Casual Games Advertising & Monetization Strategies in Russia

No matter how great a game you have created, it is your marketing strategy that can be the deciding factor in whether your game becomes popular or not. You can endlessly polish your game and make it perfect, but at the same time your competitors are gaining an audience with a much rawer product by investing in promotion. This also applies to hyper-casual games.

Marketing and advertising of casual games

Casual games are very common in the Russian market, and developers and publishers will need to make a lot of effort to beat competitors in app stores.

In our article A Complete Guide on How to Promote a Mobile App in Russia in 2020, we have reviewed in detail the tools for promoting apps that are also suitable for marketing casual games. Let's note a few of them that are most relevant for promotion of casual games.

ASO (App Store Optimization)

Study the design of the main competitors' apps in the AppStore, compare them with your own and make your game description more attractive, the title simple, and the images as clear and colorful as possible.

Freemium

At the initial stage, casual games are best done for free of charge. To get revenue, use monetization, which we will explain in more detail below.

Cross-promotion

If you already have games in your arsenal that are actively played by gamers, be sure to invite them to play your new game. If this is your first project, or you know for sure that the audience of your other games will not play the newly created game, look for similar projects in the Russian market and arrange mutually beneficial cooperation.

Spread the word about your game

Social networks, interest groups, online and offline industrial events, forums and communities – use all channels to tell a wide audience about your game.

Monetization of casual games

There are three main ways to monetize casual games:

• in-game advertising,
• in-game purchases for money,
• subscription.

Advertising remains the main way to monetize casual and hyper-casual games. We will talk about it in more detail.

Ads for games of this genre are easily perceived by users. As a rule, ad breaks are placed in between levels, and they are not interrupted during the game, so users are most loyal to its viewing.

The developers note that advertising in a casual game not only does not repel users, but also works to retain the audience. This type of advertising includes, for example, rewarded video advertising, after viewing which the player receives some bonuses in the game as a reward. And unlike other games, fans of the casual genre are loyal to watching 30-second commercials.

In general, according to a study by Facebook, developers identify three advertising formats for monetizing casual games that are easily perceived by gamers:

• Rewarded video;
• Interstitial – a full-screen video ad that is usually placed in between levels in the game;
• Playables – ads that allow gamers to play the game before it is installed.

When should one implement ads in a casual game?

For developers of casual games, it is especially important to introduce ad blocks at the game development stage to optimize the process of its future monetization.

1. Multiplayer for daily rewards: everyone who returns to the game every day can increase their reward by watching a commercial.

2. Advertising in the game store: offer viewing the promo video to those who want to "buy" something, but do not want to spend real money.

3.On-home-screen: this ad integration is one of the most visible in the game app.

4. Out-of-lives ads: allows a user who has spent all health to continue playing just by watching an ad.

5. Boost reward ads: allows users to pass a level faster or gain an advantage over other players.

6. Multiplication of bonuses: after completing the level or game suggest multiplying points earned through advertising.

How many ad blocks should be implemented for monetization and how often ads should be displayed depends on each specific game. If you do not know exactly how much and what to place, then during the testing and launch of the game, keep track of which ads cause users to leave the app, and which ones, on the contrary, keep them in the game. Don't hesitate to ask players to share their impressions of interacting with ads, and based on the data you've received, optimize ad formats for better game monetization.

Effective marketing and monetization of the game in Russia

To attract and keep users in the game, you need specialists who can develop and implement a strategy for promoting the game on the market: analyze it, make a marketing plan, optimize and adapt the description in stores, and so on. Therefore, it is more profitable for a game developer and publisher to cooperate with a specialized advertising and marketing agency on the market – RMAA Games can become such an agency for you in the Russian market.

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