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School of Ad Tech Part 4: Why Gaming Advertisers Need Rewarded Video Ads for Success

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Welcome to yet another installment of our series “School of Ad Tech”, where we demystify the basics of ad tech for our readers. Today, we throw the spotlight on why gaming advertisers need rewarded video ads for success.

Getting users to convert out of genuine interest for an app is not an easy feat. The mobile gaming landscape is competitive – not only do you need to have a relevant and appealing game that stands out from the crowd but also be smart about your advertising strategy. One successful strategy is to work with incentivized traffic to push an app’s visibility by achieving a high app store ranking and then benefitting from the genuine installs that result from the gained visibility effect. Being able to combine the impact of video advertising with incentivized traffic lets you make the most out of both these powerful levers: you benefit from the ability to showcase the best side of your game to a user with them having consented to viewing your ad in the first place, promoting high quality installs.

The statistics seem to speak in favor of video ads: 52% of mobile game developers thought of video ads as providing the highest revenue per user compared to any other type of in-game advertising. On the user side as well, 46% of players prefer viewing rewarded video content over other ad formats, with nearly 80% of players being open to engaging with video ads for in-game rewards.

So, What is Rewarded Video?

It is a short video, usually around 15 sec maximum. Users need to opt-in to watch this non-skippable video – having been incentivized to do so by being offered a reward such as an additional life in a game or in-app credit. There should be an end card with a compelling call to action to persuade the user to install the advertised app.

Where to Place Rewarded Video?

To ensure a non-intrusive user experience, the ad should ideally be placed at a point when the user is failing to progress in the game to incentivize him to stay in the game and be more susceptible to opting in to watching the video.

Why Rewarded Video?

There are various advantages of this format over other ad formats:

  • For advertisers this ad format helps increase brand awareness through guaranteed video completes. It also results in highly engaged quality users and therefore helps maximize LTV.
  • For publishers it can help entice users to making more in-app purchases by making this concept appealing to them.
  • Video traffic is incentivized-only, which leads to genuine clicks and can result in high quality installs and increased lifetime value since the app was previewed by the user before deciding.
  • Offers higher eCPMs as compared to other ad formats such as banners and static interstitials.
  • Offers higher engagement

Who Should Use Rewarded Video Ads?

Typically, gaming advertisers use rewarded video ads to offer users incentives such as moving to the next game level, offering an extra “life” in the game etc. But, in general, any app advertiser can use rewarded video to drive new adoption. Rewarded video ads can be a good channel for advertisers looking to increase viewability. Since rewarded ads are user generated, in the sense that users have to click to accept the rewarded video, it offers advertisers higher viewability and engagement. In contrast to video ads that pop up on their own and are non-skippable, rewarded video ads are less intrusive to the user.

What Should Advertisers Know Before Using Rewarded Video?

Before starting a campaign with rewarded video, advertisers must do a thorough research on their user base and their respective behavior. To create powerful rewarded video ads, it is important to know what makes the user tick. Only this way can you craft a powerful video showcasing your game from its best angle possible and promise what you can actually deliver on.

It is crucial to have a compelling game, or an app, that matches the user’s interests by choosing supply carefully and that the ad showcases the best sides of the app.

Give the user control over which types of rewards to receive — this helps in better understanding which rewards are perceived well by the audiences and perform better.

Advertisers must also choose the ad platform wisely before they start a rewarded video campaign. The success of the campaign depends largely on the capabilities of the platform that can offer demand on a global scale to use this format to deliver the desired returns.

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