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An interesting report based on 2015 mobile market
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Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports
10T O P
GAMINGDATAREPORTS
M O B I L E
Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports
Table of CONTENTS
Introduction
AppsFlyer
Swrve
DeltaDNA
Fiksu
eMarketer
Tapstream
App Annie
TUNE
GameAnalytics
InMobi
Conclusion
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2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports
There are new insights about the mobile game development industry every day. Insights range from user retention, user behavior, ad networks, and so forth. Developers want to know the current trends of players. With so many reports available it can be overwhelming and difficult to pull out the most important and relevant pieces. We’ve compiled a list of the top 10 data reports in the market and how they can help you in your game development.
Enjoy the book!
The SOOMLA Team
Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports
Gaming Ad Network PerformanceThe Apps Flyer Game Performance Index | May 2015
1In May 2015, AppsFlyer found a few key insights on user retention. A noteworthy fact is that video networks produce a 130% higher user retention rate in mobile games compared to other ad platforms. Furthermore, user retention is higher on iOS than Android. Facebook also performs best as a media partner in terms of user retention and installs.
Which advertising platform is best? Use AdColony for Android, Vungle and AppLovin for iOS. Vungle has the highest retention rate for day one on iOS and AppLovin is a close second. AppLovin, however, has better performance in terms of 30 day user retention. Facebook may not be number one, but it’s also a safe go-to advertising platform. Another good way to engage users is offering them a reward for watching video ads in a game. On another note, don’t overlook iOS as a platform during game development - an iPhone user may stick around longer.
“ Top Retention Platforms:
data-driven& Video Doing
the Trick”
Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports
Retain Users to Encourage SpendingSwrve Finds 0.15% of Mobile Gamers Contribute 50% of All In-Game Revenue | February 2015
2In a February 2014 report from Swrve, it was found that only 0.15% of players contribute to 50% of in-game revenue. The first in-app purchase tends to be a little before 24 hours. After that, the next purchase comes in another hour and 40 minutes. From the lens of user retention, this statistic highlights the importance of keeping the user engaged enough to want to reopen a game within those 24 hours.
Swrve also points out that 13.7% of new players will accrue more than four purchases the first 14 days. Of the revenue gained those 14 days, 60% will be from the first day. The first days of a player’s life in your game are critical in order to make revenue. Most of the money a mobile game makes comes from new players, these players should be given importance when considering marketing strategies and game design. The data provided by Swrve emphasizes the importance of keeping new users engaged in order to optimize revenue.
“ Findings from this report
indicate that an extremely small portion
of players, just 0.15%, account
for 50% of monthly revenue
from in-game purchases”
Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports
Engaging All Users Is The Key To Success10 Killer Insights: deltaDNA GDC Session Slides | March 2015
3In March 2015, DeltaDNA published a presentation stating why players are leaving mobile games. Lack of Appointment Setting, Lack of Tasks, and Unbalanced Game Difficulty ranked as the top three reasons. Appointment Setting is defined by DeltaDNA as creating “appointments” for users to come back. Good examples are special events, theme changes, tournaments, double points days, and Trivia Tuesday. 60% of users do not come back to games without solid appointments. We also know that push notifications and emails are a great way to remind users of these events. A little over 50% of users are abandoning games that don’t give them any engaging tasks to do. Game Difficulty is the reason 50% of users are leaving games. Developers want a diverse group of users playing a game; therefore, the game must strike a balance of ease and difficulty to accommodate both users who are seeking challenges and users who are not.
To drive engagement, make sure that users have a long first session in the game and encourage them to return for a second session, third session, fourth, fifth...you get the point - momentum. Do not put engagement barriers in your game if you’re looking to monetize. DeltaDNA provides a lot to consider, but with the competitive market and the dwindling average attention span of users, these engagement barriers cannot be ignored. Check out DeltaDNA’s sample benchmark report to see what kind of insights they can provide for your game.
“ Know your players and
you will create successful and
fun games.”
Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports
Quality User Acquisition Is ExpensiveFiksu Indexes | May 2015
4Fiksu defines loyal users as users that open an app three or more times. In May 2015, Fiksu published indexes about the cost of maintaining loyal users, cost of acquiring game installs through advertising, and the cost of app launches. The cost of acquiring a loyal user is increasing overall year to year in iOS apps. The current cost of acquiring a loyal user in iOS is $2.47.
With these increasing costs, it is important for a developer to use data insights in order to minimize the money spent on optimal user acquisition and retention. Developers calculate a loyal user’s lifetime value (LTV) and compare it to the cost-per-install (CPI) and cost-per-launch to ensure that profit is being made. The CPI between iOS and Android is almost the same, some months it is higher in Android and others in iOS. The cost-per-launch, however is significantly higher in iOS. It may be worth the extra cash since iOS users retain better as found in the research by AppsFlyer. Given the rising costs, AAA and mid-size studios dominate the paid user acquisition landscape. Small indies have a better chance marketing their game via earned and owned channels: social media, website, press coverage, forums etc.
There is a trend of increasing cost to acquire game installs and app launches as well. From this, Fiksu accentuates the importance of efficient marketing campaigns for apps.
“ The cost per loyal user has a
39 percent rise year over year”
Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports
Mobile Game Ads - An Open Arena For Big PlayersFor Advertisers it’s Mobile Game Time | July 2015
5eMarketer is a New York based research company that provides reports and data about the digital world. They provide their customers “answers to digital questions” and specific information on their industry. In July 2015, eMarketer highlighted the importance of mobile games for advertisers. The mobile gaming audience consists of over 150 million different people in the US - this broad, diverse audience is comparable to the audience of television viewers. Evidently, mobile games are not fully explored as an advertising venue and may soon be populated with more ads of mega brands like Coca Cola, Toyota, and GEICO that want to reach an ever-growing audience. eMarketer also suggests that mobile game advertising is a market that shows promise as an advertising venue. Furthermore, these mega brands have the potential to spend large amounts on in-game advertising. Seeing as less users are spending, developers will have the opportunity to earn more from in-game advertising.
According to a February 2015 article, 33% of US mobile users will pay for apps and tablet users are more likely to pay to download an app than mobile phone users. On the other hand, it is expected that 44% of tablet users will pay for an app this year. ‘Tablet first’ strategies for mobile games are effective. This is seen in the case of the highest grossing game, Clash of Clans.
“ In 2015 for the first time ever,
over half of the US population will be mobile
phone gamers.”
Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports
User Retention ExploredTapstream’s Mobile Retention Benchmarks | May 2013 - 2014
6In June 2013, there were approximately 900,000 apps in the iOS app store while in June 2014 the store had grown to approximately 1,200,000 apps. The Google Play Store saw similar growth from approximately 1,000,000 apps in July 2013 to approximately 1,300,000 apps in July 2014. Tapstream wanted to explore retention rates from 2013 to 2014 and found that user retention dropped 50%. When they specifically looked at Day 1, Day 7, and Day 30 retention rates, they noticed significant drops especially on Day 30. In May 2013, Day 30 retention was roughly 14% and it plummeted to 2.3% in May 2014. This could be caused for a variety of reasons such as:
Low barrier to entry - there are more apps entering the market every day and most of them are of low quality. It takes no time at all to develop a game and therefore more games are entering the app stores.
Disconnect between downloading the app and then actually opening it - as Tapstream says between downloading an app and actually opening it users have, “...probably checked Facebook six time, Twitter three, bid on two obscure statues on Ebay and attended a funeral.”
Or bad first initial experience - while someone might download your game, you want to make sure their first experience is enjoyable. It would be pretty frustrating to open the game for the first time and have a six minute load time.
While these are strong influencers in retention, they do not fully explain the huge decrease from 2013 to 2014. Tapstream believes that while there are more games in the app stores, the games are also fiercer and of higher quality.
“ On average only 14% of users stick around
a day after downloading an
app.”
Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports
Multiplayer Games Generate 50% More RevenueThe App Annie Special E3 Game Report | June 2015
7App Annie found that consumer spending increased from 2014 to 2015 by approximately 30% in the iOS App Store and approximately 50% in the Google Play Store. One factor for increased spending were online multiplayer games. Online multiplayer games are: “any game that includes features by which a player’s gameplay materially and directly affects the gameplay and in-game outcomes of another player.” Online multiplayer games can potentially increase a game’s lifespan as well because they create a sense of social network and cohesion.
From the Top 50 games, 60% of all the spending was from multiplayer titles even though only 30% of these types of games were downloaded. To further their point, App Annie looked at Steam and saw in May 2015, two of Steam’s Top 10 games were online multiplayer games that were created seven years ago. App Annie also saw a similar trend in the Top 10 mobile games. Six of the ten games which had increased revenue were multiplayer.
“ Among the Top 50 mobile games,
multiplayer games accounted
for ~60% of consumer
spending...”
Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports
TUNE collected data from thousands of advertisers over 245 days and were able to find a strong, positive correlation between paid and organic installs. While the correlation is significant, TUNE recognizes that not all app categories are equal. For example, Games, Education, Business, Lifestyle, and Entertainment apps make up the top 50% of apps downloaded in the iOS store.
Let’s take an example: say a developer is paying $1 per install and has a positive ROI because the average LTV of a user is $1.05. That one user might bring in 1.5 organic installs who also have a $1.05 LTV. This would then mean that the developer paid a $1.00 and in return got 2.5 users for a total of $2.62. This is quite a deal for the developer! Along these lines, TUNE calculated organic multipliers for each separate category. Knowing on average how many organic installs an app can expect helps marketers know how and where to use their resources.
Paid Users Bring In Organic UsersTUNE’s Understanding the Relationship Between Paid and Organic Installs
8“ ...every paid install an app
receives, it can expect to also acquire an additional 1.5
organic installs.”
Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports
GameAnalytics analyzed 415 F2P games with more than 1,000 installs. The games were then broken into four cohorts.
Group 1: consisted of 42 games with maximum average of 1M DAU Group 2: consisted of 62 games with maximum average of 50K DAU Group 3: consisted of 104 games with maximum average of 41K DAU Group 4: consisted of 207 games with maximum average of 20K DAU
Players that enter a game in the beginning have a greater chance of converting than if a player enters later. For example, approximately 7% of Group 1 players converted in the first week. While at week 8, approximately 3% of players were converting. Also, when looking at the ARPPU chart, players that downloaded a game in the first week and converted were likely to spend more in a game.
Overall, the first players of a game are the most valuable players. GameAnalytics calls these players the Golden Cohort. These players typically retain, convert, and spend more in games. Developers should focus their resources on the initial launch of the game to retain these valuable players.
Golden CohortWhat Analysing 400+ Games Has Taught Us | March 2015
9“ The very first
players of your game are your
best. Invest resources in
retaining and keeping them
happy, the rest will follow as a
result.”
Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports
With the F2P model here to stay (for now at least), developers are constantly looking for new and innovative ways to monetize their games. Ads play a huge role in game monetization and InMobi, a mobile advertising company that helps app monetization, looked at the landscape of the industry in November 2014. InMobi found that game ads yield the highest click through rate (CTR), yet QSR & dining, automotive, and telecom ads earn developers the highest eCPMs. While the type of ad is important, the timing of the ad also needs to be considered. InMobi found that ads served at the beginning of the week or during evening hours yielded the highest eCPMs.
Using creative and unique ad formats such as rewarded videos help increase eCPMs. It’s also interesting to note that tablets are now starting to outperform smartphones. In general, tablets earned higher eCPMs on Android and iOS. InMobi also found that between Q1 and Q4 in 2014, game installation grew 70%.
Game Ads Yield Highest CTRsInMobi Insights: The State of App Monetization Q3 | November 2014
10“ Ads on tablet
apps yield higher
eCPMs compared to
smartphones.”
Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports
Conclusion
Mobile and tablet devices are an ever growing global distribution platform for entertainment and content and as such, they are an appealing place to be in. That doesn’t mean that life is all roses in the land of mobile. The move to free-2-play games requires developers, especially small studios and indies, to put much more strategic thought into game development.
Across the data we’ve compiled we can acknowledge some key insights that seem prevalent in most reports:
Your first users are the most valuable ones.
Early players to adopt remain more engaged.
Apple users generally tend to be more engaged and pay more.
Retention is key for monetization and paid marketing optimization.
User acquisition costs are steadily on the rise.
With these insights in mind, game developers need to hone their marketing and data driven skills. No more does a game’s success depend only on impressive graphics and original gameplay. To drive revenue and build a substantial business, one needs to get intimate with soft launches, analytics, retention metrics and paid user acquisition.
To review, the mobile gaming industry has seen many trend shifts in the past few years.
Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports
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Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports
Resources: http://www.appsflyer.com/blog/the-appsflyer-gaming-performance-index/
https://www.swrve.com/company/press-room/swrve-finds-015-of-mobile-gamers-contribute-50-of-
all-in-game-revenue
https://deltadna.com/blog/deltadna-gdc-2015-10-killer-insights/
https://www.deltadna.com/downloads/Example_Benchmark-deltaDNA.pdf
https://www.fiksu.com/resources/fiksu-indexes
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1011965
http://blog.tapstream.com/post/98734955828/mobile-retention-benchmarks-2013-2014
http://ipod.about.com/od/iphonesoftwareterms/qt/apps-in-app-store.htm
http://www.statista.com/statistics/266210/number-of-available-applications-in-the-google-play-
store/
http://blog.appannie.com/app-annie-idc-gaming-report-2015-h1-e3-edition/
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2015-06-11-android-games-outpace-ios-with-50-per-cent-
spending-growth
http://in.tune.com/Understanding-the-Relationship-Between-Paid-and-Organic-Installs
http://blog.gameanalytics.com/blog/what-analysing-400-games-taught-us.html
http://www.inmobi.com/ui/pdfs/The_State_of_Mobile_App_Monetization_2014_Q3.pdf
http://info.inmobi.com/rs/inmobi/images/InMobi_Insights_State_App_Downloads_Monetization.pdf
