Targeted marketing can be most effective in games | Gamesight

Gamesight have released their annual State of Performance Marketing Report, providing insight into the types of platforms and advertising strategies that are effective for game studios. According to the latest findings, optimized marketing is based on a tailored strategy, with different platforms offering different advantages to reach specific target groups or retain their attention in the long term. Gamesight’s report shows that finding the right platform for advertising can provide a much better return on investment than a broader approach.

One of the report’s findings was the strengths of different platforms. For example, of the two major video-based sites for gamers, Twitch offers three times higher conversion rates, largely thanks to its unskippable ad format and targeted approach; while YouTube has a 54% retention rate, one of the highest among ad networks, and better long-term engagement.

Other findings from the report include the untapped potential of Reddit, which recently overhauled its ad system and boasts a seven-day retention rate of 52%. It also offers hyper-contextual targeted advertising programs and category adoption, allowing marketers to serve ads directly to top communities related to their game’s genre. The report also finds that X (formerly Twitter) is the most effective advertising network for reaching PlayStation-based audiences.

Gaming marketers can meet gamers where they are

Sam Bonin, solutions engineer at Gamesight, explained to GamesBeat how this information can be actionable for game studios: “Advertising platforms offer a variety of campaign optimization features, including audience targeting, bidding strategies, and inventory type. Advertisers should experiment with different settings and strategies that resonate best with their target audience. The results in this report provide some general insights that may vary from game to game, but can help advertisers find the best media mix for their audience.”

The report also analyzes various statistics, such as conversion rates and seven-day retention rates, for different platforms. Gamesight names Google Ads as the top network, followed by YouTube and Meta. However, each platform comes with both challenges and benefits – the report cites increasing scrutiny from antitrust regulators as a particular challenge for Google.

Referring to the report’s suggestion that marketing budgets have been cut in 2024, Bonin added: “If we find that advertising budgets have been cut and spending has shifted towards known quantities, this will result in a lower overall number of.” Advertisers used ad networks.” In previous years, advertisers may have been willing to place ads on a large number of social networks, affiliate marketers, advertising platforms, etc. In 2024, advertisers tended to focus on the largest/most popular ad networks (e.g. Google/Meta/TikTok/etc).”