SocialPeta: Trends in Mobile Gaming Marketing in 2023
A lot of deep marketing knowledge inside.
General figures
In 2023, there were about 40 thousand active advertisers in the gaming market per month. This is 49.6% more than in 2022.
The average number of creatives per month in 2023 decreased by 36.5% - to 155 per advertiser.
Southeast Asia has become the most competitive region in terms of marketing. On average, in this region, there are 135 creatives per advertiser per month.
However, it's not very clear what SocialPeta means here because according to the general statistics (above), the average number of monthly creatives per advertiser is higher.
The percentage of new creatives (as well as their quantity) significantly increased in the 2nd-4th quarters of 2023. From 75 to 79% of all creatives were new. The average for 2022 was 62%.
The average number of creatives on Android is higher than on iOS (239 versus 177).
76,46% of all creatives on mobile devices are videos. 19,83% are static images; 2,14% are Playable; 1,32% are HTML creatives (it's not entirely clear what the difference is from Playable); 0,25% are carousels (it's not very clear why it's highlighted as a separate segment, as it's still static images).
80% of video creatives were 30 seconds or shorter. The most popular (17.97%) are 30-second videos.
As for static images, square creatives account for 53% of the total number.
Genre Overview
In 2023, 29.38% of all advertisers worked with casual projects (+0.94% YoY); 12.52% - with puzzles (+0.8% YoY); 9.18% - with simulators (+0.03%). Casinos showed the largest growth in advertisers (+1.9% YoY); arcade projects experienced the largest decline (-0.97% YoY).
In the case of creatives, the situation is similar. Casual games account for 32.51% of all creatives (+9.5% YoY - record growth); puzzles - 11.18% (-1.18% YoY); RPGs - 10.2% (-1.23% YoY). SLG games saw the most significant drop in creatives (-2.08% YoY).
Market Details
In the USA, there are over 26 thousand monthly advertisers. This is the largest market by this component.
In Japan, the largest share of advertising is on iOS (about 40%), due to the focus of many companies on the local market.
In South Korea, on the contrary, the share of Android advertisers and creatives is higher (around 73%). This is due to Samsung's significant presence in the country. The number of advertisers in the country increased throughout 2023.
Taiwan and Hong Kong lead in the average number of creatives per advertiser.
In Southeast Asia, there are about 20 thousand advertisers. Interestingly, more than 50% of advertisers released ads for puzzles.
In South America, Brazil is the largest market both in terms of the number of creatives and advertisers. SocialPeta notes that Playables are very effective in the region.
The MENA region is the leading region in terms of the percentage of video creatives.
Genre Details
SLG games have the highest growth potential in Southeast Asia and the MENA region. Fake advertising, focusing on mini-games or sexualization of characters, leads to results.
Simulators (where SocialPeta includes idle games, life simulators, etc.) attract users through drama, guided by the fact that the majority of the audience are women.
In the case of RPGs, unlike SLG projects, creatives demonstrating character creation are popular; UGC creatives; map demonstration; gacha, and other game features.
Board games are particularly popular in North America (largely due to MONOPOLY GO!) and Africa. Successful creatives focus heavily on social interaction & problem-solving creatives.
In the advertising structure of casino games, Android dominates. SocialPeta notes that old projects maintain their positions in this category for years. And successful creatives actively demonstrate money and the opportunity to win a big prize.
Hit Game Cases of 2023
For Honkai Star Rail, the main markets are the USA, Canada, and South Korea. 92.02% of all creatives are videos. Developers have released over 20 thousand creatives since the release.
For Whiteout Survival, the main focus is on the USA. In second and third places (with a large gap) are Canada and Germany. 75.56% of all creatives are videos, and it can be seen that the company increased the number of creatives (and probably spending) on iOS throughout the year. In total, over 33.1 thousand creatives were released.
For Arena Breakout, the main markets are Thailand, the USA, and Japan. The company actively worked with creatives and advertising in October-November 2023, but then reduced volumes. In total, over 13 thousand creatives were released.
MONOPOLY GO! - a project with a fairly evenly distributed advertising across countries. In first place, with a large margin, is the USA; but then followed by Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, France, Singapore. In total, Scopely released 26.3 thousand creatives for the project, 92.86% of which are videos.
Block Blast! - another notable release of 2023. Since the launch of the project, the company has made 60.5 thousand creatives, focusing on the USA, India, and Indonesia. 96.59% of these creatives are videos.
Mobile Marketing Trends in 2023
The most marketing budgets in 2023 were allocated to advertising with mini-games.
AI content began to be widely used in creative production. This is especially noticeable in the RPG genre, particularly MMORPG projects.