PocketGamer.biz Podcast

Data is the lifeblood of any business, but marketers build companies to last when they go beyond the numbers to pinpoint the underlying factors contributing to revenue changes and transaction values. Safia Dawood, Senior Data Scientist at Moloco, joins our hosts Peggy Anne Salz and Brian Baglow to show how marketers can leverage a data-driven approach to build businesses that last in today’s competitive environment. Drawing from two years of robust Moloco internal data, Safia showcases how the landscape has shifted from growth to stabilisation—and now to a slowdown—and reveals how top-performing games defy the general downtrend by maintaining high levels of player retention and repeat purchases.

CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

02:25 - Data doesn't always tell the truth

05:04 - Market trends 2022-2024

07:13 - Adjusting for a slowdown

10:07 - How marketers should be leveraging data 

12:56 - What top-performing games are doing differently   

18:10 - How to turn poor engagement around

21:00 - 22% higher transaction value

23:00 - Driving repeat purchases

25:35 - Why is remarketing a critical part of growth

27:22 - Engage to retain

33:30 - How top games invest differently 

35:15 - Emerging trends and opportunities gaming companies should be paying attention to

36:42 - What's next for Safia

39:19 - Favourite games Q&A

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** Let's Connect **

👉🏻 Twitter - https://twitter.com/pgbiz 

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👉🏻 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PGbiz 

👉🏻 Website - https://www.pocketgamer.biz 

Check out more world-class speakers sharing their insights and expertise at one of our events. You can find details of our next event here - https://www.pgconnects.com/next-event

Craig Chapple, Paige Cook, Aaron Astle from the PocketGamer.biz team discuss the latest mobile games industry news from the past week.

On this week's episode the team discusses Playtika's $1.95bn acquisition of SuperPlay, dive into WeChat Minigames - the multi-billion dollar games platform you know nothing about, and analyse why games companies are moving away from gaming.

** Let's Connect **

👉🏻 Twitter - https://twitter.com/pgbiz

👉🏻 LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/company/pocketgamer-biz/

👉🏻 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PGbiz

👉🏻 Website - https://www.pocketgamer.biz

👉🏻 Pocket Gamer Connects - https://www.pgconnects.com

👉🏻Pocket Gamer Connects Speaker Submission form - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdoS5n-vdHu6aU-2d_rR7x1FAgewG51y3nlU1aB8RdetiKaGw/viewform

👉🏻Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards Winners - https://www.pocketgamer.biz/mga2024/winners/

👉🏻 PocketGamer.biz Mobile Games Industry Trends Survey - https://www.pocketgamer.biz/what-are-the-hottest-mobile-gaming-trends-right-now-let-us-know-in-our-2024-mobile-games-industry-survey/

**Articles**

In today's app market, success is no accident—it's a strategy. Whether your app becomes a unicorn (a rare, standout success), a camel (steady and sustainable), or a hog (a resource-draining misstep) depends on the decisions you make now. In this episode, Patrick McSteen, App & Game Monetisation Expert with Logan Square Consulting, joins hosts Peggy Anne Salz and Brian Baglow to explain how a great ad monetisation strategy can transform the ad experience from a necessary nuisance to an aspect of the game that excites, engages, and entices users to spend. Patrick takes the mic to share the strategies that he’s employed to help more than 50 games and 30 apps reach their full potential and how to rocket ad revenue without cannibalising your IAP. 

CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

01:10 - Why Logan Square Consulting?

02:18 - Rapid learning is everything 

04:01 - Is ad mon the ugly ducking?

08:45 - Unicorns, camels, and hogs

13:04 - Where does ad mon come in?

15:10 - How to get hesitant studios and apps on board

19:50 - Is rewarded the right path?

24:26 - Where do apps make the most mistakes?

28:35 - Who's job is this?

31:20 -  Optimising the spinner wheel

37:22 - Darwin will sort you out

41:50 - A game that does it right

44:06 - Favourite games Q&A

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** Let's Connect **

👉🏻 Twitter - https://twitter.com/pgbiz 

👉🏻 LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/144491/ 

👉🏻 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PGbiz 

👉🏻 Website - https://www.pocketgamer.biz 

Check out more world-class speakers sharing their insights and expertise at one of our events. You can find details of our next event here - https://www.pgconnects.com/next-event

Craig Chapple, Paige Cook, Aaron Astle from the PocketGamer.biz team discuss the latest mobile games industry news from the past week. We're also joined by special guest, Fundamentally Games CEO Oscar Clark!

We delve into the big breaking news of the week - Unity's decision to cancel the Runtime Fee, one year after it was first announced. Our hot takes were delivered just as the news broke mid-podcast!

Elsewhere we discuss the Microsoft's deep Xbox cuts following its big Activision Blizzard acquisition, Apple's iPhone 16 announcement, the closure of Dutch Games Garden, and more.

** Let's Connect **

👉🏻 Twitter - https://twitter.com/pgbiz

👉🏻 LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/company/pocketgamer-biz/

👉🏻 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PGbiz

👉🏻 Website - https://www.pocketgamer.biz

👉🏻 Pocket Gamer Connects - https://www.pgconnects.com

👉🏻Pocket Gamer Connects Speaker Submission form - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdoS5n-vdHu6aU-2d_rR7x1FAgewG51y3nlU1aB8RdetiKaGw/viewform

👉🏻Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards Winners - https://www.pocketgamer.biz/mga2024/winners/

👉🏻 PocketGamer.biz MasterClass - https://www.pocketgamer.biz/announcing-the-pocketgamerbiz-masterclasses-summer-2024-programme/

👉🏻 PocketGamer.biz Mobile Games Industry Trends Survey - https://www.pocketgamer.biz/what-are-the-hottest-mobile-gaming-trends-right-now-let-us-know-in-our-2024-mobile-games-industry-survey/

**Articles**

Making business decisions blindly will bankrupt you and your game. But with the right data, you’re never in the dark. This week, we hand the flashlight to CEE Mobile Gaming and Apps Lead at Google, Mariusz Gąsiewski. Nicknamed “The Insights Guy,” he turns numbers into narratives that guide game devs through the emerging trends they can’t afford to ignore. In this episode, he shines a light on the latest shifts in geos, genres, and growth opportunities to give Peggy Anne Salz and Brian Baglow a clear path to the gaming industry’s next big opportunities and advice on boosting user retention and cutting marketing costs.

CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

01:18 - Get used to never having enough time

03:13 - Trends in the best-performing genres

08:58 - It's never one-size-fits-all

11:57 - Geos with the most growth

13:57 - Opening up to new audiences

18:57 - Affordable and profitable geos

24:59 - Double-digit revenue decline

28:43 - Growth: PC/Console vs. Mobile

37:46 - Favourite games Q&A

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

** Let's Connect **

👉🏻 Twitter - https://twitter.com/pgbiz 

👉🏻 LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/144491/ 

👉🏻 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PGbiz 

👉🏻 Website - https://www.pocketgamer.biz 

Check out more world-class speakers sharing their insights and expertise at one of our events. You can find details of our next event here - https://www.pgconnects.com/next-event

Traditionally, studios faced a tough choice: either crank out hypercasual games at speed or concentrate on crafting deeper player engagement with fewer releases. TapNation breaks this mould—and brilliantly—mastering both approaches to top 1 billion downloads just four years after its founding. On this week’s episode of the PocketGamer.biz Podcast, Vincent Février, Chief Marketing Officer at TapNation, returns to share the winning strategies behind the company’s rapid rise and recent acquisition of UA Hero. Vincent unveils how TapNation’s company culture fosters creativity and bold moves, driving the daring shifts in its marketing strategy that spurred a near 10% LTV uplift. He explores how their focus on product-led growth drives long-term engagement, reveals the CMP TapNation chose to power customer-driven privacy policies, and shares the retention and retargeting strategies proven to keep and call back players.

CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

03:00 - Hiring at TapNation

06:29 - A shift in marketing

11:02 - Product-led growth

13:28 - Where the success comes from

17:24 - Why the next billion downloads will be harder to get

19:22 - Real-growth retention strategies

22:29 - A win-back reward

27:03 - How TapNation hacks hybrid ad mon

33:25 - CMPs affecting revenue

36:39 - TapNation's main goal in the next 12 months

42:44 - Wrapping up

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** Let's Connect **

👉🏻 Twitter - https://twitter.com/pgbiz 

👉🏻 LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/144491/ 

👉🏻 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PGbiz 

👉🏻 Website - https://www.pocketgamer.biz 

Check out more world-class speakers sharing their insights and expertise at one of our events. You can find details of our next event here - https://www.pgconnects.com/next-event

Craig Chapple, Daniel Griffiths, and Aaron Astle from the PocketGamer.biz team discuss the latest mobile games industry news from the past week.

We delve into Savvy Games Group's big MENA investments and partnerships, the closure of Finnish developer Lightneer, and how Pokémon Masters EX has quietly generated $335m+ in gross revenue. Craig also talks about the Godzilla movies a little bit too much.

** Let's Connect **

👉🏻 Twitter - https://twitter.com/pgbiz

👉🏻 LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/company/pocketgamer-biz/

👉🏻 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PGbiz

👉🏻 Website - https://www.pocketgamer.biz

👉🏻 Pocket Gamer Connects - https://www.pgconnects.com

👉🏻Pocket Gamer Connects Speaker Submission form - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdoS5n-vdHu6aU-2d_rR7x1FAgewG51y3nlU1aB8RdetiKaGw/viewform

👉🏻Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards Winners - https://www.pocketgamer.biz/mga2024/winners/

👉🏻 PocketGamer.biz MasterClass - https://www.pocketgamer.biz/announcing-the-pocketgamerbiz-masterclasses-summer-2024-programme/

👉🏻 PocketGamer.biz Mobile Games Industry Trends Survey - https://www.pocketgamer.biz/what-are-the-hottest-mobile-gaming-trends-right-now-let-us-know-in-our-2024-mobile-games-industry-survey/

**Articles**

Pixel United, known for its portfolio of popular F2P titles and millions of active players, has nailed the art of squeezing revenue from ads without squeezing the fun out of a game. On this week’s episode of the PocketGamer.biz Podcast, Kelly Kang, Senior Director of Ad Monetisation & Partnerships at Pixel United, joins host Peggy Anne Salz to share pages from her playbook and to shed light on what the role of an ad monetisation manager means in today’s games market. Kelly delves into her unexpected experiences in the role, the importance of collaborating with game developers, and which ad formats truly deliver value. She also explores why brands are slow to embrace in-game ads, the effectiveness of in-app header bidding, and what it takes to build a top-tier ad monetisation team.

CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

02:10 - The unexpected part of the job

07:12 - Convincing the game devs

10:45 - Which ad formats are worth the hype

13:43 - What's different about the offer wall? 

15:56 - Why are brands lagging behind?

18:52 - How to get in front of brands

23:20 - What the agencies want

27:06 - Experiences with CMPs

30:28 -What does ad-mon really do? 

34:50 - Is in-app bidding really better?

37:41 - What does it take to build a good ad-mon team?

41:10 - Favourite games Q&A 

43:00 - The mark ad-mon can leave on a studio

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

** Let's Connect **

👉🏻 Twitter - https://twitter.com/pgbiz 

👉🏻 LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/144491/ 

👉🏻 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PGbiz 

👉🏻 Website - https://www.pocketgamer.biz 

Check out more world-class speakers sharing their insights and expertise at one of our events. You can find details of our next event here - https://www.pgconnects.com/next-event

Craig Chapple, Daniel Griffiths, and Paige Cook from the PocketGamer.biz team discuss the latest mobile games industry news from the past week.

We provide a breakdown of the key stories and trends from Devcom and Gamescom 2024. Meanwhile, we discuss Apple's latest changes following regulatory pressure, peek into the data that shows Squad Busters is on the up, and cover the big reveal of Monument Valley 3, coming exclusively to Netflix.

** Let's Connect **

👉🏻 Twitter - https://twitter.com/pgbiz

👉🏻 LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/company/pocketgamer-biz/

👉🏻 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PGbiz

👉🏻 Website - https://www.pocketgamer.biz

👉🏻 Pocket Gamer Connects - https://www.pgconnects.com

👉🏻Pocket Gamer Connects Speaker Submission form - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdoS5n-vdHu6aU-2d_rR7x1FAgewG51y3nlU1aB8RdetiKaGw/viewform

👉🏻Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards Winners - https://www.pocketgamer.biz/mga2024/winners/

👉🏻 PocketGamer.biz MasterClass - https://www.pocketgamer.biz/announcing-the-pocketgamerbiz-masterclasses-summer-2024-programme/

👉🏻 PocketGamer.biz Mobile Games Industry Trends Survey - https://www.pocketgamer.biz/what-are-the-hottest-mobile-gaming-trends-right-now-let-us-know-in-our-2024-mobile-games-industry-survey/

**Articles**

Craig Chapple, Daniel Griffiths and Aaron Astle from the PocketGamer.biz team discuss the latest mobile games industry news from the past week.

We offer tips on surviving Gamescom, discuss a drive for games industry sustainability efforts, delve into why Xsolla is sponsoring English League One football team Stevenage FC, and Apple aficionado Daniel gives the iPhone giant a ticking off.

** Let's Connect **

👉🏻 Twitter - https://twitter.com/pgbiz

👉🏻 LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/company/pocketgamer-biz/

👉🏻 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PGbiz

👉🏻 Website - https://www.pocketgamer.biz

👉🏻 Pocket Gamer Connects - https://www.pgconnects.com

👉🏻Pocket Gamer Connects Speaker Submission form - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdoS5n-vdHu6aU-2d_rR7x1FAgewG51y3nlU1aB8RdetiKaGw/viewform

👉🏻 PocketGamer.biz MasterClass - https://www.pocketgamer.biz/announcing-the-pocketgamerbiz-masterclasses-summer-2024-programme/

👉🏻 PocketGamer.biz Mobile Games Industry Trends Survey - https://www.pocketgamer.biz/what-are-the-hottest-mobile-gaming-trends-right-now-let-us-know-in-our-2024-mobile-games-industry-survey/