potentially increasing user consent rates, carries legal implications, especially considering that some countries adopt stricter regulations regarding personal data processing.
For example:

France: information banners are still not compliant because they do not allow the user to refuse the deposit of cookies as easily as to accept it [source]; CNIL (Commission Nationale Informatique & Libertés) has been quite active in enforcing GDPR and particular requirements and has issued quite a few fines on the subject:
Google fined 150 million EUR and Facebook 60 million EUR [source]. Google followed up by updating their cookie notice [source]
TikTok fined 5 million EUR [source]
United Kingdom: One clear example of often harmful design are cookie consent banners. A website’s cookie banner should make it as easy to reject non-essential cookies as it is to accept them. [source and source]
Spain: La Agencia incorpora a la nueva versión de la Guía el criterio del Comité Europeo, que recoge que las acciones de aceptar o rechazar cookies tienen que presentarse en un lugar y formato destacados, y ambas acciones deben estar al mismo nivel, sin que sea más complicado rechazarlas que aceptarlas. [source]

As we move forward, it will be interesting to see how regulators from these and other countries treat mobile games and their CMP implementation practices.
How Many Partners Are Featured In The Consent Message?
While checking the consent pop-ups in different games, we found that almost all of them showed a list of about 200 vendors. Only Outfit7 stood out, with a list showing around 800 vendors. This is an important point because the latest rules from the TCF (version 2.2) say that games need to show how many vendors they work with right at the start of the consent process.
It’s also worth noting that there are over 800 vendors that games can choose from, listed by the IAB. Plus, some games work with additional vendors not listed by the IAB.
The fact that we saw about 200 vendors in most games suggests that many are using a default list provided by Google’s CMP. This list, called “Commonly Used Ad Partners,” includes 190 vendors. It looks like many games start with this list and then add a few of their own choices.
On the other hand, the few games we looked at more closely had far fewer vendors on their lists, fewer than 20. However, this practice isn’t representative of the broader trend we observed in the majority of games.
How Are Terms Of Service And Privacy Policy Represented In The New Onboarding Flow?
Looking at 17 games that included Consent Management Platforms (CMP), we found a mixed approach to handling Terms of Service and Privacy Policies:

Eight of the games didn’t display their Terms of Service or Privacy Policy at all.
Another eight had a separate pop-up for the Terms of Service/Privacy Policy, distinct from the CMP pop-up. This likely stems from the limitations of Google’s CMP, which doesn’t offer the functionality to incorporate Terms of Service and Privacy Policy notices within the CMP notification itself. It would be interesting to analyze whether having an extra pop-up affects the games’ Day 1 retention rates.
Only one game managed to combine the Terms of Service/Privacy Policy with the CMP in a single pop-up. This exception was Voodoo, a company that had been fined 3 million EUR by France’s privacy authority, CNIL, in December 2022. The fine was for using a technical identifier for advertising purposes without obtaining user consent.

Let’s take a look at Voodoo’s implementation in their game Snake vs. Block, since this is the most interesting case from the above.

The user can only proceed if they state that they are above 16 years of age and if they accept the Privacy Policy. However, they can proceed even if they don’t agree to personalized ads. We also want to highlight that Voodoo has only 24 vendors on their list.
Is The ATT Pop-Up Shown Before Or After The Cmp Pop-Up on iOS Devices?
Interestingly, despite clear guidelines from Google suggesting that the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) pop-up should appear after the Consent Management Platform (CMP) pop-up, we’ve observed several instances where the order was reversed. For further insight, you can refer to a discussion by a Google representative about this topic in this video, specifically at the question located at the 8:14 timestamp. Google highlights one advantage of this sequence: if a user declines “Purpose 1” in the CMP pop-up, then displaying the ATT becomes unnecessary, as the developer won’t be able to use the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA).
When discussing games that present the ATT before the CMP pop-up, it’s worth mentioning Supercent’s game, Outlets Rush. They’ve taken an innovative approach by renaming the “Consent” button to “Play game.” This creative strategy raises curiosity about whether it has helped enhance their opt-in rates. You can check out the implementation below.

Have Publishers Who Do Not Show Ads Implemented CMPs?
We examined numerous top-grossing games from leading publishers and found that none had implemented a Consent Management Platform (CMP).
The question arises: why would these publishers need to implement CMP? According to previous Google communication, which aligns with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) becoming effective for gatekeepers from 6th March 2024, “If consent is missing for EEA users, then the consent value is determined as not consented. Data from unconsented EEA users won’t be processed and cannot be used for ad personalization using Customer Match. To adhere to the EU user consent policy and continue using Customer Match for users in the European Economic Area (EEA), advertisers must integrate with the Google Ads API v15.” Google’s representatives further clarified that this requirement extends to the UK, despite it not being explicitly mentioned. They also noted that “campaigns targeting EEA/UK users will die down over the course of a maximum few weeks if the Google-certified CMP is not implemented.”
Therefore, CMP compliance is crucial not only for publishers relying on ad revenue but also for those undertaking significant User Acquisition (UA) activities on Google in the EEA and UK.
This raises the possibility of delaying the CMP pop-up until just before ads are shown, to minimize disruption for users who may not encounter ads or might exit before ads are presented. However, considering UA activities, delaying CMP activation until ad display is impractical, as data for UA wouldn’t be available until the ads are activated.
Regarding King’s games, our direct observation revealed no CMP pop-up at the app’s start. However, we could initiate the CMP process from the Settings menu, both from the UK (our actual location) and several EEA countries (via VPN). The process was consistent across locations: no initial pop-up, but the CMP could be activated from the settings.
Accessing the CMP flow requires navigating through Settings >> My Account >> Privacy and Security >> Personalized Ads. It’s worth noting that King’s CMP implementation appears not to comply with TCF 2.2 standards, as it does not display the number of vendors on the CMP flow’s initial screen.
What are the CMP Opt-In Rates as of Now?
While we don’t have access to opt-in rates for the examples previously discussed, we do have insights from the games managed by our clients that we’re eager to share.
The data reveals significant variations in opt-in rates across different games, even among those with identical Consent Management Platform (CMP) setups. The rates range broadly from 64% to 90%, indicating that player engagement with consent mechanisms can vary widely.
Interestingly, we observed that the minimum and average opt-in rates are consistent across platforms. However, the highest opt-in rate recorded was on iOS, surpassing that on Android.
Moreover, when comparing the performance of various CMP solutions, it’s noteworthy that non-Google CMPs have yielded an average opt-in rate of 82.6%, which is noticeably higher than the 72.9% average rate achieved with Google’s CMP. Despite this difference, it’s important to highlight that it’s entirely possible to attain high opt-in rates using Google’s CMP as well.
What Did We Learn?
Our investigation into the adoption and implementation of Consent Management Platforms (CMP) across top-grossing games reveals a landscape of varied compliance and strategic choices.
While a significant portion of games have yet to adopt CMPs, likely due to the perceived complexity, limited geographical necessity, or the challenges posed by Google’s policy requirements, those that have implemented CMPs show a wide range of opt-in rates, suggesting that the approach to consent can significantly impact player engagement.
The data indicates that, despite the hurdles, achieving high opt-in rates is feasible with careful implementation. This underscores the importance of publishers not only adhering to regulatory requirements but also strategically optimizing their consent mechanisms to balance legal compliance with user experience and retention.

How Top 100 Grossing Games Responded to Google’s CMP Requirements was originally published in ironSource LevelUp on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How Top 100 Grossing Games Responded to Google’s CMP Requirements

<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*b3BXxAa811i7rdwQ3NSp0w.jpeg" /></figure>In today’s mobile gaming landscape, creative partnerships between games and brands are redefining player engagement. These collaborations extend beyond traditional in-game advertising, offering unique experiences that benefit players, game developers, and partnering brands alike. Here’s a look at how these innovative alliances are shaping the future of mobile gaming:<ul><li>Enhanced Player Experience: Brand collaborations introduce fresh, often limited-time content that keeps the gameplay exciting.</li><li>Increased Visibility for Brands: Partnering with popular games offers brands a captive audience and unconventional marketing avenues.</li><li>Revenue Growth for Developers: Collaborations can drive in-app purchases and attract new players, boosting revenue.</li><li>Cross-Promotional Opportunities: These partnerships open doors for cross-promotion, expanding the reach of both the game and the brand.</li></ul>Let’s dive into some recent examples that highlight the exciting potential of these brand collaborations in the world of mobile gaming.<h3>Angry Birds, Dream Blast &amp; Apple Music</h3>Rovio Entertainment has struck a harmonious partnership with Apple Music, infusing the iconic Angry Birds Dream Blast with a musical twist. Players who tackle and win five levels in the game can unlock a special reward — up to two free months of Apple Music. This collaboration celebrates a fusion of gaming and music, offering tangible benefits to players, enriching Apple’s reach, and showcasing Rovio’s innovative approach to player engagement.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*lCY5yyZovGgLgKDzXhjHNA.jpeg" /><figcaption>Rovio Instagram: https://tinyurl.com/2cx9yz5r</figcaption></figure><h3>Words With Friends 2 &amp; Wonka Movie</h3>Zynga Inc. has teamed up with Warner Bros. Pictures to integrate the whimsical universe of the upcoming holiday film, “Wonka,” into its hit game Words With Friends 2, among other titles. This collaboration brings the magic of the film — starring the charismatic Timothée Chalamet as the young Willy Wonka — straight to players’ screens. Starting December 12, gamers can immerse themselves in chocolate-themed challenges and reap sweet rewards, including a Wonka-themed frame and film content, all while building their vocabulary.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*Gzkb15P6tSANZuGq8Nlx2A.jpeg" /><figcaption>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDD9D4iJiHk</figcaption></figure><h3>Stumble Guys &amp; MrBeast</h3>In a groundbreaking collaboration, YouTube sensation MrBeast joins forces with the hit battle royale game “Stumble Guys.” players are in for a treat with new in-game content inspired by MrBeast’s imaginative stunts and challenges. The partnership introduces fresh levels, characters, and interactive elements, all mirroring MrBeast’s dynamic and playful spirit. The first of these levels will feature an in-game rendition of MrBeast’s renowned Warehouse, promising thrilling obstacle courses and larger-than-life sets. As “Stumble Guys” and MrBeast unite, players can look forward to an enriched gaming experience that blends the essence of both the creator’s content and the game’s chaotic fun.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*k4Z4yBF3QedZY2Bq4S7a3w.jpeg" /><figcaption>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6kxctugvhc</figcaption></figure><h3>Candy Crush Saga &amp; Barbie Movie</h3>In a strategic move, Candy Crush Saga and the movie studio for the new Barbie film collaborated on an in-game event, leveraging the massive daily player base of Candy Crush as a unique advertising platform. This partnership, which ran parallel to the film’s July release, introduced Barbie-themed quests starting on the 13th and 20th of July. It was a novel way for the movie studio to gain additional exposure beyond traditional advertising channels like television and billboards. Players engaged in collecting special items and earning rewards, with a buildup of activities including collecting “B” candies from July 17th. This collaboration culminated around the film’s premiere on the 21st, offering exclusive leaderboard prizes and immersing players in the excitement of Barbie’s latest cinematic adventure. The event showcased a seamless blend of mobile gaming and movie marketing, creating a buzz among the fanbase of both the game and the movie.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*epmtcTvDInf6WrQ_Jn5lqA.jpeg" /><figcaption>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4A8Bnovnws</figcaption></figure><h3>Fortnite &amp; LEGO®</h3>In a creative fusion of gaming and building, Fortnite announced a unique collaboration with LEGO® on March 12, 2023. As part of the v28.00 update, over 1,200 Fortnite outfits received an additional LEGO® Style, playable in the game’s new LEGO®-themed experiences. This includes the exciting LEGO Fortnite, a survival crafting adventure set to launch on December 7, 2023, where the worlds of Fortnite and LEGO® creatively intersect. This collaboration marks an ongoing partnership, with more detailed LEGO® Styles to be added to Fortnite in the future, offering players a continuously evolving and imaginative play experience.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*b3BXxAa811i7rdwQ3NSp0w.jpeg" /><figcaption>https://youtu.be/9CrVkySU3bU</figcaption></figure><h3>Burger Please &amp; Burger King</h3>Supercent has partnered with Burger King to offer an exciting event for “Burger Please!” players. During November and December, players in the U.S. can play to win a $5 Burger King gift card. It’s a simple two-step process: play “Burger Please!” to earn a Lucky Draw Ticket and then use the ticket for a chance to win the gift card.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*91GWmsa5WpH-hUmlbkYd-Q.jpeg" /></figure><h3>Clash of Clans/Royale &amp; Chess.com</h3>Chess invades the Clash universe in a unique collaboration with Chess.com. Clash of Clans and Clash Royale are rolling out chess-themed seasons, featuring everything from chess Hero Skins and challenges in Clash of Clans to a Chess Royale mode and exclusive cosmetics in Clash Royale. Meanwhile, Chess.com amps up the fun with Clash-inspired chess pieces and the chance to play chess with Clash characters. This crossover is a creative melding of two gaming giants, offering players from both communities a fresh and engaging experience.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*yDhkmZr2M9yjETq4-_YnuA.jpeg" /><figcaption>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYNKRjyZL4o</figcaption></figure><h3>Monopoly GO &amp; Apple</h3>Monopoly GO is rolling the dice for a good cause by partnering with Apple for World AIDS Day. In an impactful twist to the idle-game version of the classic board game, players can now purchase a limited-edition (RED) shield to protect their in-game Landmarks. Available to players who have reached Camelot, this special shield boosts gameplay and contributes to a noble cause. All proceeds* from the (RED) Shield bundle, available from December 1 to December 4, 2023, will be donated to the Global Fund to fight AIDS. This collaboration between Monopoly GO and Apple showcases how gaming can have a real-world impact, continuing Apple’s long-standing commitment to fighting AIDS, which has already seen contributions of over a quarter of a billion dollars in 17 years. This unique event gives players a chance to both enjoy their game and support an important global health initiative.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*vSZwfLX4m-QhfM6dZh7AiA.jpeg" /></figure><h4>Conclusion:</h4>As we’ve seen through these compelling examples, brand collaborations in mobile games are more than just marketing tactics; they’re a testament to the power of creative synergy. By blending the worlds of gaming with other industries, developers are not only enhancing the gaming experience but also paving the way for new forms of entertainment and engagement. These partnerships reflect a forward-thinking approach in the gaming industry, promising exciting possibilities for both players and brands alike.In a groundbreaking collaboration, YouTube sensation MrBeast joins forces with the hit battle royale game “Stumble Guys.” players are in for a treat with new in-game content inspired by MrBeast’s imaginative stunts and challenges. The partnership introduces fresh levels, characters, and interactive elements, all mirroring MrBeast’s dynamic and playful spirit. The first of these levels will feature an in-game rendition of MrBeast’s renowned Warehouse, promising thrilling obstacle courses and larger-than-life sets. As “Stumble Guys” and MrBeast unite, players can look forward to an enriched gaming experience that blends the essence of both the creator’s content and the game’s chaotic fun.<img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=b663dcfdb61a" width="1" height="1" alt=""><hr><a href="https://medium.com/ironsource-levelup/the-power-of-partnership-the-new-frontier-in-mobile-gaming-collaborations-b663dcfdb61a">The Power of Partnership: The New Frontier in Mobile Gaming Collaborations</a> was originally published in <a href="https://medium.com/ironsource-levelup">ironSource LevelUp</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In today’s mobile gaming landscape, creative partnerships between games and brands are redefining player engagement. These collaborations extend beyond traditional in-game advertising, offering unique experiences that benefit players, game developers, and partnering brands alike. Here’s a look at how these innovative alliances are shaping the future of mobile gaming:

Enhanced Player Experience: Brand collaborations introduce fresh, often limited-time content that keeps the gameplay exciting.
Increased Visibility for Brands: Partnering with popular games offers brands a captive audience and unconventional marketing avenues.
Revenue Growth for Developers: Collaborations can drive in-app purchases and attract new players, boosting revenue.
Cross-Promotional Opportunities: These partnerships open doors for cross-promotion, expanding the reach of both the game and the brand.

Let’s dive into some recent examples that highlight the exciting potential of these brand collaborations in the world of mobile gaming.
Angry Birds, Dream Blast & Apple Music
Rovio Entertainment has struck a harmonious partnership with Apple Music, infusing the iconic Angry Birds Dream Blast with a musical twist. Players who tackle and win five levels in the game can unlock a special reward — up to two free months of Apple Music. This collaboration celebrates a fusion of gaming and music, offering tangible benefits to players, enriching Apple’s reach, and showcasing Rovio’s innovative approach to player engagement.
Rovio Instagram: https://tinyurl.com/2cx9yz5r
Words With Friends 2 & Wonka Movie
Zynga Inc. has teamed up with Warner Bros. Pictures to integrate the whimsical universe of the upcoming holiday film, “Wonka,” into its hit game Words With Friends 2, among other titles. This collaboration brings the magic of the film — starring the charismatic Timothée Chalamet as the young Willy Wonka — straight to players’ screens. Starting December 12, gamers can immerse themselves in chocolate-themed challenges and reap sweet rewards, including a Wonka-themed frame and film content, all while building their vocabulary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDD9D4iJiHk
Stumble Guys & MrBeast
In a groundbreaking collaboration, YouTube sensation MrBeast joins forces with the hit battle royale game “Stumble Guys.” players are in for a treat with new in-game content inspired by MrBeast’s imaginative stunts and challenges. The partnership introduces fresh levels, characters, and interactive elements, all mirroring MrBeast’s dynamic and playful spirit. The first of these levels will feature an in-game rendition of MrBeast’s renowned Warehouse, promising thrilling obstacle courses and larger-than-life sets. As “Stumble Guys” and MrBeast unite, players can look forward to an enriched gaming experience that blends the essence of both the creator’s content and the game’s chaotic fun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6kxctugvhc
Candy Crush Saga & Barbie Movie
In a strategic move, Candy Crush Saga and the movie studio for the new Barbie film collaborated on an in-game event, leveraging the massive daily player base of Candy Crush as a unique advertising platform. This partnership, which ran parallel to the film’s July release, introduced Barbie-themed quests starting on the 13th and 20th of July. It was a novel way for the movie studio to gain additional exposure beyond traditional advertising channels like television and billboards. Players engaged in collecting special items and earning rewards, with a buildup of activities including collecting “B” candies from July 17th. This collaboration culminated around the film’s premiere on the 21st, offering exclusive leaderboard prizes and immersing players in the excitement of Barbie’s latest cinematic adventure. The event showcased a seamless blend of mobile gaming and movie marketing, creating a buzz among the fanbase of both the game and the movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4A8Bnovnws
Fortnite & LEGO®
In a creative fusion of gaming and building, Fortnite announced a unique collaboration with LEGO® on March 12, 2023. As part of the v28.00 update, over 1,200 Fortnite outfits received an additional LEGO® Style, playable in the game’s new LEGO®-themed experiences. This includes the exciting LEGO Fortnite, a survival crafting adventure set to launch on December 7, 2023, where the worlds of Fortnite and LEGO® creatively intersect. This collaboration marks an ongoing partnership, with more detailed LEGO® Styles to be added to Fortnite in the future, offering players a continuously evolving and imaginative play experience.
https://youtu.be/9CrVkySU3bU
Burger Please & Burger King
Supercent has partnered with Burger King to offer an exciting event for “Burger Please!” players. During November and December, players in the U.S. can play to win a $5 Burger King gift card. It’s a simple two-step process: play “Burger Please!” to earn a Lucky Draw Ticket and then use the ticket for a chance to win the gift card.

Clash of Clans/Royale & Chess.com
Chess invades the Clash universe in a unique collaboration with Chess.com. Clash of Clans and Clash Royale are rolling out chess-themed seasons, featuring everything from chess Hero Skins and challenges in Clash of Clans to a Chess Royale mode and exclusive cosmetics in Clash Royale. Meanwhile, Chess.com amps up the fun with Clash-inspired chess pieces and the chance to play chess with Clash characters. This crossover is a creative melding of two gaming giants, offering players from both communities a fresh and engaging experience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYNKRjyZL4o
Monopoly GO & Apple
Monopoly GO is rolling the dice for a good cause by partnering with Apple for World AIDS Day. In an impactful twist to the idle-game version of the classic board game, players can now purchase a limited-edition (RED) shield to protect their in-game Landmarks. Available to players who have reached Camelot, this special shield boosts gameplay and contributes to a noble cause. All proceeds* from the (RED) Shield bundle, available from December 1 to December 4, 2023, will be donated to the Global Fund to fight AIDS. This collaboration between Monopoly GO and Apple showcases how gaming can have a real-world impact, continuing Apple’s long-standing commitment to fighting AIDS, which has already seen contributions of over a quarter of a billion dollars in 17 years. This unique event gives players a chance to both enjoy their game and support an important global health initiative.

Conclusion:
As we’ve seen through these compelling examples, brand collaborations in mobile games are more than just marketing tactics; they’re a testament to the power of creative synergy. By blending the worlds of gaming with other industries, developers are not only enhancing the gaming experience but also paving the way for new forms of entertainment and engagement. These partnerships reflect a forward-thinking approach in the gaming industry, promising exciting possibilities for both players and brands alike.
In a groundbreaking collaboration, YouTube sensation MrBeast joins forces with the hit battle royale game “Stumble Guys.” players are in for a treat with new in-game content inspired by MrBeast’s imaginative stunts and challenges. The partnership introduces fresh levels, characters, and interactive elements, all mirroring MrBeast’s dynamic and playful spirit. The first of these levels will feature an in-game rendition of MrBeast’s renowned Warehouse, promising thrilling obstacle courses and larger-than-life sets. As “Stumble Guys” and MrBeast unite, players can look forward to an enriched gaming experience that blends the essence of both the creator’s content and the game’s chaotic fun.

The Power of Partnership: The New Frontier in Mobile Gaming Collaborations was originally published in ironSource LevelUp on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Power of Partnership: The New Frontier in Mobile Gaming Collaborations

In the first article in this series: The A/B Testing Playbook for Mobile Games, Part 1: Structuring the Experiment, we discussed the different types of A/B testing (also known as “split-testing”), how to properly structure experiments, and the most common mistakes my team has seen in our work with 90+ mobile game studios.
In this article, we’ll dig into the mechanics of the one statistical tool that we use most frequently in split-test analysis.

⚠️ Caution: Statistical significance testing can be very dangerous when used without an adequate understanding of why and how it works. As a product manager (not a statistician) by trade with over 750 split-tests under my belt, I have intimate experience with being on the wrong side of these mistakes 🤦‍♂️. So, in this article I’ll attempt to provide the necessary background on the statistics while keeping things as simple as possible for the non-statisticians out there (including yours truly).
Statistical Significance, Made Simple(ish)
When split-testing changes to our game, what we really want to know is:

Unfortunately, predicting the future is a messy business.
The best we can do is use the behavior of a small player sample, paired with statistical analysis, to place bets about the potential behavior of the broader population (i.e. all current and future players) once exposed to our change. This helps us make product choices with a higher rate of success than if we operated on intuition alone.
To gain valuable insights from split-testing, we need to set up experiments correctly, and then analyze them correctly (a nontrivial task!):
Step 1: Execute a split-test. Expose different player samples to different treatments of your game, let them play for a predefined period of time, then measure differences in average KPI (or lever metric) between player samples.
Step 2: IF we observe meaningful KPI differences between our player samples, we can use two statistical tools to predict the true KPI change for the broader population in response to our game changes:

Statistical Significance Testing, and
Probability Distributions

Key Terms to Know

Player sample: A relatively small, randomly selected group of players whose behavior we will analyze directly, typically to make predictions about the behavior of the broader population.
Broader population: An unmeasurable group that includes ALL current and future players. In inferential statistics, we analyze a small sample of players in order to make inferences or predictions about the behavior of the broader population.
Treatments: Often called “variants.” The different variations of your game that you wish to split-test. Typically you will have a control group, and one or more alternate treatments.
Control group: The set of players who experience no game changes (in other words, they experience the “normal” version of the game), and whose KPI we analyze against those of the player sample in order to detect a change.
KPI: (Key Performance Indicator) A small group of summary metrics that serve as final aggregates (typically averages) for diverse types of behavior. The canonical examples are ARPU (average revenue per user) and dX Retention (day 1, 7, 30 retention).

Know Thy Enemy: Sampling Error

Within any randomly chosen player sample, and behind any KPI expressed as an average (as most are), lurks a LOT of internal variation in player behavior.
Most confounding is the case of IAP spend in F2P games, where it is typical for a random sample of 1,000 players to contain 950 players with $0 spend, such that ARPU is shaped by a mere handful of minnows, dolphins and whales. For example:

Presented as an average, this entire sample’s ARPU (average revenue per user) is $3.70. However, this is a tremendous and uncomfortable amount of variation to bury in an average. Because two individual users’ behavior can be so wildly different ($0 vs. $2,000), the random selection of players, for our small sample, has a dramatic impact on the sample average.
If a second whale (say a $1,000 player) was randomly included in our 1000-player sample, sample ARPU would increase by a whopping 54% to $5.70, not because of any game change we made, but merely due to random sampling error.
Sampling error, for our purposes, can be defined as the difference between the KPI (e.g. ARPU) observed in a small player sample, and the true KPI for the broader population the sample is meant to represent.
Sampling error, results from the fact that, and to the extent that, a small sample of players overweights or underweights certain behaviors depending on who is or isn’t randomly included in the sample. If the broader population has 1% whales, and your sample randomly happens to contain 2%, you are likely to experience significant sampling error due to the overrepresentation of whales and their spend in the sample. This is also why increasing your sample sizes reduces the impact of sampling error. If we have a 10,000-player sample with 10 whales, then including one additional whale in the random sample is less distorting than was the case in our 1,000-player sample.
So, if we run an experiment, hoping to lift ARPU, what might give us confidence that an ARPU lift observed in the experimental treatment (relative to the control treatment) was real, and not the result of sampling error?
To confidently say that our product changes caused the observed ARPU increase, we’d want to observe a positive ARPU change much larger, and/or more broadly distributed across players in the sample, than could reasonably be expected from sampling error.
Another way of framing this: we’re looking for a signal that so greatly exceeds the level of likely noise that it convinces us that the KPI change we observed is almost certainly the direct result of our game changes.

To compare signal to noise, we’ll need to use a statistical significance test.
Welch’s T-Test 🍇
If you research statistical significance testing, you’ll find an intimidating number of specialized methods and techniques.

Luckily, for mobile game split-testing, we can nearly always rely on Welch’s T-Test, AKA the “ unequal variances t-test. “
Why? This test is appropriate for any split-test where all the following are true:

we randomly assign users to independent groups,
we’re comparing KPI, expressed as averages, between samples, and
we’re not certain that all samples have identical size and variance (defined below)

In mobile game split-testing, all three are nearly always true.
The Welch’s (unequal variances) t-test can be easily performed in Excel or Google Sheets, but let’s stay focused on comprehension for now.
“t”, the Test Statistic
Welch’s T-Test compares two data samples and generates a “t” value, often called a “test statistic”.
The “test statistic” is an abstract concept (bordering on pedantic to non-statisticians), but I find it useful to think of t as a simple ratio comparing statistical signal to noise.
For example:

Signal: difference in D30 ARPU between two player samples
Noise: “variance”: the random variation in spend values amongst the players in both samples.

t is “strength of the difference observed, net noise”.
Let’s use another example to make this more concrete.
Analysis Example with Dummy Test Data
As a hypothetical exercise, let’s use Welch’s T-Test to evaluate an ARPU data set from a hypothetical experiment.
This data reflects a typical, painfully skewy F2P ARPU distribution where only 3% of players spend, and ARPU is heavily influenced by a small number of whales.

In our example experiment data above,Treatment B had 50% higher ARPU than the control group.Let’s use Welch’s t-test to compare that positive signal to the level of noise in the data so that we can determine how excited we should be about the observed results.

First we will calculate the difference in means between the samples for the KPI we are measuring (ARPU). Then, to fill in the denominator in the equation (“noise”), we will calculate the standard error using the standard deviations from our two samples.

As we can see above, Welch’s 🍇 t-test yielded a t-value of 1.55 for our experiment.
What the Heck is a t-Value?

The t statistic has one job: to measure strength of evidence against the null hypothesis.
The null hypothesis is the possibility that, in the broader population, the true ARPU lift is zero.
In other words, the null hypothesis states that there’s “nothing to see here” because, after considering the level of ARPU variance within our samples, the observed ARPU difference between the control and variant treatments can easily be explained by sampling error.
So if the null hypothesis is true, we should not expect the 50% ARPU lift to be “reproducible” (to produce similarly exciting results) in either a repeat experiment, OR in a full rollout to the broader population.
So, how do we use the t statistic to measure the strength of our evidence against the null hypothesis?
The T-Distribution
To use the t statistic to evaluate the null hypothesis, we unfortunately must contend with yet another abstraction: a probability curve called a t distribution.

A t-distribution is a probability distribution that helps us find the probability of getting a t value (i.e signal to noise ratio) this extreme, under the null hypothesis.
Where does this curve come from? Well, actually, from a Head Brewer at Guiness who was just trying to make a better beer, but that’s a story for another day. For our purposes, just understand that, the t curve is always the same for any given sample size (e.g. 1,000 users), such that the t-distribution curve essentially functions as a lookup table for P, given t.
Nerd bonus: 🤓 The t-distribution curve is always the same shape, except that it grows narrower and taller as sample size increases. With sample sizes in the thousands of users though, the change in shape is hardly detectable.

But I digress… what’s important is that we use our t-value (1.55 in our example), and the t probability distribution curve, to look up the value of for our experiment.
P is the probability that, under the null hypothesis, sampling error could still cause us to get a t-value this high (or higher).

Wait, What the Heck is a P-Value? 😭
Right, let’s try again… is the probability of observing a KPI change as large and as distributed (across players, instead of just concentrated on 1–2 whales), as the one we observed, entirely due to sampling error.
If our observed KPI change were due to sampling error, this would be bad for us, since it would suggest that our experimental change would fail to actually lift ARPU when rolled out to the broader population.
This probability is also called the “ P value.” In our case, the t-distribution for our sample size, with a t-value of 1.55, yields a P-value of 0.12 or 12%.

Nerd bonus: 🤓The t probability distribution curve above illustrates the probabilities of getting different t values under the null hypothesis. The x-axis is t. The y-axis is the probability at each point on the curve. The total under the curve represents 100% of possible outcomes. As you can see, higher t values are less and less probable (lower y-axis values). The area under the curve in both directions, beyond our t values of t = 1.55 or t = -1.55 is the P value for our experiment = 12%.
Mega-nerd bonus: 🤓Curious why we must evaluate t = -1.55 when our t-value was positive 1.55? That’s a particularly tortuous question, but the short answer is that we’re treating this as a “two-sided” analysis, and looking for values “as extreme” as 1.55, which implies distance from 0 in both positive and negative directions.
So, What can we conclude from P = 12%?
So, what p = 12% explicitly tells us is: if our product changes have no true KPI impact, we’d still have a ~ 12% chance of observing an ARPU lift this extreme due to sampling error alone.
And, at the risk of beating a dead horse, this would suggest a 12% chance that the cause of our ARPU bump was (perhaps) catching an extra whale or two in our random sample of 1,000 players.
More explicitly, p = 12% projects a 12% chance of getting a t-value of 1.55 or higher due to sampling error. So if we ran this experiment 100 times (with player samples of similar size and variance) but we changed the experiment so that the variant and control groups had identical game treatments (i.e. no game changes), we should still expect to get a t value >= 1.55 in 12 out of those 100 experiments just by dumb luck.
Scientific convention is to look for p values of 5% or lower to declare an experimental outcome to be statistically significant. So, our 12% wouldn’t strictly qualify, and it follows that the 50% ARPU lift we observed can’t be considered statistically significant in the formal sense.
BUT, a p-value of 12% does imply that the variant is significantly more likely than not to have the higher “true” ARPU, and therefore I would caution against automatically rejecting the variant.
To make a sensible decision, we’ll want to weigh other considerations alongside the p-value to make a comprehensive decision. This is where experience both running experiments and understanding your users can be invaluable.
To thoughtfully conclude this experiment, I might consider the following:

P-value: P = 12% implies it’s more likely than not that the variant has higher true ARPU, BUT…
Technical risk: How risky is it that we screw something up (e.g. introduce bugs) when rolling this out?
Player sentiment risk: Does this change run the risk of upsetting players?
New vs. existing users: How might this change impact newer vs. elder players differently? Do we need to test both?
Probability distribution of effect size: How much lift should we expect, and does it justify the risks? (see next article!)
Assessing known priors: Have we tested similar changes in the past? How were the results? Have our competitors made this change? How confident are we that they tested it and proved it successful, and how similar are our players?
Level of trust in experiment: How confident are we in the reliability of how we structured the experiment, and collected data?

This is where making a decision about whether and how to roll out a tested change is as much art as science. The p-value is a valuable (and essential) input to this decision, but by no means should it be the only consideration. Trust me on this one, as I’ve learned this the hard way through hundreds of split-tests on live games.
What P doesn’t tell us: How large is our effect?
One limitation of the P value is that it tells us very little about what magnitude of effect sizes we can expect in the broader population.
This is limiting, because, as game developers, what we really want to know is:

Suppose that in a split-test we observe an ARPU lift of 33%, and a p-value of 5%, suggesting that this is a “statistically significant impact.”
A p-value of 5% does not suggest that we should expect a 33% ARPU lift when rolling out this treatment.
Instead, by producing a p-value of 5%, the (large) observed 33% ARPU lift helped convince us that the treatment is very likely to produce a higher ARPU in the broader population.
But how much higher? Suppose we wanted an ARPU lift of at least 10% to justify the risk of proceeding with the variant. How might we find the probability of a >= 10% true lift?
This brings us to a discussion of our second statistical tool, which we’ll discuss in the next article: effect sizes!
In the next article in this series, The A/B Testing Playbook for Mobile Games, Part 3: Probability Distribution of Effect Size, we’ll go deep on our second statistical tool for analyzing split-test results.
PS: The best way to learn our full split-testing methodology is by doing it for real, with us, on YOUR live game! Turbine’s monetization growth service focuses on rapid-split testing, and typically yields ARPU gains of 20–400%. Our approach is informed by work with over 80 F2P game teams and over 600 experiments. If interested to learn more, email me at matt@turbine.games!
If you enjoyed this article, you might also like my series on F2P IAP Merchandising best practices:

The IAP Merchandising Playbook, Part 1: Special Offers That Sizzle
The IAP Merchandising Playbook, Part 2: Visual Hierarchy
The IAP Merchandising Playbook, Part 3: MVP Store Design

Need help with your game? Email me at matt@turbine.games, or book a time on my calendar.
Originally published at https://turbine.games on December 4, 2023.

The A/B Testing Playbook For Mobile Games, Part 2: Statistical Significance Testing was originally published in ironSource LevelUp on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The A/B Testing Playbook For Mobile Games, Part 2: Statistical Significance Testing

<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*y5lDDEO8mPVAZpkcURqHgw.png" /><figcaption>10 Reasons Why eCPM is the Most Useless Metric in Ad Monetization</figcaption></figure>The eCPM is widely believed to be the <a href="https://www.gamebizconsulting.com/ad-monetization">key metric in Ad Monetization</a>. But is this true? Most Ad Monetization managers and senior executives certainly consider it to be.Drawing from my seven-year journey in the mobile, free-to-play video game industry, I’ve regularly encountered a barrage of questions from ad monetization peers, leadership teams, and clients, all revolving around eCPM.Typical things I’ve heard include: “This game has an eCPM of $20, while ours is only $12. What are we doing wrong?” and “Game 1 has a $10 eCPM, but Game 2 is at $6. Why aren’t we aiming to balance these figures?”In this article, I will demonstrate why eCPM, particularly when considered outside of the appropriate context, can be the most misleading and consequently the least useful metric in ad monetization.If you’re interested in understanding the real essence of eCPM, how it functions, and the top ten considerations before engaging in discussions about eCPM with your colleagues or a boss, then keep reading.<h3>What is the eCPM?</h3>eCPM, an acronym for Effective Cost Per Mille, serves as a key metric indicating the revenue generated per thousand ad impressions displayed to players. It essentially averages out the income across countless ads, since their value primarily stems from player actions like installations and other interactions, rather than just viewing the ads.In the upcoming sections, we’ll explore various fundamental elements that influence eCPM. These factors are crucial for accurately comparing eCPM values between different contexts. As we progress, we’ll also delve into more complex factors that play a role in understanding and optimizing eCPM.<h3>Basic Factors</h3>1. Ad FormatThe type of ad format is a crucial factor, and for good reason. Different formats inherently yield varying eCPMs, making it unreasonable to compare eCPMs without considering the same ad format.It’s a known fact that banner ads typically have the lowest eCPM, while rewarded video ads and interstitial ads command much higher rates. The reason behind this discrepancy is rooted in the distinct characteristics of these ads.Rewarded videos and interstitials, for instance, are more engaging due to their full-screen visibility and interactive elements like video or playable features. They also usually include a prominent call-to-action, significantly enhancing player engagement and increasing the likelihood of successful conversions.The specific combination and use of ad formats in a game greatly influence its overall eCPM. Therefore, comparing eCPMs between different games requires comparing the data for the same ad format.2. CountryThe country factor is straightforward. Irrespective of the ad format, eCPM varies significantly based on the geographical location. For instance, eCPM is generally higher in countries like the United States, Germany, and Japan compared to countries such as India, Egypt, Brazil, and Serbia.This variation is primarily due to economic factors. Players from the first set of countries typically have greater purchasing power, making them more valuable to advertisers on average. Hence, when comparing eCPMs between different games, a fair comparison can only be made if the games are being played in the same country.3. PlatformThe platform factor used to be quite straightforward. A few years ago, it was a widely accepted fact that iOS users, on average, generated higher eCPMs compared to Android users. This was attributed to the higher purchasing power of iPhone users, who typically spend more on their devices, making them more attractive to advertisers due to their increased likelihood of spending.However, the landscape has shifted. With Apple’s <a href="https://www.gamebizconsulting.com/blog/ad-monetization-with-and-without-idfa">effective deprecation of IDFA</a> (Identifier for Advertisers), advertising campaigns targeting iOS users have become less effective, leading to lower conversion rates. As a result, it’s now not uncommon to see higher eCPMs on Android platforms. Therefore, when comparing eCPMs between different games, it’s essential to ensure that the comparison is being made within the same platform to ensure accuracy.4. ScaleScale is a straightforward concept, easily understood even by those who aren’t deeply involved in mobile advertising, including those who focus more on in-app purchases.Imagine a familiar scenario: a game launches, player acquisition begins, and the initial few thousand installs roll in. Retention rates are high, Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) looks promising, and Cost Per Install (CPI) is manageable. It seems like the game might be a hit. But as scaling up occurs, challenges emerge. CPIs increase, retention and ARPU falter, leading to doubts about the game’s profitability and success.The same principle applies to ad monetization. Optimizing eCPM for a small number of impressions is a different ball game compared to dealing with hundreds of millions daily. Factors such as the diversity of ads displayed and the likelihood of installs become more prominent. Therefore, when comparing eCPMs between games, a meaningful analysis requires looking at games with a similar scale of operations.5. Mediation SetupConsider two contrasting examples: one game uses a single ad network for its ads, while another employs a complex mediation setup with multiple ad networks, including both bidding and non-bidding systems. This setup features extensive waterfalls, encompassing 20 to 60 instances with varied eCPM floor prices, bid floors, segments, and tiers. In the more complex setup, there’s a higher level of demand and competition among the ad networks.This competition is key to driving up eCPM. Effective mediation setup and continuous optimization play crucial roles in maximizing ad ARPDAU by boosting eCPM, and many developers are actively engaged in this process. It’s certainly wise to constantly refine mediation setups, conduct A/B tests, and pursue other methods for enhancing the setup. However, it’s also important to recognize other influencing factors.Conversations in the industry often center around eCPM, focusing on comparing and optimizing mediation strategies to improve it. Yet, many other factors are either overlooked or ignored, leading to potentially incorrect conclusions. For example, if one game’s eCPM is significantly lower than another’s, it doesn’t necessarily indicate a flaw in their approach. The disparity could be attributed to different factors, not just the mediation setup.The next set of factors we’ll discuss is less commonly addressed, particularly in conversations with C-level executives who usually prefer brief, straightforward answers. Even among experts, these aspects aren’t typically the focus of casual eCPM discussions.<h3>Advanced Factors</h3>6. Player Age (In the Game)This aspect is particularly fascinating. From the data I’ve observed, players who have spent more time in a game typically exhibit lower eCPM compared to newer players. Ironically, these more seasoned players often represent the most valuable segment in terms of in-app purchases (IAP) due to their superior retention. They’re likely to engage in longer and more frequent gaming sessions and are more inclined to make purchases. So why is their eCPM lower? I have a few theories.Firstly, these players have been in the game longer than newcomers. If they frequently view ads, they’ve likely seen many of the same ads repeatedly. This repetition can lead to diminishing interest in the ads. The likelihood of a player installing an app doesn’t significantly increase after seeing the same ad numerous times.Another possibility is that these committed players are more focused on the game itself than on the ads. They might view ads primarily to earn in-game rewards, especially in the case of rewarded video ads or unavoidable interstitials. Regardless of the ad’s content, it might not capture their attention enough to drive an installation.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/867/0*oG-_eO9gMV3YI21s" /><figcaption>eCPM by Player Age</figcaption></figure>This kind of data isn’t typically accessible to ad mediation providers unless developers include information about player age in their ad requests. Hence, it’s not commonly available for analysis. Here’s an illustrative example from one game, showing eCPM trends based on player age in October 2023. The data, specific to rewarded video ads on Android in the United States, is relative to the eCPM of new players (Day 0 — Day 1), set as 100%. The findings are:<ul><li>Players around six months into the game generate only 38% of the eCPM of new players, more than 2.5 times lower.</li><li>For players between Day 15 and Day 30, eCPM is already halved.</li><li>The most significant drop occurs between the first two age groups. After this, declines between neighboring groups are less steep.</li></ul>It’s crucial to note that this doesn’t imply these players are less valuable for ad monetization. Their deep engagement with the game likely translates to higher ad engagement and more ad views per daily active user (DAU). This increased impressions/DAU ratio could offset the lower eCPM, provided the game’s ad system design permits.This leads to a conclusion: comparing eCPMs between different games isn’t straightforward. A game with 50% of its players in the D0 — D3 range and few beyond D30+ isn’t directly comparable to another with 10% in the D0 — D30 range and 40% beyond D60+. Ideally, eCPM comparisons should consider similar player ages.7. Usage RateThe usage rate is a vital yet often overlooked metric in eCPM discussions. Available on mediation dashboards, it indicates the average number of ads shown to a player who has watched at least one ad (also known as Impressions/Daily Engaged User or Impressions/DEU, with ‘engaged user’ meaning someone who has watched at least one ad). The significance of this metric lies in eCPM decay. Essentially, each additional ad shown to a player generally decreases the likelihood of them installing an app. Consequently, the eCPM for the first ad a player sees in a day is typically higher than for their tenth ad.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/0*7OJhNCmCg2Q7nnzF" /><figcaption>Android</figcaption></figure><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/0*RhjzwU1wcKjKYLKV" /><figcaption>iOS</figcaption></figure>Here’s some supporting data from October 2023, covering both Android and iOS platforms, and focusing on rewarded video and interstitial ads in the United States:<ul><li>In every game examined, each successive ad impression is less valuable than the one before it. This pattern holds across Android and iOS and for both rewarded and interstitial ads.</li><li>Android appears to exhibit a lesser degree of eCPM decay compared to iOS.</li><li>Interestingly, interstitial ads show much greater resistance to eCPM decay than other formats. The discrepancy here is quite significant, and I’m curious about any theories explaining this.</li><li>The rate of eCPM decay from one impression to the next does not vary significantly. The decline is consistent, whether comparing the first and second impressions or the fourth and fifth.</li></ul>When assessing and comparing eCPMs between different games, it’s ideal to consider games with similar usage rates. This ensures a more accurate comparison, accounting for the impact of ad frequency on eCPM.8. Blocking StrategyAd Monetization Managers have various tools at their disposal to control which ads appear in their games. While it’s not feasible to manage every single ad, certain measures allow for a degree of control. This can range from broad category blocks (like politics or religion) to more specific genre blocks (such as puzzle or casino games), or even down to targeting a single troublesome app or a specific campaign.In general, the more restrictive a developer’s ad-blocking settings are, the fewer advertisers there are vying for each ad impression. This reduced competition can lead to potentially lower eCPM. However, the impact varies depending on the scope of the blocking. There’s a difference between blocking a few main competitors and sensitive categories, and completely barring several genres known for being significant advertisers.Therefore, when comparing eCPMs between different games, it’s essential to consider the extent and nature of each game’s ad-blocking strategy. This understanding can provide a clearer perspective on why certain games might have different eCPM levels.9. Player Source (Your User Acquisition)The source of a game’s players, particularly through User Acquisition (UA) campaigns, significantly impacts various performance metrics, including eCPM. A relatable scenario is when a game gets featured prominently on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, like in a hero banner. Such featuring often leads to a surge in organic traffic but can simultaneously result in decreased retention, monetization metrics, and other key performance indicators (KPIs). The reason is that the game becomes more visible and attracts a broader, more diverse audience who may not be the ideal target for the game’s specific experience. They might engage briefly before moving on.This principle extends to ad monetization metrics as well. The type of players your game attracts at any given moment — whether more organic or paid and within paid, the nature of the campaign — can influence eCPM, even for players on the same platform and country. For instance, inexpensive installs from low-CPI campaigns typically yield lower eCPM. Conversely, players acquired from campaigns focused on more challenging in-game events (like purchases or retention) cost more in UA but tend to generate higher eCPM.Therefore, two identical games on the same platform and country, using the same ad format and mediation setup, could have vastly different eCPM figures based on the source and quality of their players. When comparing eCPMs between different games, it’s crucial to consider the origins of the players and the types of UA campaigns currently in operation.10. Advertiser Side (Other Games’ User Acquisition)Beyond <a href="https://www.gamebizconsulting.com/user-acquisition-gamebiz-consulting">your user acquisition efforts</a>, which influence eCPM through player quality, the demand side plays a significant role in shaping eCPMs. Changes in advertisers’ budgets, whether an increase, decrease, or total withdrawal, and potential blocking of your game can greatly impact eCPM. For Ad Monetization Managers, understanding the demand side can often feel like grappling with an elusive aspect of eCPM.By now, it should be clear that even with consistency in ad format, country, platform, scale, mediation setup, player age, usage rate, blocking strategy, and player source, there can still be an unknown factor that renders eCPM comparisons between different games invalid.To illustrate, let’s consider data from five games in the first half of November 2023. Here’s the catch: all these games are from the same genre, and the data is exclusively for rewarded video ads in the United States on Android, with similar scales, the same mediation provider and ad networks, and identical optimization strategies. Player age isn’t a variable here, and usage rates are excluded as we’re only considering the first impression for a user on a specific day. No ads are blocked except for sensitive categories, and all traffic is organic. Yet, the lowest eCPM is still half of the highest one. This makes for a complex explanation, doesn’t it?<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/450/0*jDvN1_fCpwVT_yMz" /><figcaption>Comparing eCPM of different games, even if all the factors are minded of</figcaption></figure>As a general guideline, exercise extreme caution when comparing eCPMs between different games. Those quarterly industry reports on eCPM values are interesting, but they should be approached skeptically (think a bag of salt, not just a grain!). A higher eCPM in one game doesn’t necessarily mean superior mediation optimization.Instead of fixating on absolute numbers, it’s more productive to discuss the strategies employed for optimizing mediation and other elements of the ad monetization setup. This approach focuses on maximizing the value ads bring to our business, rather than simply comparing eCPMs.<img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=8eda3a16fda3" width="1" height="1" alt=""><hr><a href="https://medium.com/ironsource-levelup/10-reasons-why-ecpm-is-the-most-useless-metric-in-ad-monetization-8eda3a16fda3">10 Reasons Why eCPM is The Most Useless Metric in Ad Monetization</a> was originally published in <a href="https://medium.com/ironsource-levelup">ironSource LevelUp</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

10 Reasons Why eCPM is the Most Useless Metric in Ad Monetization
The eCPM is widely believed to be the key metric in Ad Monetization. But is this true? Most Ad Monetization managers and senior executives certainly consider it to be.
Drawing from my seven-year journey in the mobile, free-to-play video game industry, I’ve regularly encountered a barrage of questions from ad monetization peers, leadership teams, and clients, all revolving around eCPM.
Typical things I’ve heard include: “This game has an eCPM of $20, while ours is only $12. What are we doing wrong?” and “Game 1 has a $10 eCPM, but Game 2 is at $6. Why aren’t we aiming to balance these figures?”
In this article, I will demonstrate why eCPM, particularly when considered outside of the appropriate context, can be the most misleading and consequently the least useful metric in ad monetization.
If you’re interested in understanding the real essence of eCPM, how it functions, and the top ten considerations before engaging in discussions about eCPM with your colleagues or a boss, then keep reading.
What is the eCPM?
eCPM, an acronym for Effective Cost Per Mille, serves as a key metric indicating the revenue generated per thousand ad impressions displayed to players. It essentially averages out the income across countless ads, since their value primarily stems from player actions like installations and other interactions, rather than just viewing the ads.
In the upcoming sections, we’ll explore various fundamental elements that influence eCPM. These factors are crucial for accurately comparing eCPM values between different contexts. As we progress, we’ll also delve into more complex factors that play a role in understanding and optimizing eCPM.
Basic Factors
1. Ad Format
The type of ad format is a crucial factor, and for good reason. Different formats inherently yield varying eCPMs, making it unreasonable to compare eCPMs without considering the same ad format.
It’s a known fact that banner ads typically have the lowest eCPM, while rewarded video ads and interstitial ads command much higher rates. The reason behind this discrepancy is rooted in the distinct characteristics of these ads.
Rewarded videos and interstitials, for instance, are more engaging due to their full-screen visibility and interactive elements like video or playable features. They also usually include a prominent call-to-action, significantly enhancing player engagement and increasing the likelihood of successful conversions.
The specific combination and use of ad formats in a game greatly influence its overall eCPM. Therefore, comparing eCPMs between different games requires comparing the data for the same ad format.
2. Country
The country factor is straightforward. Irrespective of the ad format, eCPM varies significantly based on the geographical location. For instance, eCPM is generally higher in countries like the United States, Germany, and Japan compared to countries such as India, Egypt, Brazil, and Serbia.
This variation is primarily due to economic factors. Players from the first set of countries typically have greater purchasing power, making them more valuable to advertisers on average. Hence, when comparing eCPMs between different games, a fair comparison can only be made if the games are being played in the same country.
3. Platform
The platform factor used to be quite straightforward. A few years ago, it was a widely accepted fact that iOS users, on average, generated higher eCPMs compared to Android users. This was attributed to the higher purchasing power of iPhone users, who typically spend more on their devices, making them more attractive to advertisers due to their increased likelihood of spending.
However, the landscape has shifted. With Apple’s effective deprecation of IDFA (Identifier for Advertisers), advertising campaigns targeting iOS users have become less effective, leading to lower conversion rates. As a result, it’s now not uncommon to see higher eCPMs on Android platforms. Therefore, when comparing eCPMs between different games, it’s essential to ensure that the comparison is being made within the same platform to ensure accuracy.
4. Scale
Scale is a straightforward concept, easily understood even by those who aren’t deeply involved in mobile advertising, including those who focus more on in-app purchases.
Imagine a familiar scenario: a game launches, player acquisition begins, and the initial few thousand installs roll in. Retention rates are high, Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) looks promising, and Cost Per Install (CPI) is manageable. It seems like the game might be a hit. But as scaling up occurs, challenges emerge. CPIs increase, retention and ARPU falter, leading to doubts about the game’s profitability and success.
The same principle applies to ad monetization. Optimizing eCPM for a small number of impressions is a different ball game compared to dealing with hundreds of millions daily. Factors such as the diversity of ads displayed and the likelihood of installs become more prominent. Therefore, when comparing eCPMs between games, a meaningful analysis requires looking at games with a similar scale of operations.
5. Mediation Setup
Consider two contrasting examples: one game uses a single ad network for its ads, while another employs a complex mediation setup with multiple ad networks, including both bidding and non-bidding systems. This setup features extensive waterfalls, encompassing 20 to 60 instances with varied eCPM floor prices, bid floors, segments, and tiers. In the more complex setup, there’s a higher level of demand and competition among the ad networks.
This competition is key to driving up eCPM. Effective mediation setup and continuous optimization play crucial roles in maximizing ad ARPDAU by boosting eCPM, and many developers are actively engaged in this process. It’s certainly wise to constantly refine mediation setups, conduct A/B tests, and pursue other methods for enhancing the setup. However, it’s also important to recognize other influencing factors.
Conversations in the industry often center around eCPM, focusing on comparing and optimizing mediation strategies to improve it. Yet, many other factors are either overlooked or ignored, leading to potentially incorrect conclusions. For example, if one game’s eCPM is significantly lower than another’s, it doesn’t necessarily indicate a flaw in their approach. The disparity could be attributed to different factors, not just the mediation setup.
The next set of factors we’ll discuss is less commonly addressed, particularly in conversations with C-level executives who usually prefer brief, straightforward answers. Even among experts, these aspects aren’t typically the focus of casual eCPM discussions.
Advanced Factors
6. Player Age (In the Game)
This aspect is particularly fascinating. From the data I’ve observed, players who have spent more time in a game typically exhibit lower eCPM compared to newer players. Ironically, these more seasoned players often represent the most valuable segment in terms of in-app purchases (IAP) due to their superior retention. They’re likely to engage in longer and more frequent gaming sessions and are more inclined to make purchases. So why is their eCPM lower? I have a few theories.
Firstly, these players have been in the game longer than newcomers. If they frequently view ads, they’ve likely seen many of the same ads repeatedly. This repetition can lead to diminishing interest in the ads. The likelihood of a player installing an app doesn’t significantly increase after seeing the same ad numerous times.
Another possibility is that these committed players are more focused on the game itself than on the ads. They might view ads primarily to earn in-game rewards, especially in the case of rewarded video ads or unavoidable interstitials. Regardless of the ad’s content, it might not capture their attention enough to drive an installation.
eCPM by Player Age
This kind of data isn’t typically accessible to ad mediation providers unless developers include information about player age in their ad requests. Hence, it’s not commonly available for analysis. Here’s an illustrative example from one game, showing eCPM trends based on player age in October 2023. The data, specific to rewarded video ads on Android in the United States, is relative to the eCPM of new players (Day 0 — Day 1), set as 100%. The findings are:

Players around six months into the game generate only 38% of the eCPM of new players, more than 2.5 times lower.
For players between Day 15 and Day 30, eCPM is already halved.
The most significant drop occurs between the first two age groups. After this, declines between neighboring groups are less steep.

It’s crucial to note that this doesn’t imply these players are less valuable for ad monetization. Their deep engagement with the game likely translates to higher ad engagement and more ad views per daily active user (DAU). This increased impressions/DAU ratio could offset the lower eCPM, provided the game’s ad system design permits.
This leads to a conclusion: comparing eCPMs between different games isn’t straightforward. A game with 50% of its players in the D0 — D3 range and few beyond D30+ isn’t directly comparable to another with 10% in the D0 — D30 range and 40% beyond D60+. Ideally, eCPM comparisons should consider similar player ages.
7. Usage Rate
The usage rate is a vital yet often overlooked metric in eCPM discussions. Available on mediation dashboards, it indicates the average number of ads shown to a player who has watched at least one ad (also known as Impressions/Daily Engaged User or Impressions/DEU, with ‘engaged user’ meaning someone who has watched at least one ad). The significance of this metric lies in eCPM decay. Essentially, each additional ad shown to a player generally decreases the likelihood of them installing an app. Consequently, the eCPM for the first ad a player sees in a day is typically higher than for their tenth ad.
AndroidiOS
Here’s some supporting data from October 2023, covering both Android and iOS platforms, and focusing on rewarded video and interstitial ads in the United States:

In every game examined, each successive ad impression is less valuable than the one before it. This pattern holds across Android and iOS and for both rewarded and interstitial ads.
Android appears to exhibit a lesser degree of eCPM decay compared to iOS.
Interestingly, interstitial ads show much greater resistance to eCPM decay than other formats. The discrepancy here is quite significant, and I’m curious about any theories explaining this.
The rate of eCPM decay from one impression to the next does not vary significantly. The decline is consistent, whether comparing the first and second impressions or the fourth and fifth.

When assessing and comparing eCPMs between different games, it’s ideal to consider games with similar usage rates. This ensures a more accurate comparison, accounting for the impact of ad frequency on eCPM.
8. Blocking Strategy
Ad Monetization Managers have various tools at their disposal to control which ads appear in their games. While it’s not feasible to manage every single ad, certain measures allow for a degree of control. This can range from broad category blocks (like politics or religion) to more specific genre blocks (such as puzzle or casino games), or even down to targeting a single troublesome app or a specific campaign.
In general, the more restrictive a developer’s ad-blocking settings are, the fewer advertisers there are vying for each ad impression. This reduced competition can lead to potentially lower eCPM. However, the impact varies depending on the scope of the blocking. There’s a difference between blocking a few main competitors and sensitive categories, and completely barring several genres known for being significant advertisers.
Therefore, when comparing eCPMs between different games, it’s essential to consider the extent and nature of each game’s ad-blocking strategy. This understanding can provide a clearer perspective on why certain games might have different eCPM levels.
9. Player Source (Your User Acquisition)
The source of a game’s players, particularly through User Acquisition (UA) campaigns, significantly impacts various performance metrics, including eCPM. A relatable scenario is when a game gets featured prominently on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, like in a hero banner. Such featuring often leads to a surge in organic traffic but can simultaneously result in decreased retention, monetization metrics, and other key performance indicators (KPIs). The reason is that the game becomes more visible and attracts a broader, more diverse audience who may not be the ideal target for the game’s specific experience. They might engage briefly before moving on.
This principle extends to ad monetization metrics as well. The type of players your game attracts at any given moment — whether more organic or paid and within paid, the nature of the campaign — can influence eCPM, even for players on the same platform and country. For instance, inexpensive installs from low-CPI campaigns typically yield lower eCPM. Conversely, players acquired from campaigns focused on more challenging in-game events (like purchases or retention) cost more in UA but tend to generate higher eCPM.
Therefore, two identical games on the same platform and country, using the same ad format and mediation setup, could have vastly different eCPM figures based on the source and quality of their players. When comparing eCPMs between different games, it’s crucial to consider the origins of the players and the types of UA campaigns currently in operation.
10. Advertiser Side (Other Games’ User Acquisition)
Beyond your user acquisition efforts, which influence eCPM through player quality, the demand side plays a significant role in shaping eCPMs. Changes in advertisers’ budgets, whether an increase, decrease, or total withdrawal, and potential blocking of your game can greatly impact eCPM. For Ad Monetization Managers, understanding the demand side can often feel like grappling with an elusive aspect of eCPM.
By now, it should be clear that even with consistency in ad format, country, platform, scale, mediation setup, player age, usage rate, blocking strategy, and player source, there can still be an unknown factor that renders eCPM comparisons between different games invalid.
To illustrate, let’s consider data from five games in the first half of November 2023. Here’s the catch: all these games are from the same genre, and the data is exclusively for rewarded video ads in the United States on Android, with similar scales, the same mediation provider and ad networks, and identical optimization strategies. Player age isn’t a variable here, and usage rates are excluded as we’re only considering the first impression for a user on a specific day. No ads are blocked except for sensitive categories, and all traffic is organic. Yet, the lowest eCPM is still half of the highest one. This makes for a complex explanation, doesn’t it?
Comparing eCPM of different games, even if all the factors are minded of
As a general guideline, exercise extreme caution when comparing eCPMs between different games. Those quarterly industry reports on eCPM values are interesting, but they should be approached skeptically (think a bag of salt, not just a grain!). A higher eCPM in one game doesn’t necessarily mean superior mediation optimization.
Instead of fixating on absolute numbers, it’s more productive to discuss the strategies employed for optimizing mediation and other elements of the ad monetization setup. This approach focuses on maximizing the value ads bring to our business, rather than simply comparing eCPMs.

10 Reasons Why eCPM is The Most Useless Metric in Ad Monetization was originally published in ironSource LevelUp on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

10 Reasons Why eCPM is The Most Useless Metric in Ad Monetization

<h3>Mastering Mobile Ads for Gaming: Advanced Version Testing with Real Examples — Series Part 2</h3><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*ZECHi0ghFm1fcPSeG161fw.jpeg" /></figure>In the evolving landscape of mobile gaming, success often hinges on the ability to captivate potential players through dynamic and strategic advertising. While concept testing plants the seed, it is version testing that nurtures the growth of your marketing campaigns. The nuances of this process are where the magic happens – through meticulous A/B testing and iteration of ad creatives, we can significantly enhance user engagement. Armed with insights from the industry&#39;s forefront, this article unveils 12 real-world examples that demonstrate how version testing can elevate your advertising efforts and captivate a diverse audience.<h4>1. Level Difficulty:</h4>Test levels that are easy, medium, hard, and super hard. Some people like a challenge, and some don&#39;t. Testing will show you what ad gets more players.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*FaCqOSngUT1TpIhcFZcNUg.jpeg" /></figure><h4>2. Level Variety:</h4>Testing different levels in your ads helps find out which ones people find most interesting. Some levels might look cooler or more fun, so it’s good to try different ones to see which gets more players.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*TI_KYsgPjFGmGR0jF3IAXQ.jpeg" /></figure><h4>3. Characters:</h4>Use different characters in your ads. Some characters, like a cool knight or a cute goblin, might get more attention. Test to see which characters make people want to engage more with your ad.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*Gewet-HpbT6qYCiVVYzc9A.jpeg" /></figure><h4>4. Enemies vs. Boss:</h4>Show off the big bosses and the smaller enemies in separate ads. A giant dragon might be more exciting than a bunch of small monsters, but you won’t know until you test both.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*KD8eY--lVURXxUdP8K5W6A.jpeg" /></figure><h4>5. Solo vs. PvP Gameplay:</h4>Try showing someone playing alone and someone playing against others. If your game is solo, you can still make it look like there’s a competition with scores or flags, and see if that gets more clicks.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*dqv7nT176sJetcvLc_djYA.jpeg" /></figure><h4>6. Holiday-Themed Ads:</h4>Ads with holiday themes, like Christmas or Halloween, often get more love. They feel special, and people enjoy the festive touch, and more importantly they drive better performance.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*yDUCGmU2bIVn7zKy_asEVw.jpeg" /></figure><h4>7. 2D vs. 3D Ads:</h4>When you turn 2D game scenes into 3D ads, they look cool and grab attention. Even if the game is simple, a 3D ad can make it feel epic and get people excited to play your game potentially.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*YQZTFo8S6RoMHSynh6flDg.jpeg" /></figure><h4>8. Camera Angle:</h4>Switching the camera angle in your ads can give a whole new look to your game. This small change might make the game more interesting to potential players.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*7RMDkIOhZA1NoZmUs5Omww.jpeg" /></figure><h4>9. Gameplay Background vs. Real Background:</h4>Using real-life backgrounds, like a city or nature scene, might make the ad more interesting. It’s a new trend that seems to work, so give it a try.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*TyuIFtTrh7ko0OUk_QALcw.jpeg" /></figure><h4>10. Color Palette:</h4>Changing colors in your ad can attract different people. For example, using more pinks might get more women interested. Playing with colors helps to find out what works best.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*VHjCPu5bDGH0d0LXu1I4zQ.jpeg" /></figure><h4>11. Hook:</h4>The first 3 seconds of your ad really matter. Try different ways to catch attention, like a surprising visual or a funny animation, and see what works. The sky is the limit.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*Ucl8dAljOpTZpMOZ5tAzrA.jpeg" /></figure><h4>12. Authentic vs. Unauthentic:</h4>Some ads show things not in the game to get more clicks. You decide how true to the game you want to be. You could show mostly real gameplay with a few added extras, or something totally different that still gets people interested.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*TINHpmvPO2vfCg31mqrKMg.jpeg" /></figure><h3>Conclusion:</h3>These simple changes in your ads can make a big difference. Test these ideas, and see which ones make more people want to play your game. It’s all about finding what catches their eye and makes them click.<img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=9fa6a8ee7ee6" width="1" height="1" alt=""><hr><a href="https://medium.com/ironsource-levelup/mastering-mobile-ads-for-gaming-advanced-version-testing-with-real-examples-series-part-2-9fa6a8ee7ee6">Mastering Mobile Ads for Gaming: Advanced Version Testing with Real Examples — Series Part 2</a> was originally published in <a href="https://medium.com/ironsource-levelup">ironSource LevelUp</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Mastering Mobile Ads for Gaming: Advanced Version Testing with Real Examples — Series Part 2

In the evolving landscape of mobile gaming, success often hinges on the ability to captivate potential players through dynamic and strategic advertising. While concept testing plants the seed, it is version testing that nurtures the growth of your marketing campaigns. The nuances of this process are where the magic happens – through meticulous A/B testing and iteration of ad creatives, we can significantly enhance user engagement. Armed with insights from the industry's forefront, this article unveils 12 real-world examples that demonstrate how version testing can elevate your advertising efforts and captivate a diverse audience.
1. Level Difficulty:
Test levels that are easy, medium, hard, and super hard. Some people like a challenge, and some don't. Testing will show you what ad gets more players.

2. Level Variety:
Testing different levels in your ads helps find out which ones people find most interesting. Some levels might look cooler or more fun, so it’s good to try different ones to see which gets more players.

3. Characters:
Use different characters in your ads. Some characters, like a cool knight or a cute goblin, might get more attention. Test to see which characters make people want to engage more with your ad.

4. Enemies vs. Boss:
Show off the big bosses and the smaller enemies in separate ads. A giant dragon might be more exciting than a bunch of small monsters, but you won’t know until you test both.

5. Solo vs. PvP Gameplay:
Try showing someone playing alone and someone playing against others. If your game is solo, you can still make it look like there’s a competition with scores or flags, and see if that gets more clicks.

6. Holiday-Themed Ads:
Ads with holiday themes, like Christmas or Halloween, often get more love. They feel special, and people enjoy the festive touch, and more importantly they drive better performance.

7. 2D vs. 3D Ads:
When you turn 2D game scenes into 3D ads, they look cool and grab attention. Even if the game is simple, a 3D ad can make it feel epic and get people excited to play your game potentially.

8. Camera Angle:
Switching the camera angle in your ads can give a whole new look to your game. This small change might make the game more interesting to potential players.

9. Gameplay Background vs. Real Background:
Using real-life backgrounds, like a city or nature scene, might make the ad more interesting. It’s a new trend that seems to work, so give it a try.

10. Color Palette:
Changing colors in your ad can attract different people. For example, using more pinks might get more women interested. Playing with colors helps to find out what works best.

11. Hook:
The first 3 seconds of your ad really matter. Try different ways to catch attention, like a surprising visual or a funny animation, and see what works. The sky is the limit.

12. Authentic vs. Unauthentic:
Some ads show things not in the game to get more clicks. You decide how true to the game you want to be. You could show mostly real gameplay with a few added extras, or something totally different that still gets people interested.

Conclusion:
These simple changes in your ads can make a big difference. Test these ideas, and see which ones make more people want to play your game. It’s all about finding what catches their eye and makes them click.

Mastering Mobile Ads for Gaming: Advanced Version Testing with Real Examples — Series Part 2 was originally published in ironSource LevelUp on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Mastering Mobile Ads for Gaming: Advanced Version Testing with Real Examples — Series Part 2

<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/575/1*ja0xChsgWlioejCrbqfHlw.png" /><figcaption>source image by <a href="https://twitter.com/DotPone">Rúben</a></figcaption></figure>In every memorable video game, there’s a foundational element that keeps players hooked: the gameplay loop. This concept is the lifeblood of any game. It’s the rhythm, the pulse, the repeated sequence of actions that players immerse themselves in. But what makes some gameplay loops resonate deeply with players while others fade into obscurity? Let’s embark on an in-depth exploration of gameplay loops.What is a Gameplay Loop?Every game, from the simplest mobile app to the most complex AAA title, revolves around a gameplay loop. It’s the set of actions that players undertake, over and over, as they navigate the game world.At the most foundational level, we have the Core Loops. These represent the immediate, moment-to-moment actions players engage in. For instance, in a game like Minecraft, the core loop involves mining resources, crafting tools, and building structures. But within this loop, there’s a world of depth. Players decide where to mine, what tools to craft, and what structures to build. Each decision feeds back into the loop, creating a dynamic, ever-evolving gameplay experience.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*PmbY_Luqngk6Kk7glqlEqg.jpeg" /></figure>The Delicate Dance of Challenge and RewardAny effective gameplay loop lies in the balance between challenge and reward. Games that master this balance offer players a sense of progression and achievement.Building upon the Core Loops are the Secondary Loops. These loops span a longer duration and often involve a series of core loops leading to a more significant achievement or progression in the game. Consider the Monster Hunter series. Players take on the role of hunters tracking down and battling colossal beasts. Each hunt is a challenge, requiring preparation, strategy, and skill. But with each successful hunt, players are rewarded with materials to craft better gear, feeding back into the loop and preparing them for even tougher challenges.The Antidote to MonotonyWhile repetition is inherent to gameplay loops, it’s the introduction of variety that keeps them fresh and engaging.The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a masterclass in this. While the core loop involves questing, combat, and exploration, the game continually introduces new storylines, characters, and challenges. One moment, players might be battling a ghostly wraith; the next, they’re embroiled in political intrigue or helping a mischievous god. This constant influx of new content ensures the gameplay loop never grows stale.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/600/1*jFraHB7GMxT4-j-w4tWv-A.jpeg" /></figure>The Power of Anticipation and AspirationA subtle yet powerful aspect of gameplay loops is the sense of anticipation they can instill. Games that tease future content or challenges create a magnetic pull, drawing players back time and again. The Metroid series is iconic in this regard. Players often encounter areas or challenges they can’t immediately overcome. But the promise of future abilities, the tantalizing tease of unexplored content, creates a loop of exploration, anticipation, and reward.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*E_ZI5Y6DmSUAIxT5TKTI7Q.png" /></figure>Making the Loop PersonalOne of the most profound ways to enhance a gameplay loop is to offer players a sense of agency and personalization. Dragon Age: Inquisition exemplifies this. Players not only shape their character’s appearance and abilities but also make pivotal decisions that impact the game world. Every choice, from political alliances to romantic entanglements, feeds into the gameplay loop, making each playthrough a deeply personal journey.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*ScLjo1L-n4nEjii9JBuZeQ.jpeg" /></figure>The Broader Picture: Meta Loops and Player EngagementBeyond the immediate gameplay loop lies the meta loop. This encompasses the broader goals and progressions players aspire to over longer play sessions or multiple playthroughs.The overarching, long-term goals and progressions players aspire to over longer play sessions or even multiple playthroughs are defined by the Third Loops. In Stardew Valley, the daily loop of farming, mining, and socializing is complemented by broader goals like upgrading the farm, building relationships, and uncovering the valley’s secrets. This meta loop adds another layer of depth, ensuring long-term player engagement.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/768/1*vLfePdlKSysdKCe2lT55_g.png" /><figcaption><a href="https://prezi.com/gyqljrywdmzu/super-mario-bros-core-game-loops-and-reward-structures/">source</a></figcaption></figure>Gameplay loops are the heroes of game design. They’re the structures that underpin every gaming experience, guiding players through challenges, rewards, and moments of immersion. As the gaming industry continues to evolve, with new genres, technologies, and design philosophies emerging, the timeless art of crafting compelling gameplay loops remains central. For game designers and players alike, understanding and appreciating these loops is key to creating and enjoying truly unforgettable gaming experiences.Remember, as you dive into your next gaming adventure, to understand its loops and, just as importantly, to stay hydrated and take care of yourself. Happy gaming!<img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=b84dd045fd80" width="1" height="1" alt=""><hr><a href="https://medium.com/ironsource-levelup/engage-repeat-reward-gameplay-loops-b84dd045fd80">Engage, Repeat, Reward: Gameplay Loops</a> was originally published in <a href="https://medium.com/ironsource-levelup">ironSource LevelUp</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

source image by Rúben
In every memorable video game, there’s a foundational element that keeps players hooked: the gameplay loop. This concept is the lifeblood of any game. It’s the rhythm, the pulse, the repeated sequence of actions that players immerse themselves in. But what makes some gameplay loops resonate deeply with players while others fade into obscurity? Let’s embark on an in-depth exploration of gameplay loops.
What is a Gameplay Loop?
Every game, from the simplest mobile app to the most complex AAA title, revolves around a gameplay loop. It’s the set of actions that players undertake, over and over, as they navigate the game world.
At the most foundational level, we have the Core Loops. These represent the immediate, moment-to-moment actions players engage in. For instance, in a game like Minecraft, the core loop involves mining resources, crafting tools, and building structures. But within this loop, there’s a world of depth. Players decide where to mine, what tools to craft, and what structures to build. Each decision feeds back into the loop, creating a dynamic, ever-evolving gameplay experience.

The Delicate Dance of Challenge and Reward
Any effective gameplay loop lies in the balance between challenge and reward. Games that master this balance offer players a sense of progression and achievement.
Building upon the Core Loops are the Secondary Loops. These loops span a longer duration and often involve a series of core loops leading to a more significant achievement or progression in the game. Consider the Monster Hunter series. Players take on the role of hunters tracking down and battling colossal beasts. Each hunt is a challenge, requiring preparation, strategy, and skill. But with each successful hunt, players are rewarded with materials to craft better gear, feeding back into the loop and preparing them for even tougher challenges.
The Antidote to Monotony
While repetition is inherent to gameplay loops, it’s the introduction of variety that keeps them fresh and engaging.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a masterclass in this. While the core loop involves questing, combat, and exploration, the game continually introduces new storylines, characters, and challenges. One moment, players might be battling a ghostly wraith; the next, they’re embroiled in political intrigue or helping a mischievous god. This constant influx of new content ensures the gameplay loop never grows stale.

The Power of Anticipation and Aspiration
A subtle yet powerful aspect of gameplay loops is the sense of anticipation they can instill. Games that tease future content or challenges create a magnetic pull, drawing players back time and again. The Metroid series is iconic in this regard. Players often encounter areas or challenges they can’t immediately overcome. But the promise of future abilities, the tantalizing tease of unexplored content, creates a loop of exploration, anticipation, and reward.

Making the Loop Personal
One of the most profound ways to enhance a gameplay loop is to offer players a sense of agency and personalization. Dragon Age: Inquisition exemplifies this. Players not only shape their character’s appearance and abilities but also make pivotal decisions that impact the game world. Every choice, from political alliances to romantic entanglements, feeds into the gameplay loop, making each playthrough a deeply personal journey.

The Broader Picture: Meta Loops and Player Engagement
Beyond the immediate gameplay loop lies the meta loop. This encompasses the broader goals and progressions players aspire to over longer play sessions or multiple playthroughs.
The overarching, long-term goals and progressions players aspire to over longer play sessions or even multiple playthroughs are defined by the Third Loops. In Stardew Valley, the daily loop of farming, mining, and socializing is complemented by broader goals like upgrading the farm, building relationships, and uncovering the valley’s secrets. This meta loop adds another layer of depth, ensuring long-term player engagement.
source
Gameplay loops are the heroes of game design. They’re the structures that underpin every gaming experience, guiding players through challenges, rewards, and moments of immersion. As the gaming industry continues to evolve, with new genres, technologies, and design philosophies emerging, the timeless art of crafting compelling gameplay loops remains central. For game designers and players alike, understanding and appreciating these loops is key to creating and enjoying truly unforgettable gaming experiences.
Remember, as you dive into your next gaming adventure, to understand its loops and, just as importantly, to stay hydrated and take care of yourself. Happy gaming!

Engage, Repeat, Reward: Gameplay Loops was originally published in ironSource LevelUp on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Engage, Repeat, Reward: Gameplay Loops

<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*janYna8s3uzpKVENLb5TYw.jpeg" /></figure>Mobile game marketing is more than just flashy ads; it’s a thoughtful strategy, much akin to game design. Consider “concept testing” as deciding which plants to grow in a garden: tomatoes, peppers, or potatoes. The real challenge lies in discerning what your audience truly craves. Once you’ve pinpointed that, “version testing” becomes about fine-tuning the recipe: mashed potatoes, fries, or baked?During my tenure at IronSource’s creative studio, collaborating with gaming studios across all genres, I’ve witnessed the confusion firsthand. Many, including seasoned marketers, grapple with these testing nuances. Yet mastering them? That’s the secret to elevating campaigns and fostering seamless teamwork.By the end of this article, I guarantee you’ll clearly understand the distinct differences between concept and version testing, all brought to life with real gaming ad examples. Ready to dive deep? Let’s begin!<h3>Concept Testing</h3>The core principle of concept testing is rapidly grasping your audience’s preferences and pinpointing their motivations to discern what truly resonates with them. Let’s delve into an example from “Royal Match” by Dream Games and examine the ad concepts they’re currently running:<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*EJzsoE19RvnCuHmO0kQNpA.jpeg" /></figure>Now, lets breakdown this 3 concepts and understand their core difference in approach and targeting:<ul><li>“Gameplay”: Bright, colorful, and all about the action. This ad puts the match-3 fun front and center. It’s for those who love the thrill of making those tiles explode and getting lost in the game’s core mechanics.</li><li>“Save the King”: Drama, anyone? This one mixes the gameplay with a mission: save the king. As Royal Match’s signature concept, it’s unmistakable to anyone familiar with mobile gaming. This ad is for those who want a touch of narrative alongside their gameplay.</li><li>“Influencers/UGC”: Simon Cowell playing “Royal Match”? Yep, that’s a thing. By bringing a star into the mix, this ad targets those who think, “If it’s good enough for Simon, it’s good enough for me.”</li></ul>Now that we’ve explored the different ad concepts that ‘Royal Match’ utilizes, let’s peel back another layer. Within each concept, there exists a world of versions — each tailored to enhance a specific aspect of the ad or target a distinct player base. Welcome to version testing: where we tweak and twist to discover the perfect iteration.<h3>Version Testing</h3>After identifying a winning concept, version testing becomes the heart of the ad optimization process. This phase is where the bulk of the effort lies, as teams tirelessly iterate to find that “Hero Creative”.This dynamic relationship between the UA and creative teams. Constant communication is paramount. The UA team, with its pulse on performance metrics, provides invaluable feedback on the success or failure of different ad versions. For instance, if one game mechanic consistently outperforms another, it’s crucial that this insight reaches the creative team promptly. Armed with this knowledge, the creative team can refine their approach, focusing on what truly resonates with the audience. This iterative feedback loop ensures that every new version is grounded in data-driven insights, optimizing the chances of campaign success.Now, let’s imagine for the sake of this example that the UA team has indicated, after analyzing performance metrics, that the “gameplay” concept shows promising potential. Given the green light to proceed to the iteration or version testing phase, the creative team, armed with this insight, begins experimenting with different ad creatives. [Following this is a screenshot of three distinct gameplay ads. One displays the original gameplay concept that resonated well, another showcases a grass-covered board awaiting clearance, and the third presents tiles designed as pumpkins- perhaps a holiday theme]<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*pX5h_o1XoH9wHpk6BcY9HQ.jpeg" /></figure>Now, let’s say the ‘Save the King’ concept showed promising results. With this feedback, the creative team worked on different variations of this theme: saving the king from a fire, from drowning, or from a snake.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*Ybggz81D3nptE6Gs8N219w.jpeg" /></figure>Now, let’s explore the third concept. Suppose that the ‘Influencers/UGC’ concept also demonstrates potential. Here, leveraging the power of celebrity endorsement can appeal to a vast audience who trust or admire the influencer.<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*k1HjpfuavZOwcWOv1qIF9w.jpeg" /></figure>One might show Simon Cowell engrossed in a match, another could feature a different celebrity tackling a challenging level, and yet another might depict a behind-the-scenes look of a star’s reaction after achieving a new high score. Each version taps into the fanbase of the influencer, but also offers different angles on how the game integrates into their lives.<h3>In Conclusion</h3>In the fast-paced world of digital marketing and gaming, success hinges on understanding and resonating with your audience. Concept testing lays the foundation, but through version testing and careful iteration, ads truly shine. With a blend of data-driven insights and creative flair, every campaign can become a masterpiece. As you dive deeper into optimizing your ads, may these insights guide you towards consistently resonant campaigns.<h3>Bonus: Iteration Cheat Sheet</h3>Feeling stuck? Here’s a quick-fire list of iterations and A/B test ideas to jumpstart your creative process:<ol><li>Levels: Dive into various game levels. Early stages might appeal differently than intense, advanced ones.</li><li>Characters: Introduce a range of characters. The resonance of a female protagonist might differ from a male or an elderly versus a younger character.</li><li>Solo vs. Opponents: Measure the draw of solo gameplay against the thrill of competition.</li><li>Background &amp; Colors: Alterations in backdrop or color palettes can redefine the ad’s appeal.</li><li>Initial Hooks: The inaugural 3 seconds are pivotal. Experiment with various attention-grabbing scenes.</li><li>Difficulty: Present gameplay from simple, beginner stages to the intense, hair-pulling levels. Gauge the engagement levels.</li><li>Boss Battles: Spotlight varied bosses in action games. Determine which enemies or scenes are most exhilarating.</li><li>Win vs. Lose: Illustrate both, the euphoria of winning and the agony of a narrow loss. The journey can be as enticing as the result.</li><li>Holiday Themes: Customize ads for special occasions. Seasonal themes like Christmas or Halloween can boost engagement.</li><li>Narrative vs. No Narrative: A storyline can be contrasted against pure gameplay to discern which holds more allure.</li><li>Silly Sounds: Leverage trending sounds from platforms like social media. Unique auditory elements can amplify memorability.</li><li>Emoji/Memoji: Infuse popular culture elements. Emojis or memoji integration can modernize your ad.</li><li>Influencers/UGC: Highlight influencers or user-generated content. If a celebrity loves it, maybe the audience will too.</li><li>Save the Character: Rescue missions, like saving a king from various dangers, can introduce a narrative angle to gameplay and elicit emotional engagement.</li></ol><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=3579cc598b65" width="1" height="1" alt=""><hr><a href="https://medium.com/ironsource-levelup/mobile-ads-the-power-of-concept-and-version-testing-in-mobile-gaming-3579cc598b65">Mastering Mobile Ads for Gaming: Concept and Version Testing Insights — Series Part 1</a> was originally published in <a href="https://medium.com/ironsource-levelup">ironSource LevelUp</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Mobile game marketing is more than just flashy ads; it’s a thoughtful strategy, much akin to game design. Consider “concept testing” as deciding which plants to grow in a garden: tomatoes, peppers, or potatoes. The real challenge lies in discerning what your audience truly craves. Once you’ve pinpointed that, “version testing” becomes about fine-tuning the recipe: mashed potatoes, fries, or baked?
During my tenure at IronSource’s creative studio, collaborating with gaming studios across all genres, I’ve witnessed the confusion firsthand. Many, including seasoned marketers, grapple with these testing nuances. Yet mastering them? That’s the secret to elevating campaigns and fostering seamless teamwork.
By the end of this article, I guarantee you’ll clearly understand the distinct differences between concept and version testing, all brought to life with real gaming ad examples. Ready to dive deep? Let’s begin!
Concept Testing
The core principle of concept testing is rapidly grasping your audience’s preferences and pinpointing their motivations to discern what truly resonates with them. Let’s delve into an example from “Royal Match” by Dream Games and examine the ad concepts they’re currently running:

Now, lets breakdown this 3 concepts and understand their core difference in approach and targeting:

“Gameplay”: Bright, colorful, and all about the action. This ad puts the match-3 fun front and center. It’s for those who love the thrill of making those tiles explode and getting lost in the game’s core mechanics.
“Save the King”: Drama, anyone? This one mixes the gameplay with a mission: save the king. As Royal Match’s signature concept, it’s unmistakable to anyone familiar with mobile gaming. This ad is for those who want a touch of narrative alongside their gameplay.
“Influencers/UGC”: Simon Cowell playing “Royal Match”? Yep, that’s a thing. By bringing a star into the mix, this ad targets those who think, “If it’s good enough for Simon, it’s good enough for me.”

Now that we’ve explored the different ad concepts that ‘Royal Match’ utilizes, let’s peel back another layer. Within each concept, there exists a world of versions — each tailored to enhance a specific aspect of the ad or target a distinct player base. Welcome to version testing: where we tweak and twist to discover the perfect iteration.
Version Testing
After identifying a winning concept, version testing becomes the heart of the ad optimization process. This phase is where the bulk of the effort lies, as teams tirelessly iterate to find that “Hero Creative”.
This dynamic relationship between the UA and creative teams. Constant communication is paramount. The UA team, with its pulse on performance metrics, provides invaluable feedback on the success or failure of different ad versions. For instance, if one game mechanic consistently outperforms another, it’s crucial that this insight reaches the creative team promptly. Armed with this knowledge, the creative team can refine their approach, focusing on what truly resonates with the audience. This iterative feedback loop ensures that every new version is grounded in data-driven insights, optimizing the chances of campaign success.
Now, let’s imagine for the sake of this example that the UA team has indicated, after analyzing performance metrics, that the “gameplay” concept shows promising potential. Given the green light to proceed to the iteration or version testing phase, the creative team, armed with this insight, begins experimenting with different ad creatives. [Following this is a screenshot of three distinct gameplay ads. One displays the original gameplay concept that resonated well, another showcases a grass-covered board awaiting clearance, and the third presents tiles designed as pumpkins- perhaps a holiday theme]

Now, let’s say the ‘Save the King’ concept showed promising results. With this feedback, the creative team worked on different variations of this theme: saving the king from a fire, from drowning, or from a snake.

Now, let’s explore the third concept. Suppose that the ‘Influencers/UGC’ concept also demonstrates potential. Here, leveraging the power of celebrity endorsement can appeal to a vast audience who trust or admire the influencer.

One might show Simon Cowell engrossed in a match, another could feature a different celebrity tackling a challenging level, and yet another might depict a behind-the-scenes look of a star’s reaction after achieving a new high score. Each version taps into the fanbase of the influencer, but also offers different angles on how the game integrates into their lives.
In Conclusion
In the fast-paced world of digital marketing and gaming, success hinges on understanding and resonating with your audience. Concept testing lays the foundation, but through version testing and careful iteration, ads truly shine. With a blend of data-driven insights and creative flair, every campaign can become a masterpiece. As you dive deeper into optimizing your ads, may these insights guide you towards consistently resonant campaigns.
Bonus: Iteration Cheat Sheet
Feeling stuck? Here’s a quick-fire list of iterations and A/B test ideas to jumpstart your creative process:

Levels: Dive into various game levels. Early stages might appeal differently than intense, advanced ones.
Characters: Introduce a range of characters. The resonance of a female protagonist might differ from a male or an elderly versus a younger character.
Solo vs. Opponents: Measure the draw of solo gameplay against the thrill of competition.
Background & Colors: Alterations in backdrop or color palettes can redefine the ad’s appeal.
Initial Hooks: The inaugural 3 seconds are pivotal. Experiment with various attention-grabbing scenes.
Difficulty: Present gameplay from simple, beginner stages to the intense, hair-pulling levels. Gauge the engagement levels.
Boss Battles: Spotlight varied bosses in action games. Determine which enemies or scenes are most exhilarating.
Win vs. Lose: Illustrate both, the euphoria of winning and the agony of a narrow loss. The journey can be as enticing as the result.
Holiday Themes: Customize ads for special occasions. Seasonal themes like Christmas or Halloween can boost engagement.
Narrative vs. No Narrative: A storyline can be contrasted against pure gameplay to discern which holds more allure.
Silly Sounds: Leverage trending sounds from platforms like social media. Unique auditory elements can amplify memorability.
Emoji/Memoji: Infuse popular culture elements. Emojis or memoji integration can modernize your ad.
Influencers/UGC: Highlight influencers or user-generated content. If a celebrity loves it, maybe the audience will too.
Save the Character: Rescue missions, like saving a king from various dangers, can introduce a narrative angle to gameplay and elicit emotional engagement.

Mastering Mobile Ads for Gaming: Concept and Version Testing Insights — Series Part 1 was originally published in ironSource LevelUp on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Mastering Mobile Ads for Gaming: Concept and Version Testing Insights — Series Part 1

<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*KV1DIMUJBBzO_8ozZsicvg.png" /></figure>In <a href="https://medium.com/@marty.jozwik/design-behind-easy-to-learn-hard-to-master-games-part-1-e7273bf8a3d7">the last post</a>, we examined the criteria for making “easy to learn” games and “hard to master” games individually. What can we do to have it all in a single game?Let’s try to find out! It won’t be easy though, since many aspects of those two approaches seem to be contradictory to one another.<h4>Seeking Elegance</h4>The combination of clarity and mastery sounds like a Holy Grail.Capture this perfect couple in your game and you will have what is often called an elegant design. Easy-to-understand rules that create complex deep systems. From a few carefully planted seeds emerges a beautiful and rich ecosystem.In other words, a thoughtful mix of several systems leads to a gameplay full of interesting, unique decisions and gameplay situations. Simple actions performed by the player result in a plethora of complex game states.<blockquote>From a few carefully planted seeds emerge a beautiful and rich ecosystem.</blockquote><h4>Framing Elegance</h4>Elegance is a rather elusive thing. A game can feel elegant but recognizing the exact things that make it that way can be challenging.Nevertheless, here are several aspects that I think many elegant games share:<ul><li>Multi-purpose Systems — one action is used in many different contexts to avoid complexity. It helps to learn faster — once the rule is learned in one context, it can be applied to the rest of contexts without a further do (it also speeds up the development process!).</li><li>Trade-offs — an action by the player has both positive and negative consequences at the same time. Players do something to strengthen their position, but simultaneously, the same action weakens their position elsewhere. Players are left constantly calculating if a given action is worth the accompanying disadvantage.</li><li>Combo-friendly — rules are constructed in a way that promotes making combinations or sequences. Very often, a combination is worth more than the sum of its parts.</li><li>Modularity — additional rules can be added or removed from the game without hurting the game’s core. Rules alter the possibility space forcing players to adapt and create new strategies.</li></ul><h4>Adding New Rules</h4>In talking about “easy to learn, hard to master “ we won’t get definitive answers. I cannot imagine a single mechanic that would change one side of the equation without changing the other. Adding a new thing will always affect the way we learn and the way we master it. So instead of seeking an impossible solution, we need to think of a ratio:<blockquote>How to minimize the process of learning and maximize the process of mastering?</blockquote>The better the ratio, the more our game is “easy to learn, hard to master “.So, we add a new feature. It’s cool. But think of the ratio. What do I need to do to put it in a game to make it work? Is it simple? Does it work well with existing features? Do I have a place to introduce it? Does it need a lot of feedback? And what do I get in return? Does it enrich the gameplay? Does it give me enough new interesting scenarios and new interesting challenges?Consider that every time you add something new to the game. Get better at answering those questions and, with time, your games will flourish by being more and more “easy to learn, hard to master “.<h4>Summary</h4>Let’s sum up what we have discovered in both parts of the article:<ol><li>An easy-to-learn game has a thoughtful amount of logical rules to remember, rules are introduced progressively throughout the game and can be learned smoothly by providing a good interface and feedback.</li><li>A hard-to-master game consists of many actions a player can perform and lots of moving parts that sum up to a huge possibility space. Learning is obfuscated by uncertainty in the form of randomness, an opponent&#39;s behavior, changing plans, and tempo. At the same time, the game is fun to master.</li><li>We strive to minimize the process of learning and maximize the process of mastering simultaneously.</li><li>Elegant design brings a thoughtful mix of several systems that leads to a gameplay full of interesting, unique decisions and gameplay situations.</li><li>Elegant games tend to include multi-purpose features, lots of trade-offs, combo-friendliness, and modularity.</li><li>Adding a new feature will always affect the way players learn and the way players master. Be sure that the new feature improves the clarity/mastery ratio of the game or you have other good reason to add it.</li></ol><h4>Your Turn</h4>Now it’s your turn. Ask yourself these questions, summarizing all we have talked about, to make your game more “Easy to Learn, Hard to Master “.Have a wonderful day!<h4>Easy to Learn, Hard to Master Template</h4><ol><li>Is my game inherently simple? How many rules do players need to remember? Are there any exceptions to the rules?</li><li>Is my game coherent? Do rules make logical sense together? Can players draw analogies from the real world to understand them?</li><li>What does the progression look like? Are the rules introduced in the right order and time?</li><li>How does my game communicate with players? How does the interface communicate possible actions? How does feedback communicate the result of an action?</li><li>Is my game complex enough? How big is the possible space? How long does it take to master the game? How many actions does the player have? What are the moving parts?</li><li>Does my game include enough uncertainty? Do I make use of randomness, opponents&#39; moves, changing plans, and tempo?</li><li>Is my game fun to master? Do I provide a fun environment for the learning process to happen?</li><li>Does my game use multi-purpose features? Can I combine some systems to do more than just one thing?</li><li>Are trade-offs present in my game? What are the actions that give advantages and disadvantages at the same time? Can I change some of them to include both good and bad? Can I spot a dominant strategy and find a counter for it?</li><li>Is my game combo-friendly? What are the actions that create sequences? Is the sequence more than a sum of its parts?</li><li>Is my game modular? Can I add and remove features without hurting the core? Do secondary features force players to think in new ways?</li><li>Is my game easy to learn, or hard to master? Does the game provide enough complexity out of simplicity?</li></ol>That’s all for today. In a bonus workshop part of the series, I will take one of my recent pet projects — <a href="https://jaymartin.itch.io/tetra">Tetra</a> to find out, if it meets the “Easy to Learn, Hard To Master” criteria and get you familiar with analyzing your designs. See you soon!<img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=423102b57cd6" width="1" height="1" alt=""><hr><a href="https://medium.com/ironsource-levelup/what-makes-games-easy-to-learn-and-hard-to-master-part-2-423102b57cd6">What Makes Games Easy to Learn And Hard to Master — Part 2</a> was originally published in <a href="https://medium.com/ironsource-levelup">ironSource LevelUp</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In the last post, we examined the criteria for making “easy to learn” games and “hard to master” games individually. What can we do to have it all in a single game?
Let’s try to find out! It won’t be easy though, since many aspects of those two approaches seem to be contradictory to one another.
Seeking Elegance
The combination of clarity and mastery sounds like a Holy Grail.
Capture this perfect couple in your game and you will have what is often called an elegant design. Easy-to-understand rules that create complex deep systems. From a few carefully planted seeds emerges a beautiful and rich ecosystem.
In other words, a thoughtful mix of several systems leads to a gameplay full of interesting, unique decisions and gameplay situations. Simple actions performed by the player result in a plethora of complex game states.
From a few carefully planted seeds emerge a beautiful and rich ecosystem.
Framing Elegance
Elegance is a rather elusive thing. A game can feel elegant but recognizing the exact things that make it that way can be challenging.
Nevertheless, here are several aspects that I think many elegant games share:

Multi-purpose Systems — one action is used in many different contexts to avoid complexity. It helps to learn faster — once the rule is learned in one context, it can be applied to the rest of contexts without a further do (it also speeds up the development process!).
Trade-offs — an action by the player has both positive and negative consequences at the same time. Players do something to strengthen their position, but simultaneously, the same action weakens their position elsewhere. Players are left constantly calculating if a given action is worth the accompanying disadvantage.
Combo-friendly — rules are constructed in a way that promotes making combinations or sequences. Very often, a combination is worth more than the sum of its parts.
Modularity — additional rules can be added or removed from the game without hurting the game’s core. Rules alter the possibility space forcing players to adapt and create new strategies.

Adding New Rules
In talking about “easy to learn, hard to master “ we won’t get definitive answers. I cannot imagine a single mechanic that would change one side of the equation without changing the other. Adding a new thing will always affect the way we learn and the way we master it. So instead of seeking an impossible solution, we need to think of a ratio:
How to minimize the process of learning and maximize the process of mastering?
The better the ratio, the more our game is “easy to learn, hard to master “.
So, we add a new feature. It’s cool. But think of the ratio. What do I need to do to put it in a game to make it work? Is it simple? Does it work well with existing features? Do I have a place to introduce it? Does it need a lot of feedback? And what do I get in return? Does it enrich the gameplay? Does it give me enough new interesting scenarios and new interesting challenges?
Consider that every time you add something new to the game. Get better at answering those questions and, with time, your games will flourish by being more and more “easy to learn, hard to master “.
Summary
Let’s sum up what we have discovered in both parts of the article:

An easy-to-learn game has a thoughtful amount of logical rules to remember, rules are introduced progressively throughout the game and can be learned smoothly by providing a good interface and feedback.
A hard-to-master game consists of many actions a player can perform and lots of moving parts that sum up to a huge possibility space. Learning is obfuscated by uncertainty in the form of randomness, an opponent's behavior, changing plans, and tempo. At the same time, the game is fun to master.
We strive to minimize the process of learning and maximize the process of mastering simultaneously.
Elegant design brings a thoughtful mix of several systems that leads to a gameplay full of interesting, unique decisions and gameplay situations.
Elegant games tend to include multi-purpose features, lots of trade-offs, combo-friendliness, and modularity.
Adding a new feature will always affect the way players learn and the way players master. Be sure that the new feature improves the clarity/mastery ratio of the game or you have other good reason to add it.

Your Turn
Now it’s your turn. Ask yourself these questions, summarizing all we have talked about, to make your game more “Easy to Learn, Hard to Master “.
Have a wonderful day!
Easy to Learn, Hard to Master Template

Is my game inherently simple? How many rules do players need to remember? Are there any exceptions to the rules?
Is my game coherent? Do rules make logical sense together? Can players draw analogies from the real world to understand them?
What does the progression look like? Are the rules introduced in the right order and time?
How does my game communicate with players? How does the interface communicate possible actions? How does feedback communicate the result of an action?
Is my game complex enough? How big is the possible space? How long does it take to master the game? How many actions does the player have? What are the moving parts?
Does my game include enough uncertainty? Do I make use of randomness, opponents' moves, changing plans, and tempo?
Is my game fun to master? Do I provide a fun environment for the learning process to happen?
Does my game use multi-purpose features? Can I combine some systems to do more than just one thing?
Are trade-offs present in my game? What are the actions that give advantages and disadvantages at the same time? Can I change some of them to include both good and bad? Can I spot a dominant strategy and find a counter for it?
Is my game combo-friendly? What are the actions that create sequences? Is the sequence more than a sum of its parts?
Is my game modular? Can I add and remove features without hurting the core? Do secondary features force players to think in new ways?
Is my game easy to learn, or hard to master? Does the game provide enough complexity out of simplicity?

That’s all for today. In a bonus workshop part of the series, I will take one of my recent pet projects — Tetra to find out, if it meets the “Easy to Learn, Hard To Master” criteria and get you familiar with analyzing your designs. See you soon!

What Makes Games Easy to Learn And Hard to Master — Part 2 was originally published in ironSource LevelUp on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.