The mobile advertising industry has evolved rapidly in recent years. According to a survey of over 300 mobile game developers in 2017: - Most games now have some form of advertising, though ads are still more common in casual games. - Rewarded video is the most widely used ad format, while native ads and offer walls are growing in core games. - Core games tend to be more cautious with ads, usually showing about one ad per session, whereas casual games derive 30-40% of revenue from ads. - Developers most commonly integrate ads through internal exchanges or homegrown mediation, though use of multiple ad networks is increasing. - Attitudes towards ads have become more positive in the last year, viewed

1. Host:
Isaac Roseboom
Chief Strategy Officer
Important trends in ad strategies
and how to benefit from them

2. • Growth of in-game advertising has been
phenomenal
• As recently as 2015, in-game ads were seen as
the reserve of low ARPU very casual games
• Now it is hard to imagine a big mobile title
without ads
• In fact games without ads are bombarded with
requests to include them as a way to earn
currency!
In game advertising

3. • We have run an unbiased survey of
publisher/developer views on mobile ads since 2015
• Scale of responses says a lot about growth of ads
- 134 responses in 2015
- 334 responses in 2017
• Cover full range of publisher size
- Average respondent has 50k DAU
- 20% respondents have over 500k DAU
The deltaDNA ad survey

4. What kind of games show ads?
• Only 12% of respondents show no
ads!
• 20% of core games show no ads
• 7% of casual games show no ads

5. What kind of ads do people use?
• 65% of games use more than 1 ad
type
• Rewarded ads most popular: over
60% of games use them
• Big jump in using more than 1 type of
ad
• 2015/2016: 51% of developers used
more than 1 type
• 2017: 62% of developers use more
than 1 type
• 12% use 4+ formats(!)

6. What kind of ads do people use?
• Not so much difference between
casual and core games
• Both use rewarded video extensively
• Casual games a bit more likely to use
interstitials
• Core game more likely to use offer
walls and native ads

7. • A typical game will have a few types of ad
monetisation in it (e.g. rewarded video and
image interstitials)
• Casual games are more likely to show ads,
more likely to use interstitials
• 20% of core games don’t show ads, the ones
that do use a lot of video but also native and
offer walls
Ad formats and usage

8. Ad strategy
• Casual games are less likely to be
cautious
- More show ads in first session
- More likely to show ads to paying
players
• However not much difference in ad
frequency

9. Ad frequency
• Both are worried about churn and
enjoyment
• Casual games much more worried
about fill and eCPM
What factors do you take into account in setting the ad frequency?

10. Ad revenue
• Only casual games make >60% rev
from ads (but only 20% of developers)
• Many publishers (40%) in both cases
making 20-60% rev from ads

11. Ad revenue
• Casual games steady at ~35% rev
from ads
• Core games declining from 30%-
20%
• Likely growth in IAP revenue rather
than decline in ads
- Typical Android ARPDAU has
grown from 9c to 15c in last 2
years

12. • A typical game will show 1 ad / session to
non-payers only
• Casual games much more likely to show ads
to payers and first session
• All games are most worried about churn and
player enjoyment impact of ads
• Typical game makes 20-40% of revenue
from ads, with casual games making a bit
more than core
Ad strategy and revenue

13. Ad sources
• Diverse mix of ways publishers
access ads
• Using an ad exchange or homebrew
mediation most popular choices
(47%)
• 36% of publishers use some form of
3rd party mediation
• Only 9% use a 3rd party unbiased ad
mediation solution

14. Number of ad networks
• 60%+ publishers use between 2-5
networks
• Big growth in number of publishers
using 6+ networks
- 17% in 2017 vs. 8% in 2016

15. Ad sentiment
• Big changes in publishers views on
ads in just 1 year!
• Top response in 2016 was
‘necessary evil; in 2017 it is
‘important monetization op’
• Twice as many publisher believe ads
enhance player progress vs. blocking
engagement

16. Ad sentiment
• More balanced, effective and
confident ad approaches
• Less cautious, unsure or experimental
• Overall seems like industry settling on
balanced ad strategy (i.e. not too
aggressive)

17. • The mobile advertising industry is evolving fast
• Most games have some form of advertising, although ads still
more prevalent in casual games
• Video ads are the most common, with native and offer walls
growing in use in core games
• Core games more likely to be cautious although most only show
around 1 ad/session
• Casual games make 30-40% revenue from ads, core games 20-
30% although this has been declining since 2015
• Internal integration via exchange or homebrew waterfall is most
common form of access
• Most games use 2-5 networks but big increase in number with 6+
in last year
Conclusions

18. Host:
Isaac Roseboom
Chief Strategy Officer
Thank you!
www.deltadna.com/smartads
info@deltadna.com