Mobile advertising is undergoing some fundamental changes and 2023 will see a shakeup. There have been discussions and innovations over the last couple of years, but there are still questions that demand answers. To get you some insight, we gathered the predictions of MMPs and Ad Exchanges regarding the impact of Apple’s and Google’s privacy changes (plus a lot more) in our latest articles. Now, to continue the series, we interviewed several advertisers to gain their perspective on all things mobile marketing.
BlowFire: Considering our recent experience, we will increase spending on DSP platforms. For developers, websites and offline advertisements could also be good choices, but depending on their app category.
- Logan Yan, UA Team Leader, BlowFire
Century Games: After the change in privacy policy, it is difficult to judge the actual performance of each channel, especially for the SLG that rely on long-term ROI performance and don’t require huge installs. We therefore tend to be stricter when evaluating channels and allocating budgets.
In addition, due to the SKAN system, it's not easy to identify the threshold. If volumes are too small, the proportion of CV=null will increase. So, in terms of choosing channels, if there isn’t enough budget to blanket all channels in a campaign, we will focus on channels with large budgets and strong machine learning capabilities.
- Yang Tingyuan, Project Leader, Century Games
GOAT GAMES: After the release of iOS 14, we started to invest more into programmatic and video, rewarded or play, to earn media channels. Trying everything and testing gives you more transparency for your UA campaigns. Most of our exploration attempts resulted in success, which helps not only sustain business, but drive scale. So, I believe change is what leads to innovative solutions and professional growth for marketers.
- Alexander Cherpak, User Growth Head, GOAT GAMES
RisingWings: Clearly, changes in personal information protection and the current economic situation make it difficult to execute mobile advertisements.
In 2022, we responded to ATT by significantly lowering the proportion of iOS campaigns, but I don't think we can solve it with simple avoidance because the huge trend has already shifted to strengthening personal information protection.
Therefore, we are constantly establishing ideas for solutions that can accurately analyze performance while protecting personal information by combining tracked information through MMP and logged play in the game to identify macro play patterns of users by inflow.
- Yeeseul Hwang, UA Part Leader, RisingWings
BlowFire: We focus more on iOS because we are better at iOS promotion and it delivered high ROAS to us in 2022. We will continue this approach this year, 2023, and allocate more budgets to iOS campaigns.
- Logan Yan, UA Team Leader, BlowFire
Century Games: ROAS is our priority. According to the OS cost recovery model of our game, budgets are allocated based on hitting ROAS goals. The budget will be increased if campaign performance is satisfactory.
- Yang Tingyuan, Project Leader, Century Games
GOAT GAMES: This industry is dynamic and you need to adapt to all changes accordingly. Currently, we see better results on Android rather than iOS, so we are investing more on Android for all our games. But everything could change instantly when Google releases its new privacy policy similar to Apple’s.
- Alexander Cherpak, User Growth Head, GOAT GAMES
RisingWings: Most of the budget is spent on Android although we are constantly testing iOS campaigns with small amounts. Because I have so much experience in iOS, I am constantly analyzing results and am willing to invest additional budget if I see any potential for better performance.
However, we plan to continue reviewing and trying other channels other than mobile. And I expect other app developers to have similar plans.
- Yeeseul Hwang, UA Part Leader, RisingWings
BlowFire: If the attribution of the programmatic platform remains the same, and the performance continues to be good, I think there could be an increase in spending.
- Logan Yan, UA Team Leader, BlowFire
Century Games: If there are no more changes for data measurement, Apple privacy policy and machine learning, overall budgets in 2023 will be the same as spending in 2022.
- Yang Tingyuan, Project Leader, Century Games
GOAT GAMES: Programmatic UA is really important for us in terms of scale for existing and upcoming games. It takes the same amount of budget as social media channels such as Facebook. Currently, I predict it will be scaled after the release of new games. Many gaming developers underestimate programmatic. It takes more effort and time for a successful UA campaign, but it will be rewarded in the end.
- Alexander Cherpak, User Growth Head, GOAT GAMES
RisingWings: Although we are reviewing the attempts on various channels, we believe that programmatic spending will account for most of the marketing budget in 2023 following 2022.
As the marketing environment is becoming more cluttered, the efficiency and precise performance analysis of programmatic advertising are still great advantages that cannot be replicated by other channels.
Now that we are used to this convenient and reliable method, we believe that marketers have no choice but to invest more budget to ensure stability.
- Yeeseul Hwang, UA Part Leader, RisingWings
Bottom Line
2023 is already here and the mobile marketing ecosystem is busy like never before. With all the buzz around ATT and GAID and different discussions around the forecasted programmatic spend, our clients are optimistic about the future of mobile programmatic advertising and are getting off to a strong start in the new year!