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游戏开发者必须掌握的移动广告6大要点

发布时间:2013-03-23 11:20:54 Tags:,,,,

作者:James Hilton

如今的手机游戏开发者越来越做到难脱颖而出了。

除此之外,开发者们也很难基于可观的投资回报率而获得用户。

基于如此多可行的广告网络和手机广告选择,以下我将列出手机开发者必须掌握的有关手机广告的6大要点。

mobile advertising(from businessinsider)

mobile advertising(from businessinsider)

1.不要妄图亲自尝试

许多开发者都表示手机广告未能发挥作用。主要是因为他们尝试着在网站上发布一些广告但却不能获得相应的回报。

面对着超过160个的供应商和广告网站,以及大量获取用户的格式和方法(如CPA,CPC,CPI,CPD,CPM等等),我有点怀疑开发者们是否都想错了。

计划并购买手机媒体是开发者们需要与别人合作而掌握的一项专业技能。专业的手机计划和购买代理拥有绝对的经验去决定该做什么或不该做什么,该瞄准谁或者哪里等等。

他们也用于一个完整的团队致力于帮助应用开发者以最低的成功获取更多用户。除此之外还有专门的软件在支持者这一任务。

此外,因为广告技术会随着需求平台,实时竞价以及其它获取新用户的方法而改变,所以我们更需要选择那些真正了解这方面工作的人。

但是我们也必须注意—-因为手机广告策略具有劳动密集型本质,以及代理商们面对的是狭窄的利润,所以许多代理商所开出的最低价甚至高达2万美元。

2.只适用于免费游戏

不幸的是,如果你拥有一个设置了固定价格的付费游戏,那么手机广告对你来说便不再有效。

为什么?因为你必须支付1美元以上去获取用户。如果你的应用售价1.99美元或者更低,那么你必须明确支付给苹果或谷歌平台的费用就要低于该成本,否则你只会为此而赔钱。

比起付费游戏开发者,免费游戏开发者更了解ARPU(每用户平均收益)或ARPPU(每付费用户平均收益),所以他们能够投入更多钱去获取用户,因为他们知道这么做最终将为自己带来更多利益。

3.你必须创造出真正优秀的作品

对于所有游戏而言这都是一个不可避免的真理。你可以拥有世界上最多的市场营销预算,但是如果你的游戏非常糟糕,那么最终结果便是无数人会安装你的应用,但是也会在极短时间内删除应用——也就是说你只是在浪费钱罢了。

除此之外,如果你的游戏非常糟糕,那么玩家在安装了这款游戏后便会涌向应用商店给它一颗星的评价。所以如果你只注重游戏营销而忽视了游戏质量,你便等于为自己铺上通向失败的道路。

4.准备花钱

在找到真正合适的手机广告之前你必须做出各种尝试。换句话说,你需要投入大量时间和金钱去测试各种网站和创造性选择,直到你最终明确能够以合适成本获取用户的最有效方法。

通过测试你将能明确在一定规模下每获取一名用户所花费的成本是否合理——规模非常关键,因为这是一个全球化空间,并且大多数用户并不会对单一市场感兴趣。

至于成本,许多开发者都希望能够获取更多用户,如此才能推动游戏在排行榜上的排名,并帮助他们从游戏下载中获取更多利益,也就是所谓的“连锁效应”。

尽管美国游戏排行榜所需要的资金可不是一笔小数目—-除非你能拿出上万美元的预算你才有希望进入排行榜前十名的位置。

不管你使用的是何种策略,你都必须追踪该方法的每个步骤,并且除了专注于下载量,你还需要重视每个获取用户的终生价值,并相应地优化预算。

5.你需要做好持久战的准备

对于手机广告,开发者必须基于长远的视角。许多开发者为了在应用商店取得一时的突破而在最初发行时忽视了预算的设置。

但是随着开发者资金的衰竭,这种突破也将随之下滑。实际上,真正成功的开发者会始终基于广告而设定最合理的预算。

这种“始终持续”的策略需要开发者进行严格的追踪,并专注于持续改变的优化参数,也许本月有效的方法在接下来一个月便不再有用。

6.理解各种数字(CPA,ARPU,ARPPU,LTV)

手机广告就像一种数字游戏,即承担着分析你的用户的任务——生命周期便是媒体计划代理将会使用的主要参数。

你在一段时间内从一个玩家(作为一个平均值)身上赚取的钱将决定着你可以花多少钱去获取一个能够带来利润的玩家。基于此,我们分别花了3个月,6个月和12个月去追踪玩家,并使用历史数据去驱动未来的各种活动。

策略代理也会使用复杂的追踪工具去追踪用户在下载应用后的行动,如第一次,第二次或第三次使用,第一次购买或第二次购买等等行为。这些信息能够帮助开发者优化预算,并最终决定购买机制,从而避免不必要的风险。

如果开发者想要朝着正确方向前进并获得最大的回报,那么与有经验的手机计划和购买合作伙伴(了解各种相关数字)合作便能够带给他们最大的帮助。

这同样也能够推动开发者去使用全球利率和信息,并让他们能够专注于自己所知道的最好的选择—-UI/UX,盈利机制,免费模式以及用户关系的管理等等。

本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转载,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

6 things game developers need to know about mobile advertising, by M&C Saatchi Mobile

by Guest Author

It’s getting harder and harder for mobile game developers to cut through the clutter.

On top of this, it’s also getting harder for developers to acquire customers at a decent return on investment.

With so many ad networks available and mobile advertising options, here are the six key things that we think game developers need to know about mobile advertising.

1. Don’t try this at home

I’ve met more developers than I care to remember who have said that mobile advertising doesn’t work for them. This is largely based on the fact that they’ve tried some banners on a network and got little back in terms of their investment.

With over 160 suppliers and ad networks, plus loads of formats and ways to acquire people (CPA, CPC, CPI, CPD, CPM etc. ) it’s little wonder to me that the average developer won’t get it right.

Being able to plan and buy mobile media is a specialist skill that developers need to partner with someone for. Specialist mobile planning and buying agencies have a mass of experience on what does and does not work, who to target and where to target.

They also have entire teams of people dedicated to helping app developers acquire customers at the best possible price. And this will all be supported by proprietary reporting and optimisation software that they have invested heavily in.

Furthermore, as ad technology changes with demand-side platforms, real time bidding and other increasingly sophisticated means of acquiring new customers, then it is even more important to use someone who really knows what they’re doing.

But please be warned – due to the incredibly labour intensive nature of mobile advertising strategy and execution and the narrow margins that agencies work on, many of them will set a minimum campaign spend of $20k USD and upwards.

2. It only works for freemium games

Unfortunately, if you have a set price, premium title then mobile advertising won’t work for you.

Why? Because you’ll have to pay to acquire customers anywhere from $1 upwards. If your app is $1.99 or even lower then by the time that you’ve netted out the costs to Apple or Google it will likely leave you at break even or a loss.

Freemium app developers tend to have a much better idea of their customers ARPU (average revenue per user) or ARPPU (average revenue per paying user) which is significantly higher than a premium game and so they can invest more money in acquiring customers knowing that will mean that they will ultimately turn a profit.

3. Your product needs to be really good

This is the one inescapable universal truth for all games. You can have the world’s biggest marketing budget, but if your game is terrible then all you’ll do is get people to install your app and delete it in seconds – meaning that you’ve wasted your money.

Furthermore, if your game is awful then people will install the game and then flock to the app store to give it one star reviews. So perversely, by spending all that money on app installs you’ve actually been the architect of your own downfall.

4. Prepare to spend

‘You need to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince’ rings very true in mobile advertising. In other words – it’ll take time and money to test a lot of networks and creative options until you find out what works and how you can effectively acquire customers for a sustainable cost.

Testing will also determine tolerable cost per acquisition at scale – scale being the key thing here because it’s a global space and most clients are not interested in single markets.

As for cost, many developers want to acquire customers in order to boost chart rankings and benefit from organic downloads or what is called the ‘halo effect’.

The amount required to hit the top of the games charts in the US are substantial – we’re talking an investment of tens of thousands of dollars a day to have any hope of entering the top ten.

Whatever your strategy, it is important to track every step of the way and focus not only on downloads but the lifetime value (LTV) of each of the acquired users and optimise your budgets accordingly.

5. You need to be in it for the long game

Pardon the sports analogy, but developers need to adopt a long-term view for mobile advertising. A lot of developers will simply set budget aside for an initial launch in order to try and create a very temporary spike on the app store.

This spike will quickly drop off as soon as spend is exhausted. In reality, the most successful developers consistently spend budget on advertising.

This ‘always on’ strategy needs to be 100 percent performance focused with stringent tracking and optimisation parameters accompanied by continual changes in creative and networks, as what works one month may change the next.

6. Understand your numbers (CPA, ARPU, ARPPU, LTV)

Mobile advertising is a numbers game, which means undertaking a lot of analysis of your customers – lifetime value being the key metric that a media planning agency will use.

The amount of money you can make from a single customer (as an average) over X period of time will govern how much you can spend to acquire someone at a profit. In terms of this, we track users for 3, 6, 12 months and use historical data to drive future campaigns.

A strategic agency will also use sophisticated tracking tools to understand what customers are doing beyond the download such as first, second and third usage, first purchase, second purchase etc. This information will be used to optimise budget and ultimately drive the buying mechanics of the campaign – removing the risk.

Using an experienced mobile planning and buying partner who understands the numbers is a big help to developers in order to steer them in the right direction and maximise return on investment.

It also ensures developers can leverage global rates and learnings and allows developers to focus efforts on what they know best – UI / UX, monetisation, freemium modelling and managing the customer relationship.(source:pocketgamer)


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