Rujul Patel, Fyber’s SVP of Global Developer Relations, is on a mission to help mobile game developers make money. The key to mission success: balancing IAP monetization with ad monetization. ““We need to see how to have ads work better in mobile games,” said Rujul during their session at Casual Connect Europe. Many game developers, however, believe that ads hurt the game experience and could cannibalize IAP revenue. At their session, Rujul dispels these concerns with a few examples of developers who successfully added rewarded video ads to their monetization strategies.
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“I have been working in mobile advertising on the supply side for more than six years, mostly helping content and utility apps monetize their users,” said Rujul. “Given the continuing growth in user time spent engaging with games, I truly believe that it is now poised to become the dominant media for advertisers of all categories to reach their customers. That inspired me to join Fyber as it lets me provide the game developers with the best platform and services to access and execute against the upcoming shift in advertising spend.”
Finding the Right Ad Solutions
Fyber brings all of the ways for game developers to monetize with ads together so they can actually focus on their business.
“At Fyber, we believe that addressing monetization is a two-part effort for game developers – picking the right platform/technology and working with experts that offer the best ad monetization strategy that includes ad formats, ad entry points, currency exchange rates, ad engagement tactics and demand optimization,” said Rujul.
“We believe that monetization will become more automated as the industry matures and this automation will not be limited to just picking the right ad offer but will extend to picking the right ad format, frequency, pricing and much more,” added Rujul.
Using the Right Ad Tools
As they say, you can’t fit a square peg in a round hole. The same can be said for a mobile game monetization strategy. There is no one size fits all monetization solution, which is why Rujul is a big believer in the “Swiss army knife approach” to monetization. The approach is simple: there’s more than just IAP, developers should choose monetization solutions that best fit their game.
“The differences for monetization and IAP plans for bigger companies compared to indie teams are driven more by the type of games developed and associated objectives of the individual studios – big or indie – than their size,” detailed Rujul. “Another way is saying that the studios understand their games and users the best and typically lean towards one form or the other for monetization based on that knowledge. Fyber understands this well and has developed a unique tech and services approach. We not only help developers maximize their revenue by offering them the best ad monetization technology but also actively devise ad strategies with them that indirectly drive IAP via improved user engagement with the game as well as ads.”
When asked what devs should keep in mind for the present, Rujul responded, “I would say that the main danger would be being indifferent or being unaware of the value that a monetization platform partner brings to them. Like game development, ad monetization must be user-centric and user-sensitive. Choosing the right partner can result in sustained revenue from ads that’s synergistic with IAP.”
What the Future Holds for Ad Tech
At Fyber, Rujul’s on the forefront of mobile gaming, which allows him to play the latest games and to work with some of the best developers in the business.
“Generally in the ad tech industry, everything is rapidly becoming programmatic and real time – meaning that pretty much all aspects of transactions are becoming API based and changes to creatives, campaigns, objectives, data/targeting etc. are getting automated using advanced techniques like machine learning,” noted Rujul. “Specifically for gaming.”
When asked to conclude with what’s key for developers to make players pay without getting annoyed and quitting a game, Rujul said, “Besides having an engaging game, which is foundational, it’s also very important to provide mechanisms for users to keep progressing with the game play irrespective of their desire and the timing thereof to pay for it.”
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