The Reality Check Mobile Game Ads Need: Why Players Don't Hate All In-Game Advertising

To be honest, when the majority of users hear about mobile game advertisements, they imagine those embarrassing "You can't pass this level? You are a legally talented player" banners or even worse a 30-second video that appears just as you are about to make a winning goal.

However, here is the thing: players do not despise advertising. They despise poor advertising. Everyone is up to their knees in the mobile gaming scene, and you may have seen the discussion about ads go through phases of "how can we slip these by players?" The question was how to make advertisements that players would be glad to view. That change is not merely marketing-speak; it is a sea change in the way that we conceptualize in-game advertising.

The Moment Everything Changed

Imagine this: You are zooming together with your favorite mobile racing game through the neon-drenched streets of a cyberpunk city. You round a corner and get a glimpse of a huge digital advert telling you about the new Samsung phone. One forgets, just for a moment, that this is an advertisement; it seems so much a part of this world of the future.

And that is when it dawns on you, this advertisement has not spoiled your experience. It improved it.

And it is not a theoretical situation either; it is going on in games everywhere today. Native ads for games have quietly revolutionized how we think about mobile advertising, and the results are pretty remarkable.

Why Players Are Actually Okay with Some Ads

Do you recall the last time you watched a Marvel film? Did those product placements cause you to leave the theater? Tony Stark drinking a Starbucks coffee or driving an Audi was organic because it was befitting of the world. Mobile games use the same psychology.

When you sit down and interview gamers regarding their preference for ads, the trends are more than clear: they do not mind sensible ads. An energy drink like the Red Bull on a counter in a convenience store simulation? Normal. An advertisement for the same energy drink in the middle of a puzzle game? Not. It simply lies in the circumstances and in consideration of the time of the player.

The Ad Formats That Actually Work

Through extensive campaign testing within the mobile gaming environment, a number of ad formats within games have proven to be especially successful when advertising mobile games. These formats show a quantifiable success not only in terms of engagement rates, but actual player acceptance:

Reward Advertising with Value

The cases of strategically rewarded video integrations turn the conventional advertising trade into a valuable player decision. As opposed to the forced viewing experiences, the successful campaigns offer clear value propositions in which the players voluntarily opt to view 30-second content in order to receive premium in-game currency or exclusive items. Such an opt-in method has resulted in a much better completion rate and positive sentiment score.

Branded Content That Is Integrated Contextually

The integration of native brands is most effective when the advertising turns into a functional part of the game. One case study was a cooking simulation game that used real-world restaurant recipes and branded in-game ingredients as its game elements. This led to the creation of new content streams with the preservation of advertising goals, creating longer session durations, and good brand association measurements.

Enhanced Interactive Experiences

The playable ad format performs well when the quality of execution is up to the expectations of the players. The most effectively realised ones are aimed at offering slick representative pieces of gameplay that offer real value at natural game break points. Such micro-experiences have to walk the line between promotional goals and being entertaining enough to guarantee high engagement rates.

The Trust Factor

Mobile players become very particular about the games that value their time and money. Badly placed interruptions at intense points in the gameplay can leave a negative connection, which can be applied not just to the moment of play but to the brand being promoted.

Naturally integrated in-game advertising, which functions as a part of a game mechanism, can construct more favorable brand experiences. Advertising can also lead to player satisfaction when it is non-disruptive and works in improving the game environment.

Though dependent on both implementation and audience, some developers have cited higher player retention rates when switching aggressively intrusive ad units to more native ad units in gaming applications. But it has to be well executed, timed, and perceived to meet the expectations of the players to succeed. The main lesson here is that non-disruptive advertising strategies are less likely to invite player opposition as compared to disruptive strategies.

What This Means for Your Game

In case you are a maker or promoter of mobile games, this change implies an immense chance. They should not ask how many advertisements they can display before players leave but... start posing the question how can advertising make our game better?

That could be:

• Doing promotions with brands that belong in the world of your game
• Developing ad experiences that reveal new content or features
• Dynamic advertisement that adjusts to what the players are already doing was used.

It is not about duping players into viewing advertisements, but rather creating advertisements that they actually desire to view.

The Bottom Line

Mobile gaming players are not anti-advertising. They are anti-bad advertisements. They're anti-interruption. They are against feeling that their time does not matter.

Everything changes when we move our mindset about advertising, to the players, to advertising with the players. In-game advertising becomes a creative challenge rather than a necessary evil. It is instead about creating experiences that players enjoy and not just put up with.

The mobile gaming market is getting older fast, and the advertising solutions that were efficient half a decade ago seem to be getting more and more obsolete. The players demand more now and quite honestly they ought to.

The question isn't whether mobile game advertising has a future, it's whether we're brave enough to make ads that deserve that future.

Ready to revolutionize your mobile game advertising strategy? Find out how Apptrove, a reliable mobile measurement partner, can assist you in building ad experiences that players will love and optimizing your ROI.