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This article comes from the official account of Wechat: ID:chuappgame, author: etc.

In the game market outside China, what is the difference between promotion and promotion?

Adam Lieb, CEO of game marketing agency Gamesight, and Nicole Young, marketing director, believe that TikTok, a short-video social platform, has become more and more important in overseas game advertising.

"two years ago, few publishers would work with TikTok, but now all game marketers spend part of their budget on this platform." "TikTok is growing at an unprecedented rate in terms of platform influence, the proportion of companies that advertise, and the size of the budget invested by game makers," Lieb said. "

Of course, the rise of TikTok is no accident. On popular social media, platforms such as TikTok,Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat have already become hot spots for advertising in recent years. Based on the attributes of the platform, the delivery methods are also very different.

Lieb points out that TikTok is popular with gaming companies today because it has focused on performance marketing and improving advertising effectiveness and conversion from day one, while competitors have only begun to provide advertisers with more data in the past two years, such as who is clicking on the ad, whether users click on the ad, whether it leads to buying behavior, and so on. "it's very important that they put more emphasis on effect than the so-called 'brand awareness'."

According to statistics, the retention rate of social platforms is 40% higher than that of non-social platforms, and it has become an important platform for game advertisers. According to Lib, the technical details of the operation and optimization of TikTok short videos reflect the platform's attention to effect marketing. For example, advertisers can use API to collect user data and understand the images of active users, thus further displaying ads to more similar users. On platforms such as Facebook and Google, the launch of similar features lags behind, and Twitter has only recently launched effective marketing products for PC and console game developers.

But Lieb also mentioned that as the influence of TikTok grows, advertising costs may rise.

"on the TikTok platform, as more and more brands advertise, the effect is bound to be affected... you spend more money talking to the same group of people, so even if the conversion rate remains the same, the cost will rise."

In terms of ad conversion rates, TikTok's figures are not eye-catching. According to the Advertising Network report 2022 released by Gamesight, the average conversion rate of TikTok ads is only 0.96 per cent, much lower than Google (3.79 per cent), Twitch (5.5 per cent), Facebook (3.48 per cent) and Twitter (7.1 per cent). But Lieb points out that the cost of a single TikTok ad is lower, and the way it is presented is different from other platforms, which are more cost-effective for advertisers. TikTok ads are shorter and more likely to be missed, but TikTok users can't skip ads by paying extra subscription fees as they do on other platforms.

The conversion rate of TikTok has dropped from 2.65% in 2021 to 0.96% in 2022. The fast pace and aversion to corporate marketing in Generation Z are the main reasons for the low conversion rate. Another reason for the low conversion rate is that TikTok users usually use mobile phones rather than computers to watch short videos (TikTok also does not have an App for the host), which means that users are interested in a game they see in ads, if not mobile games. It often takes more steps to complete the purchase, and the proportion of mobile games in the overseas game market is not that high. On the other hand, TikTok's recommendation algorithm allows viewers who are interested in advertising to keep up with the relevant topics. "TikTok can raise awareness and make an impression of gaming products, where they can get a lot of exposure and reach a wide range of people who are interested in their content," says Nicole Young. "

At the same time, game developers also need to pay attention to the type of advertising on TikTok. "the form of TikTok advertising is different, and the video content tends to focus on various vertical areas." Nicole Young added, "on TikTok, the popularity of short videos is fleeting, and advertisers need to keep up with hot topics. So it's also important for developers to understand macro trends when they think about what types of content can be popular."

Compared with TikTok, the advantage of Twitter advertising is that it has a higher conversion rate, while the disadvantage is that the overall scale is relatively small. "Twitter had advertising revenue of $5 billion last year, while Facebook and Google had advertising revenue of $115 billion and $210 billion, respectively. We found that game makers did not spend much on Twitter as a percentage of the marketing budget."

Another advantage of Twitter is topic degree. Twitter itself has been in the headlines since it was acquired by Elon Musk last year. After the acquisition, Musk launched a series of new performance marketing products for Twitter and provided an aggressive matching fund plan for advertisers. Nicole Young believes that these measures have made Twitter advertising more stable than in the past. "historically, it has been difficult for Twitter to achieve large-scale marketing, but with the emergence of new products such as conversion API, many advertisers will presumably see it as a new channel to re-test. Unless there is another black swan incident that caused outrage in Twitter, we believe the platform will not fluctuate much."

TikTok has become the main competitor of YouTube. The former has a large flow but a low conversion rate, while the latter has a small flow but a high conversion rate. It should be noted that no matter which platform, not all advertisements have the same effect. For example, game manufacturers may decide whether to advertise on Twitch according to the conversion rate, but on Twitch, the cost and effectiveness of different types of advertising are different. As Lieb said: "you can't simply think about'is Twitch important? 'the right question should be:' how important are these different types of content?'"

On the Twitch platform, video content created by anchors for sponsors or partners often attracts many players and prompts a considerable number of them to buy games. "this kind of advertising is more effective than all existing game marketings. it's not new, but it's still very common, and anchors participate in the release of almost every new game."

According to Lieb's estimate, the click conversion rate of users from sponsored videos can reach about 60%, and game manufacturers can also use the Twitch Drops function to provide in-game rewards for users who watch specified channels. The cost of this approach is lower, but the conversion rate has dropped to about 20%. For comparison, traditional ads that are broadcast directly in Twitch live broadcasts without the participation of anchors only have a conversion rate of 2% to 3%. However, Lieb revealed that, given the huge cost differences between these three types of advertising, their return on investment is actually quite similar.

VJ recommendation is still one of the most important promotion tools, so what other platforms have similar potential beyond the new growth point of TikTok? In terms of game marketing, Reddit could have unexpected results for developers, Lieb said.

"from the perspective of the budget to promote games, I don't think Reddit has been given enough attention. This may be because the community attribute of Reddit is different from other platforms, and the tastes of users are more tricky and changeable, and developers cannot directly move advertising materials. Reddit is different from Facebook or TikTok. Developers have to talk to different audiences in a different way. Some people find it difficult to do, or do not consider the differences between platforms, directly use outdated ideas from another platform, only to find that the results are not good. "

As a result, Lieb brings some predictions about the future of game advertising. "2023 will be a year of readjustment in many ways, and game makers will carefully review advertising strategies, tactics and budgets. Because the environment is changing, many companies are tightening their budgets, and many games have been cancelled." He also mentioned that as the number of games entering the market decreases, publishers do not allow new works to fail and therefore focus more on direct effect marketing, possibly reducing investment in brand marketing. experimental testing of novel advertising concepts may also become more conservative.

"over the past few years, everyone has been trying cool new things, but this year things are completely different. Game makers will try to make sure that every penny is spent and prove that every investment pays off."

This article is compiled from: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/where-are-people-going-to-advertise-games-in-2023

The original title: "Where are people going to advertise games in 2023?"

Original author: Brendan Sinclair

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