Video ads generate the most installs per impression and highest return on ad spend (ROAS) compared to other ad formats for casual game marketers. That’s according to a new mobile user acquisition report from Moloco, which examines the performance of banners, interstitials, native ads and videos based on metrics such as cost per payer (CPP), ROAS and retention.
To understand how casual game marketers can budget their ad spend more effectively, Moloco aggregated over 1 billion ad impressions across 100 ad campaigns from 32 different casual games. Moloco then measured the resulting 675,000 installs and 162,000 first time in-app purchases against the specific ad formats and platforms used to produce them.
First up, Moloco found that video performs best on both iOS and Android. On average, video reached a $104.48 CPP and a 16.96 percent 30-day ROAS. Comparatively, native ads and static interstitials came in at nearly ten times the CPP.
Video ads also drive the most installs per mille (IPM) for casual game marketers. During Moloco’s study period, video ads generated an IPM rate of 2.63 versus other formats that generate less than 0.5 IPM.
Next, the data reveal that interstitial ads have the highest CPP due to their relatively low install-to-purchase rate of 6.3 percent, though this format still delivers net-positive ROAS, with a day 30 benchmark of 8.28 percent.
Interstitial ads have the quickest days before first purchase average (0.72 days). Still, they claim the lowest three, seven and 30-day ROAS of ad creatives. For comparison, video has the second-highest days before purchase average at 2.19 and a higher ROAS.
Native ads have a high CPP but demonstrate a strong payer retention rate of 62.59 percent at day 30.
At 21.58 percent, banner ads have the highest 30-day ROAS, but have a comparatively low IPM—a dynamic that indicates banner ads are more susceptible to a type of ad fraud called organic poaching.
Payer acquisition on iOS is consistently more expensive than it is on Android, with the exception of banner ads. Despite the higher install rate for iOS, the average CPP–$145.65–is much higher than for Android, $95.08.
On iOS devices, banner ads ($81.86) and video creatives ($149.93) are the most cost-effective formats. For Androids, they are video ads ($67.12) and banner ads ($193.66).
