72% of mobile devs plan to increase UA spending in 2025 as reward-based campaigns rise

• A new report from Almedia, based on Atomik Research’s survey, found 77% of mobile devs have run reward-based marketing campaigns

95% of developers using reward-based marketing campaigns believe this has given them a competitive edge in the games market, according to a new report from Almedia.

Exploring reward-based UA and PR campaigns, part one of this Rewarded Returns study has leveraged data from an online survey by Atomik Research, in which 502 mobile game developers answered in the UK and the US.

According to that survey, 77% of mobile game devs have run reward-based marketing campaigns and only 5% of them haven’t felt a resultant competitive advantage. 82% also noted that reward-based campaigns have outperformed more “traditional” marketing methods.

Meanwhile, among the 23% who haven’t used reward-based campaigns, 62% acknowledged concerns about “falling behind” and 43% intend to begin using them in 2025.

Changes and challenges

While 64% of mobile game devs consider the current industry’s UA environment challenging, 54% shared that they’re optimistic about user acquisition becoming easier in 2025.

Nearly three-quarters of respondents, 72%, said they intended to increase their UA spending in 2025.

“The mobile games industry continues to navigate intricate technological and privacy-related user acquisition challenges. Yet our research shows that the tide may be turning for the better,” Almedia claimed.

According to the survey results, the most significant challenge in the current UA landscape is tracking and measurement, a result of changing privacy regulations over recent years. User churn and high CPIs are the next most prevalent problems, 

A sizeable 46% of developers shared concerns around fraud, such as invalid traffic rates and ad fraud, and 12% don’t even trust some traditional UA sources whatsoever. On the other hand, 34% stated that they have “complete trust” in the more traditional UA sources.

Return on ad spend has also improved for 68% using reward-based campaigns compared to other strategies.

“Reward-based user acquisition has evolved from a channel once viewed with scepticism into a sophisticated, data-driven approach which delivers exceptional returns for players and advertisers alike,” said Almedia founder and CEO Moritz Holländer.

“The numbers show this isn’t just another UA trend, but a competitive advantage which is quickly turning into a non-negotiable part of mobile gaming advertisers’ marketing strategies.”

It’s worth noting that Almedia itself specialises in gamified promotion in the UA business. Independent agency Atomik Research was recruited for the study.

Part one of the Rewarded Returns report, which can be found here, will be followed by part two this March.