Playtime, adjoe’s own rewarded ad unit, allows users to earn virtual currency for their favorite game through playing third-party games.
Playtime rewards the time spent in 3rd party games, opposed to watching videos or reaching in-app-events. I’m quite excited to have seen impressive first results in the past 12 months. In a recent interview with Forbes Mark Avidan, Playtika’s Media Department Lead, and Darren Markovitz, IMVU’s Head of Monetisation, highlighted the benefits of Playtime for user monetisation and retention.
The ad unit drives simplicity of the ad unit is also its appeal:
Pros
- Revenue uplift: Based on numbers from our publisher network, the ad unit drives higher ARPDAUs than other solutions (US/Android 0,50 USD – 1,50 USD net, depending on the game).
- Retention uplift: Playtime reminds users to come back to the publisher’s game every few minutes to “collect their currency.” This frequent toast notification drives reactivation. In fact, adjoe internal data shows publishers see results that range from an uplift of 0% (which means retention remains stable and there is no churn) to 25% in D7 retention.
- Relevant content: Playtime personalises offers shown to the users based on their individual installed app profile (that is, the apps installed on their own device). This maximises ad-fit to the user.
- No user complaints: Playtime rewards are based on time spent tracked from the device, not based on advertiser postbacks.
Cons
Solid Currency: This is not the ad unit to choose if you want to monetise no or low-value currency in your games. Users have to be properly incentivised and see the benefit of installing and playing an advertiser’s game.
Android-only: Apple’s decision last year to crack down has impacted a range of app install related campaigns and approaches. For this reason, use of this ad unit is limited to Android.
SDK: Playtime requires an SDK integration to track the time spent in apps from the device.
The ad unit in action: A company taking the Playtime ad unit to the next level is IMVU. The company, which offers a 3D avatar-based social networking universe, has added Playtime to its monetization stack alongside existing video and offerwall providers.
Lomit Patel, VP Growth IMVU and a published author and authority on AI, tells me the ad unit is core to “re-engaging people with our product.” It’s a positive that pays off in more ways than one, representing “an attractive feature next to purely generating higher revenues.”
This checklist helps you make tough decisions about your game and how to monetise your audience without sacrificing longer-term loyalty and engagement. All the companies and approaches I listed above can help you achieve better results, but don’t just weigh the pros and cons of each. Making the right choice for your game depends on a variety of factors including your in-app currency and economy, your revenue strategy and your engagement goals.
Make the match based on these considerations, and don’t think it’s a matter of set-it-and forget-it. As in all aspects of your strategy continuous testing is key.
Guest Author Jonas Thiemann, Co-CEO & Founder AppLike Group:
Jonas Thiemann was born in 1990 in Hamburg. In 2015, Thiemann and Szelinsky founded the mobile adtech company AppLike with Gruner + Jahr and Bertelsmann SE, a global media conglomerate. After reaching a TOP 10 Appsflyer Index Ranking for several times, Thiemann has expanded the company into a group of companies which today operates various businesses including adjoe.io, justdice.io and sunday.gg. AppLike Group currently employs around 100 people. Learn more at https://applike-group.com/
About adjoe:
adjoe rewards users for the time they spend in games they love through its Playtime ad unit, creating engagement for advertisers and fostering retention for app publishers. The ultimate result is a virtuous cycle for all stakeholders and increased eCPMs. adjoe’s customer base includes major games studios such as JamCity, Playrix, and Zynga — and is part of the Applike Group, a mobile app marketing platform provider. Learn more at https://adjoe.io/
