Hi there!
In media buying, Gaming is a separate niche tailored specifically for various games. This vertical includes both mobile games, which are downloaded from the App Store and Google Play, for example, as well as products designed exclusively for PC and consoles. However, it should not be confused with the Install vertical, where payment is made for installing software or applications. Today, we will try to give you a 360-degree view of how to launch effective campaigns for Popunder desktop Browser game offers. If you want to try this niche but don’t know how to start, then this successful case with a 150% ROI is for you!
Oferta: Browser game
GEO: US (United States of America)
Tráfico: Mainstream High and Medium Activity
Formato del anuncio: Popunder desktop
Periodo de la campaña publicitaria: 8 – 12 April
Proxy: disallow
WebView: disallow
Ingresos: $4,250
RETORNO DE LA INVERSIÓN: 150%
Some research
Demand for Browser games is very high, take, for example, the “War Thunder” offer. In Google alone, this free game is searched for by about 81 thousand people every month:
Browser games are one of the eternal verticals (after Adult and Dating) in media buying. However, for some reason, it receives slightly less attention than the other two “giants” that dominate the online advertising market.
Yes, gamers used to be considered as an abstracted layer of society, a geeky group of people immersed in games. At one time, such an opinion had its right to exist. Now gamers are all of us. Nearly 60% of the population plays desktop or browser games, mobile apps, or console games. Some dedicate a fraction of their time to this activity, others spend hours, and for some, it’s their job. Just look at the growth in Twitch viewership over the past few years. As for the gaming industry itself, let’s take a look at the revenue of the segment in the USA:
To complete our research, let’s also look at the distribution of gamers by gaming device. Fifteen years ago, the market was almost entirely dominated by desktop games. The emerging consoles were weak competitors and didn’t play a significant role, except in Asian countries, where gaming consoles have long been in serious competition with PCs.
For example, when comparing the competitiveness of gaming platforms, game developers clearly prefer the PC platform. A survey conducted in 2023 showed that about 2 out of 3 (65%) game developers are currently working on games for PC.
As seen in the table, the current browser gaming industry faces competitive challenges. However, this is only at first glance. In reality, considering the size of the audience, even around 13% represents significant demand. Leadership in mobile platforms was undisputed already 7-8 years ago. The point is that everyone plays games on smartphones, not just dedicated gamers. However, even the revenues of the most popular applications fall short of those of popular desktop or browser games.
Strategy
We’ve covered the fundamental factors, now let’s move on to working with the vertical. We’ve chosen the niche of Desktop Browser games. From the research above, it became clear that this is one of the most profitable platforms. We’re talking about games that are launched from the desktop in the browser, even if they have mobile applications.
Additionally, Browser games, designed for a broad target audience, feature simple registration, low entry barriers, and in-game donations don’t appear immediately. A classic Browser game takes 5 minutes of time at work or at home. Such small games enjoy consistent demand, at least because they are non-interchangeable, and one can play a dozen of them instantly.
As an ad format, we have chosen Popunder, as it is best suited for a broad audience and ensures immediate exposure to the advertisement. Additionally, this format is convenient because there is no need to create a separate creative. A new landing page tab opens when any area containing the Popunder code is clicked. However, it is worth considering that the landing page itself should attract and engage the user from the first view of the page. Either way, all that is required is a simple trigger text and a prominent CTA button.
Overall, from this Browser game offer, we utilized a straightforward strategy:
- Launching ads for a broad audience;
- Directing traffic to the landing page rather than directly to the offer page;
- Testing the campaign for 24 hours, and as soon as we see positive results from its launch, configuring Automatic Optimization tools;
- Increasing bids if the combination performs well.
Geography
The Browser Games segment in the US is one of the most popular, which is why we chose this GEO for our offer. To elaborate further, the US is a wealthy Tier-1 country with a vast target audience for any vertical and payments in dollars, which attracts money makers from all over the world to the United States. The main challenge lies in the number of those seeking traffic — the competition is fierce. However, the earning potential is also substantial if the right combinations for ad campaigns are found.
To substantiate our claims, let’s provide some facts. The size of the North American gaming market is estimated to be $68.57 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach $103.83 billion by 2029, with an average annual growth rate of 8.65% during the forecast period (2024-2029).
Now we will show you the campaign settings in more detail ↓
Configuración general de una campaña publicitaria en la plataforma HilltopAds
Antes de lanzar una campaña publicitaria en HilltopAds, debe registrarse como anunciante. Puede registrarse utilizando este enlace.
A continuación, para crear una campaña publicitaria, es necesario:
- Ir a la Gestionar campañas sección
- Haga clic en el botón Añadir campaña botón
- En la sección de creación de campañas, seleccione la opción Popunder desktop formato de anuncio
- En el Canales de tráfico seleccione Mainstream high and medium activity
A continuación, es esencial configurar el Postback para realizar un seguimiento de los resultados de su campaña publicitaria.
Para una descripción detallada del trabajo con Postback y los marcadores de posición disponibles, consulte nuestra guía.
En términos sencillos, para la URL final de la oferta, necesitamos insertar parámetros para pasar las conversiones y los ID de origen. El parámetro para pasar conversiones es click_id, y el ID de origen es zone_id.
Como resultado, nuestro URL de destino final debería verse así:
https://my_offer.net/?&click_id={{ctoken}}&s1={{zoneid}}
- {{ctoken}} - Parámetro HilltopAds para pasar conversiones.
- {{zoneid}} - Parámetro HilltopAds para pasar el ID de la fuente.
En general, puede añadir absolutamente cualquier parámetro de las opciones disponibles que sea necesario para el análisis posterior de la campaña. Sin embargo, recuerde que es esencial incluir el parámetro click_id en el enlace final para pasar las conversiones.
A continuación, especificamos la frecuencia de anuncios por usuario: 1 visualización en 24 horas. Y fijamos los configuración de objetivos:
- GEO – US (United States of America)
También puede configurar filtros de campaña y permitir/no permitir Proxy y WebView traffic from the campaign. For this case, we decided to disallow all settings.:
- Proxy - rechazar
- WebView - rechazar
WebView es un software que abre una página de destino con una oferta dentro de una aplicación móvil. En otras palabras, al abrir la aplicación, los usuarios son dirigidos a un sitio web de una sola página con la oferta.
We’ve made the decision to implement a daily budget limit for our advertising campaign on the HilltopAds platform. This strategic move is aimed at ensuring better financial control and maximizing the efficiency of our advertising spend.
To begin with, we decided to set a daily limit of $300:
We did not set a schedule so that the campaign runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If later we see that the campaign is more effective during certain time intervals, we will target specific days or hours, but based on our experience, it requires gathering a lot of statistics.
The final step before launching the ad is to specify the cost per thousand impressions (CPM). Here, we pay attention to the Volúmenes de tráfico gráfico en la esquina superior derecha, que calcula las tarifas premium, mínimas y recomendadas CPM.
We initiated the ad campaign with a bid of $2.04, based on the provided recommended CPM price.
Nuestro consejo: para probar una nueva oferta, empiece con la recomendada CPM. Esto mostrará si la oferta es eficaz y si la campaña necesita optimización.
Así pues, los parámetros clave de la campaña publicitaria son los siguientes:
Formato del anuncio – Popunder desktop
Canales de tráfico – Mainstream High and Medium Activity
Tapones de frecuencia - 1 visualización cada 24 horas
Geo – US (United States of America)
Tarifa CPM – $2.04
Optimization and intermediate results
We tested the campaign for 24 hours, and our impressions reached 147,059.
Tip: Before analyzing the results, aim for over 40,000 impressions on the chosen GEO.
Right from the start, we saw positive results because our Browser game offer perfectly matches the chosen US GEO. On the second day, we decided to increase the daily limits to $350 and apply the campaign’s Automatic Optimization tool on the HilltopAds platform. We set up the campaign so that the cost per acquisition (eCPA) did not exceed $2. This allowed us to deactivate ineffective traffic sources and maximize return on investment.
La optimización automática es una herramienta que permite añadir automáticamente las fuentes de tráfico no rentables. Gracias a esta función, el sistema HilltopAds elimina las fuentes no rentables de su campaña publicitaria y las añade a la BlackList.
Resultados finales y áreas de mejora
Over the course of the full 5 days of running the advertising campaign using the Browser game offer, the following metrics were achieved:
- Costes totales (ingresos) – $1,700
- Beneficios totales – $4,250
- ROI (Retorno de la inversión) – 150%
ROI es uno de los indicadores clave en marketing digital que le permite evaluar la rentabilidad de una campaña publicitaria. En términos sencillos, ROI te muestra el porcentaje de inversión publicitaria que has conseguido recuperar a través de las ganancias de los anuncios.
La fórmula para calcular ROI es:
ROI = (ingresos totales - coste total) / coste total * 100%
In this case, the return on investment is 150%. Wow! This exceeded all our expectations!
Net Profit
The net profit from the Browser game offer, launched on the HilltopAds platform, demonstrates a compelling return on investment. With a total revenue of $4,250 and advertising expenses amounting to $1,700, the campaign yielded a Net profit of $2,550. This underscores the effectiveness of the HilltopAds advertising network as a valuable platform for promoting offers like Browser game, and highlights their profitability.
Wrap-up
Gaming can be a profitable vertical if you understand the nuances of the niche, what to emphasize, and what won’t resonate with the audience. According to research, conversion rates on desktop devices are usually higher, which will further strengthen the focus on Desktop Browser game offers. Given the broad audience in this niche, the variety of games for different target audiences and needs, directing traffic to Gaming can be quite profitable.
Scale your success with HilltopAds – read our case studies, choose your vertical, apply our experience to your cases, and pour more traffic!
