Anzu.io, the world’s most advanced in-game advertising solution, works closely with some of the globe’s best-known game studios, helping them monetise their titles with non-intrusive ads that become part of the gameplay.
One such studio is Mytona, which has implemented in-game ads into its mobile hit Cooking Diary. Anzu’s Director of Supply Growth, Maor Wurembrand, recently caught up with the team to understand how they found the process.
Maor Wurembrand: First of all, can you give us a quick overview of the studio?
Mytona is an international team headquartered in New Zealand, uniting industry professionals worldwide since 2012. Our games portfolio is very diverse. We create and publish games across several platforms and genres for all audiences. We’ve spent the past six years successfully delivering great mobile games such as Seekers Notes and Cooking Diary.
We worked closely together to bring intrinsic in-game ads to Cooking Diary last year. What made you decide to begin using in-game as a monetisation strategy?
We were looking for a solution that would allow us to monetise our games without compromising on the user experience or gameplay and that could still provide us with a stable and reliable revenue stream. We also wanted something that could be fully integrated into our game’s narrative without violating the visual style. Many of our games, including Cooking Diary, have huge followings with dedicated player bases. Our number one priority was to ensure we put our players first and that their experience was not affected.
Why did you choose to work with Anzu?
We were introduced to Anzu a few years ago and found their solution and technology incredibly exciting. They helped us integrate ads into Cooking Diary, our flagship time management culinary game. We chose this title as it has TVs, banners, and paintings that the ads could naturally sit within without disrupting the gameplay flow.
Were the ads easy to integrate?
Our primary challenge was finding suitable placements within our restaurants, as the composition of each restaurant is unique. There are also a lot of dynamically changing objects on-screen all of the time, which complicated the process of finding a suitable place where nothing would block the placement. The camera perspective in the game is also slightly off-angle, so we had to find a way around that.
When we had overcome all of the above, the implementation was not that difficult once we figured out the sequence of callbacks to process placements. During the implementation, Anzu provided us with a demo, which greatly helped get the placements set up efficiently. In general, the work was more about understanding our implementation and adjusting it to the conditions of visibility of placements so that impressions are counted.
Since the ad placements went live, we have been monitoring them closely within the Anzu dashboard and working with the Anzu team to tweak and reposition them, ensure we are getting the most out of them, and are having a positive impact on the gameplay.
What success have you seen?
After implementing Anzu into our game, ad revenue increased by six percent. We also saw a four times increase in total cost per mile (CPM) and a six times increase in video eCPM from the US. Finally, and most importantly, we received no negative feedback from players on the ads and no change in unique user numbers after launching them, indicating that they did not affect the player experience.
How did in-game advertising work alongside your other monetisation methods?
The intrinsic in-game ads have worked well alongside our in-app purchases, supplying us with an additional revenue stream. Being able to rely on this regular source of income is amazing, especially with the uncertain economic climate we currently find ourselves in.
What would you say to another studio thinking about using in-game ads to monetise their games?
It is an excellent option for additional advertising monetisation if you have a continuous stream of installs and a large audience. Try to implement placements in the places where players spend most of their time, but at the same time, do not forget that the gameplay and user experience come first.
To learn more about Anzu’s intrinsic in-game advertising solution, head here.
