Rob Grossberg, the co-Founder and CEO of TreSensa, Inc, had worked with many mobile games during his time at Tresensa. He discusses a way that mobiles can be used for advertising in this article.
The largest addressable market in the history of media is forming as you read this, and it can be found in the pockets of people around the globe. Mobile devices are carried around by billions of users almost all day, every day. Brands realize that they have to find a way to get into these devices, but mobile advertising has proved a real challenge for them to date. Video ads can feel intrusive, and banner ads are largely ignored. One type of advertisement, however, has been found to successfully engage users: branded mobile web games.
Games are the dominant media on smart devices, accounting for 32 percent of time spent overall and 76 percent of time spent on tablets alone, according to a recent study by the research firm Digi-Capital. Up until recently though, mobile games were synonymous with native apps. Such apps, though popular and viable for large game companies like Supercell and EA, simply do not work for branded games. Below are some of the main reasons brands have shied away from “native” mobile games built for the Apple App Store and/or Google Play:
1. High Expense
Native games are expensive. In many cases, they require individual builds and ongoing maintenance for each OS they’re distributed on. Given that brands need to reach their consumers regardless of device or OS, the expenses associated with creating multiple versions of the game often times does not make economic sense.
2. Tied to App Stores
The friction involved in downloading an app from the App Store, while it may seem small, is actually the kiss of death for a branded game. People will not download a branded game, period. The issue is not only the few minutes to complete the download process, but it is also the fact that the game will now take up actual real estate on your device, crowding up what is likely an already very cluttered set of apps on the device. Then there are the annoying manual updates to deal with. So if users will not willingly download your branded game, you can “buy” users on a cost-per-install basis, but suddenly, you are spending money marketing your marketing vehicle, which makes no sense at all.
3. Relevancy
There is a legacy sentiment with some brands that games are not an effective marketing tool. Some of this ties to experience with online branded games that did okay, but never quite broke through on desktop. The reason for this most likely lies in the fact that historically, online games make up only 5 percent of user time on desktop, with a heavy skew towards mid-core and hard-core gamers. Mobile games, on the other hand, are the most popular form of media on mobile and are enjoyed by all user demographics.
So What Do You Do?
The solution for brands lies in mobile web games built on HTML5. How are these games different from native apps? A mobile web game is a game that plays directly out of the mobile browser – just tap and play directly from a mobile web site or link within a Tweet, chat, or post. Unlike native games, there is no requirement to go to an app store to download the game. That friction is removed. The games themselves are built using HTML5 and can be supported on all smartphones and tablets, regardless of operating system or device type. And unlike native games, mobile web games also work on desktop and even on connected TVs. Basically, they are an ultra-portable form of content that can work wherever a browser exists.
Mobile web games can be shared directly by the brands through their existing sites and social channels like Twitter and Facebook - just a tap of a link within Twitter or Facebook on mobile or desktop. They can also be distributed to millions within the brand’s target demographics through emerging mobile web game distribution channels, including popular mobile media sites, portals, messaging apps, and storefronts. And the games themselves can be used to engage users by including achievements, leaderboards, challenge a friend functionality, video trailers, photos, etc.
Finally and most importantly, branded mobile web games deliver state-of-the-art mobile experiences that audiences not only spend time with, but also seek out. Typical engagement time ranges from three to ten minutes. World-class brands are already relying on mobile web games for their mobile marketing, including Progressive Insurance, HBO, Warner Bros., WWE, Cisco, and Toyota.
Mobile web games are emerging as the leading way to engage mobile audiences in ways that make sense for brands and their consumers. Brands can finally create a game in a cost effective and efficient manner that engages a broad mobile audience and provides a large payoff and minimal risk to the brand. If you are a brand looking to connect with users on mobile, are you ready to get into the game?
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