Skip to content

The Business of Social Games and Casino

How to succeed in the mobile game space by Lloyd Melnick

Day: July 1, 2015

Advertising is not a bad thing

I have heard many people in the game industry complain that advertising in games (free to play or otherwise) is a bad thing, or even immoral. The reality is it is actually a benefit to people—your customers—if done properly. It provides players with more options, allows developers to create games they would not try and allows people’s favorite games to remain live.

More options and value for players

The most effective advertising in games is advertising that the player sees as creating value. These benefits manifest themselves in several ways:
Slide1

  • ”Watch to earn” videos or other advertising that allows players to earn in-game currency by participating in advertising rather than spending money. This often takes the form of watching video ads or participating in special offers (such as taking a survey or subscribing to Netflix. This is a huge benefit, not detriment to they player, as they control completely whether they participate in the advertising or decide not to (and either forego the benefits or use real currency to acquire them).
  • Allowing development of advertising supported games. Some of the most popular games would not be possible if there was no in-game advertising. Virtually all of the revenue from games like Words with Friends comes from advertising. The game is incredibly popular with tens of millions of players and requires a development team to continue creating content to keep those players happy. Without advertising, those games would not exist and the millions of fans would not have a great source of entertainment.
  • Players are always unhappy when their favorite classic free-to-play games are “sunset,” which is the equivalent of sending a horse to the glue factory. Advertising sometimes provides an alternative to euthanizing a game. If a developer can incorporate advertising to cover its costs of maintaining the game, it then has no reason to sunset the product.

Other industries

Most other industries embrace advertising because it provides the same benefits to users. Viewers of television often prefer networks that do not charge (though they complain about it sometimes) rather than pay subscription fees. Those who hate advertising, though, have options to focus on networks like HBO or use services like Netflix. Print readers often enjoy subsidized costs for newspapers and magazines as advertising revenue allow the magazine to offset most or all of its costs. Additionally, advertising allows many publications to give away their product for free in exchange for the user to consume ads.

Parting thoughts

The reality is that advertising benefits players in many ways and developers should embrace it as a way to provide more value to users. By integrating advertising into the business model, you can find ways to add value to your players and give options to players you other wise had to neglect because they did not monetize through in-app purchases.

Key takeaways

  1. In-game advertising is a way to provide additional value to your players.
  2. It allows players who do not want to purchase items to earn them by participating in the advertising.
  3. Advertising allows game companies to provide games or maintain games that otherwise would not exist.
54.153880 -4.485703

Like this:

Like Loading...
Lloyd Melnick General Social Games Business, General Tech Business Leave a comment July 1, 2015January 4, 2016 2 Minutes

Get my book on LTV

The definitive book on customer lifetime value, Understanding the Predictable, is now available in both print and Kindle formats on Amazon.

Understanding the Predictable delves into the world of Customer Lifetime Value (LTV), a metric that shows how much each customer is worth to your business. By understanding this metric, you can predict how changes to your product will impact the value of each customer. You will also learn how to apply this simple yet powerful method of predictive analytics to optimize your marketing and user acquisition.

For more information, click here

Follow The Business of Social Games and Casino on WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,333 other followers

Most Recent Posts

  • Podcasts now available
  • Lessons for gaming and tech companies from the Peter Drucker Forum
  • Chaos Theory, the Butterfly Effect, and Gaming
  • How to give help without micromanaging

Lloyd Melnick

This is Lloyd Melnick’s personal blog.  All views and opinions expressed on this website are mine alone and do not represent those of people, institutions or organizations that I may or may not be associated with in professional or personal capacity.

I am a serial builder of businesses (senior leadership on three exits worth over $700 million), successful in big (Disney, Stars Group/PokerStars, Zynga) and small companies (Merscom, Spooky Cool Labs) with over 20 years experience in the gaming and casino space.  Currently, I am the GM of VGW’s Chumba Casino and on the Board of Directors of Murka Games and Luckbox.

Topic Areas

  • Analytics (114)
  • Bayes' Theorem (8)
  • behavioral economics (8)
  • blue ocean strategy (14)
  • Crowdfunding (4)
  • General Social Games Business (457)
  • General Tech Business (194)
  • Growth (88)
  • International Issues with Social Games (50)
  • Lloyd's favorite posts (101)
  • LTV (54)
  • Machine Learning (10)
  • Mobile Platforms (37)
  • Social Casino (51)
  • Social Games Marketing (104)
  • thinking fast and slow (5)
  • Uncategorized (32)

Social

  • View CasualGame’s profile on Facebook
  • View @lloydmelnick’s profile on Twitter
  • View lloydmelnick’s profile on LinkedIn

RSS

RSS Feed RSS - Posts

RSS Feed RSS - Comments

Categories

  • Analytics (114)
  • Bayes' Theorem (8)
  • behavioral economics (8)
  • blue ocean strategy (14)
  • Crowdfunding (4)
  • General Social Games Business (457)
  • General Tech Business (194)
  • Growth (88)
  • International Issues with Social Games (50)
  • Lloyd's favorite posts (101)
  • LTV (54)
  • Machine Learning (10)
  • Mobile Platforms (37)
  • Social Casino (51)
  • Social Games Marketing (104)
  • thinking fast and slow (5)
  • Uncategorized (32)

Archives

  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • December 2010
July 2015
S M T W T F S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031  
« Jun   Sep »

by Lloyd Melnick

All posts by Lloyd Melnick unless specified otherwise
Google+

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,333 other followers

Follow Lloyd Melnick on Quora

RSS HBR Blog

  • Using AI to Turn Your Teams Into Superteams - SPONSOR CONTENT FROM DELOITTE
    Sponsor content from Deloitte.
  • Data Is Great — But It’s Not a Replacement for Talking to Customers
    The best insights often come from seeing the world through someone else’s eyes.

RSS Techcrunch

  • An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.

RSS MIT Sloan Management Review Blog

  • The Best of This Week
    How to Ace the Virtual Hiring Process Remote hiring is here to stay. New research has identified four strategies that organizations can use to improve their approach to recruit the best and brightest talent remotely: taking the time to prepare, demonstrating attention to detail, sparking authentic conversation, and addressing candidates’ uncertainties head-o […]
  • Execs Bullish on AI but Wary of Data Leadership
    Every year in December and January, NewVantage Partners (NVP) conducts a survey of data and technology executives in large companies primarily located in the U.S. Every year, we (the authors) collaborate in analyzing and interpreting the results. And every year, we wonder why the survey results suggest that certain aspects of the data environment aren’t […] […]
Website Powered by WordPress.com.
Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×
    %d bloggers like this: