10

T O P

M O B I L E

GAMING

DATAREPORTS

Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports

Table of
CONTENTS
Introduction
1

AppsFlyer

Swrve

DeltaDNA

Fiksu

eMarketer

Tapstream

App Annie

TUNE

GameAnalytics

10

InMobi
Conclusion

Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports

There are new insights about the mobile game development industry
every day. Insights range from user retention, user behavior, ad
networks, and so forth. Developers want to know the current trends
of players. With so many reports available it can be overwhelming
and difficult to pull out the most important and relevant pieces. Weve
compiled a list of the top 10 data reports in the market and how they
can help you in your game development.

Enjoy the book!

The SOOMLA Team

Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports

Gaming Ad Network Performance

The Apps Flyer Game Performance Index | May 2015

Top Retention
Platforms:
data-driven
& Video Doing
the Trick

In May 2015, AppsFlyer found a few key insights on user retention. A noteworthy fact is that video networks produce a 130%
higher user retention rate in mobile games compared to other ad platforms. Furthermore, user retention is higher on iOS than
Android. Facebook also performs best as a media partner in terms of user retention and installs.
Which advertising platform is best? Use AdColony for Android, Vungle and AppLovin for iOS. Vungle has the highest retention
rate for day one on iOS and AppLovin is a close second. AppLovin, however, has better performance in terms of 30 day user
retention. Facebook may not be number one, but its also a safe go-to advertising platform. Another good way to engage users
is offering them a reward for watching video ads in a game. On another note, dont overlook iOS as a platform during game
development - an iPhone user may stick around longer.

Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports

Retain Users to Encourage Spending

Swrve Finds 0.15% of Mobile Gamers Contribute 50% of All In-Game Revenue | February 2015

Findings from
this report
indicate that
an extremely
small portion
of players, just
0.15%, account
for 50% of
monthly revenue
from in-game
purchases

In a February 2014 report from Swrve, it was found that only 0.15% of players contribute to 50% of in-game revenue. The first
in-app purchase tends to be a little before 24 hours. After that, the next purchase comes in another hour and 40 minutes. From
the lens of user retention, this statistic highlights the importance of keeping the user engaged enough to want to reopen a game
within those 24 hours.
Swrve also points out that 13.7% of new players will accrue more than four purchases the first 14 days. Of the revenue gained
those 14 days, 60% will be from the first day. The first days of a players life in your game are critical in order to make revenue.
Most of the money a mobile game makes comes from new players, these players should be given importance when considering
marketing strategies and game design. The data provided by Swrve emphasizes the importance of keeping new users engaged in
order to optimize revenue.

Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports

Engaging All Users Is The Key To Success

10 Killer Insights: deltaDNA GDC Session Slides | March 2015

Know your
players and
you will create
successful and
fun games.

In March 2015, DeltaDNA published a presentation stating why players are leaving mobile games. Lack of Appointment Setting,
Lack of Tasks, and Unbalanced Game Difficulty ranked as the top three reasons. Appointment Setting is defined by DeltaDNA
as creating appointments for users to come back. Good examples are special events, theme changes, tournaments, double
points days, and Trivia Tuesday. 60% of users do not come back to games without solid appointments. We also know that push
notifications and emails are a great way to remind users of these events. A little over 50% of users are abandoning games that
dont give them any engaging tasks to do. Game Difficulty is the reason 50% of users are leaving games. Developers want a
diverse group of users playing a game; therefore, the game must strike a balance of ease and difficulty to accommodate both
users who are seeking challenges and users who are not.
To drive engagement, make sure that users
have a long first session in the game and
encourage them to return for a second
session, third session, fourth, fifth...you
get the point - momentum. Do not put
engagement barriers in your game if youre
looking to monetize. DeltaDNA provides
a lot to consider, but with the competitive
market and the dwindling average attention
span of users, these engagement barriers
cannot be ignored. Check out DeltaDNAs
sample benchmark report to see what kind
of insights they can provide for your game.

Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports

Quality User Acquisition Is Expensive

Fiksu Indexes | May 2015

The cost per

loyal user has a
39 percent rise
year over year

Fiksu defines loyal users as users that open an app three or more times. In May 2015, Fiksu published indexes about the cost of
maintaining loyal users, cost of acquiring game installs through advertising, and the cost of app launches. The cost of acquiring a
loyal user is increasing overall year to year in iOS apps. The current cost of acquiring a loyal user in iOS is $2.47.

There is a trend of increasing cost to

acquire game installs and app launches
as well. From this, Fiksu accentuates
the importance of efficient marketing
campaigns for apps.

With these increasing costs, it is important for a developer to use data insights in order to minimize the money spent on optimal
user acquisition and retention. Developers calculate a loyal users lifetime value (LTV) and compare it to the cost-per-install (CPI)
and cost-per-launch to ensure that profit is being made. The CPI between iOS and Android is almost the same, some months it
is higher in Android and others in iOS. The cost-per-launch, however is significantly higher in iOS. It may be worth the extra cash
since iOS users retain better as found in the research by AppsFlyer. Given the rising costs, AAA and mid-size studios dominate
the paid user acquisition landscape. Small indies have a better chance marketing their game via earned and owned channels:
social media, website, press coverage, forums etc.

Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports

Mobile Game Ads - An Open Arena For Big Players

For Advertisers its Mobile Game Time | July 2015

In 2015 for the

first time ever,
over half of the
US population
will be mobile
phone gamers.

eMarketer is a New York based research company that provides reports and data about the digital world. They provide their
customers answers to digital questions and specific information on their industry. In July 2015, eMarketer highlighted the
importance of mobile games for advertisers. The mobile gaming audience consists of over 150 million different people in the
US - this broad, diverse audience is comparable to the audience of television viewers. Evidently, mobile games are not fully
explored as an advertising venue and may soon be populated with more ads of mega brands like Coca Cola, Toyota, and GEICO
that want to reach an ever-growing audience. eMarketer also suggests that mobile game advertising is a market that shows
promise as an advertising venue. Furthermore, these mega brands have the potential to spend large amounts on in-game
advertising. Seeing as less users are spending, developers will have the opportunity to earn more from in-game advertising.
According to a February 2015 article, 33% of US mobile users
will pay for apps and tablet users are more likely to pay to
download an app than mobile phone users. On the other hand,
it is expected that 44% of tablet users will pay for an app this
year. Tablet first strategies for mobile games are effective. This
is seen in the case of the highest grossing game, Clash of Clans.

Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports

6
User Retention Explored
On average only
14% of users
stick around
a day after
downloading an
app.

Tapstreams Mobile Retention Benchmarks | May 2013 - 2014

In June 2013, there were approximately 900,000 apps in the iOS app store while in June 2014 the store had grown to
approximately 1,200,000 apps. The Google Play Store saw similar growth from approximately 1,000,000 apps in July 2013 to
approximately 1,300,000 apps in July 2014. Tapstream wanted to explore retention rates from 2013 to 2014 and found that
user retention dropped 50%. When they specifically looked at Day 1, Day 7, and Day 30 retention rates, they noticed significant
drops especially on Day 30. In May 2013, Day 30 retention was roughly 14% and it plummeted to 2.3% in May 2014. This could
be caused for a variety of reasons such as:

Low barrier to entry - there are more apps entering the market every day and most of them are of low quality. It takes no time at
all to develop a game and therefore more games are entering the app stores.
Disconnect between downloading the app and then actually opening it - as Tapstream says between downloading an
app and actually opening it users have, ...probably checked Facebook six time, Twitter three, bid on two obscure statues on Ebay and
attended a funeral.
Or bad first initial experience - while someone might download your
game, you want to make sure their first experience is enjoyable. It would be
pretty frustrating to open the game for the first time and have a six minute
load time.
While these are strong influencers in retention, they do not fully explain the
huge decrease from 2013 to 2014. Tapstream believes that while there are
more games in the app stores, the games are also fiercer and of higher quality.

Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports

Multiplayer Games Generate 50% More Revenue

The App Annie Special E3 Game Report | June 2015

Among the Top

50 mobile games,
multiplayer
games accounted
for ~60% of
consumer
spending...

App Annie found that consumer spending increased from 2014 to 2015 by approximately 30% in the iOS App Store and
approximately 50% in the Google Play Store. One factor for increased spending were online multiplayer games. Online
multiplayer games are: any game that includes features by which a players gameplay materially and directly affects the
gameplay and in-game outcomes of another player. Online multiplayer games can potentially increase a games lifespan as well
because they create a sense of social network and cohesion.
From the Top 50 games, 60% of all the spending was
from multiplayer titles even though only 30% of these
types of games were downloaded. To further their
point, App Annie looked at Steam and saw in May 2015,
two of Steams Top 10 games were online multiplayer
games that were created seven years ago. App Annie
also saw a similar trend in the Top 10 mobile games.
Six of the ten games which had increased revenue were
multiplayer.

Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports

Paid Users Bring In Organic Users

TUNEs Understanding the Relationship Between Paid and Organic Installs

...every paid
install an app
receives, it
can expect to
also acquire an
additional 1.5
organic installs.

TUNE collected data from thousands of advertisers over 245 days and were able to find a strong, positive correlation between
paid and organic installs. While the correlation is significant, TUNE recognizes that not all app categories are equal. For example,
Games, Education, Business, Lifestyle, and Entertainment apps make up the top 50% of apps downloaded in the iOS store.
Lets take an example: say a developer is paying $1 per install
and has a positive ROI because the average LTV of a user
is $1.05. That one user might bring in 1.5 organic installs
who also have a $1.05 LTV. This would then mean that the
developer paid a $1.00 and in return got 2.5 users for a total
of $2.62. This is quite a deal for the developer! Along these
lines, TUNE calculated organic multipliers for each separate
category. Knowing on average how many organic installs an
app can expect helps marketers know how and where to use
their resources.

Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports

Golden Cohort
What Analysing 400+ Games Has Taught Us | March 2015

The very first

players of your
game are your
best. Invest
resources in
retaining and
keeping them
happy, the rest
will follow as a
result.

GameAnalytics analyzed 415 F2P games with more than 1,000 installs. The games were then broken into four cohorts.

Group 1: consisted of 42 games with maximum average of 1M DAU

Group 2: consisted of 62 games with maximum average of 50K DAU
Group 3: consisted of 104 games with maximum average of 41K DAU
Group 4: consisted of 207 games with maximum average of 20K DAU

Players that enter a game in the beginning have a greater chance of converting than if a player enters later. For example,
approximately 7% of Group 1 players converted in the first week. While at week 8, approximately 3% of players were converting.
Also, when looking at the ARPPU chart, players that downloaded a game in the first week and converted were likely to spend
more in a game.
Overall, the first players of a game are the
most valuable players. GameAnalytics calls
these players the Golden Cohort. These
players typically retain, convert, and spend
more in games. Developers should focus their
resources on the initial launch of the game to
retain these valuable players.

Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports

10

Game Ads Yield Highest CTRs

InMobi Insights: The State of App Monetization Q3 | November 2014

Ads on tablet
apps
yield higher
eCPMs
compared to
smartphones.

With the F2P model here to stay (for now at least), developers are constantly looking for new and innovative ways to monetize
their games. Ads play a huge role in game monetization and InMobi, a mobile advertising company that helps app monetization,
looked at the landscape of the industry in November 2014. InMobi found that game ads yield the highest click through rate
(CTR), yet QSR & dining, automotive, and telecom ads earn developers the highest eCPMs. While the type of ad is important, the
timing of the ad also needs to be considered. InMobi found that ads served at the beginning of the week or during evening hours
yielded the highest eCPMs.
Using creative and unique ad formats such as rewarded videos help increase eCPMs. Its also interesting to note that tablets are
now starting to outperform smartphones. In general, tablets earned higher eCPMs on Android and iOS. InMobi also found that
between Q1 and Q4 in 2014, game installation grew 70%.

Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports

Conclusion
To review, the mobile gaming industry has seen many trend shifts in the past few years.
Mobile and tablet devices are an ever growing global distribution platform for entertainment and content and as such,
they are an appealing place to be in. That doesnt mean that life is all roses in the land of mobile. The move to free2-play games requires developers, especially small studios and indies, to put much more strategic thought into game
development.
Across the data weve compiled we can acknowledge some key insights that seem prevalent in most reports:

Your first users are the most valuable ones.

Early players to adopt remain more engaged.
Apple users generally tend to be more engaged and pay more.
Retention is key for monetization and paid marketing optimization.
User acquisition costs are steadily on the rise.
With these insights in mind, game developers need to hone their marketing and data driven skills. No more does a games
success depend only on impressive graphics and original gameplay. To drive revenue and build a substantial business, one
needs to get intimate with soft launches, analytics, retention metrics and paid user acquisition.

Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports

Thank you!
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Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports

Resources:
http://www.appsflyer.com/blog/the-appsflyer-gaming-performance-index/
https://www.swrve.com/company/press-room/swrve-finds-015-of-mobile-gamers-contribute-50-ofall-in-game-revenue
https://deltadna.com/blog/deltadna-gdc-2015-10-killer-insights/
https://www.deltadna.com/downloads/Example_Benchmark-deltaDNA.pdf
https://www.fiksu.com/resources/fiksu-indexes
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1011965
http://blog.tapstream.com/post/98734955828/mobile-retention-benchmarks-2013-2014
http://ipod.about.com/od/iphonesoftwareterms/qt/apps-in-app-store.htm
http://www.statista.com/statistics/266210/number-of-available-applications-in-the-google-playstore/
http://blog.appannie.com/app-annie-idc-gaming-report-2015-h1-e3-edition/
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2015-06-11-android-games-outpace-ios-with-50-per-centspending-growth
http://in.tune.com/Understanding-the-Relationship-Between-Paid-and-Organic-Installs
http://blog.gameanalytics.com/blog/what-analysing-400-games-taught-us.html
http://www.inmobi.com/ui/pdfs/The_State_of_Mobile_App_Monetization_2014_Q3.pdf
http://info.inmobi.com/rs/inmobi/images/InMobi_Insights_State_App_Downloads_Monetization.pdf

Top 10 Mobile Gaming Data Reports