Hypercasual Gaming Studio Achieves 130% ROAS with Pangle IAA VBO

The objective

Maximizing ROAS and breaking even from day 1

With a diverse portfolio of over 150 titles, Game District is known for captivating a broad audience with its innovative and engaging portfolio of hypercasual games.

To sustain their impressive growth and maximize profitability, Game District sought to leverage Pangle's advertising platform to achieve their ambitious advertising objectives.

Their primary objectives were to maximize return on ad spend (ROAS) while acquiring users at a low cost per install (CPI). To achieve these objectives, the studio set an aggressive key performance indicator for their campaigns, targeting a Day-0 ROAS of 100% that involved breaking even from the onset.

The solution

Optimizing ad performance with Pangle's IAA VBO solution

To achieve their ambitious objective, Game District implemented a streamlined strategy with Pangle's IAA (in-app advertising) VBO (Value-Based Optimization) solution as the core component.

Pangle's IAA VBO solution helps advertisers like Game District to accurately reach users with the highest likelihood of purchasing while also targeting users by predicting their total purchase amount.

Game District also targeted users across various ages and regions to maximize reach and engagement as part of a global campaign. By adjusting budgets and ROAS bids based on performance across different regions, they were able to optimize their ad spend and targeting strategies effectively.

To enhance campaign's effectiveness, Game District posted their ad revenue data in real-time to TikTok Ads Manager using the MMP SDK, improving data accuracy and fully leveraging Pangle’s Day-7 ROAS optimization model.

In terms of creative strategy, Game District focused on portrait videos and playable ads on Pangle, recognizing them as the top-performing ad formats on Pangle. Using these formats, Game District produced gameplay-focused ads highlighting fun and attractive aspects of their games through visually appealing content.

In addition to their in-house produced creatives, Game District actively participated in TikTok’s Creative Challenge. This initiative provided an opportunity to incorporate creator-generated content, diversifying their ad assets and leveraging the creativity of TikTok’s user community.

The results

Game District achieves 130% in ROAS and 79.4M views

Game District's strategic ad campaign achieved an impressive D-0 ROAS of 130%, surpassing their ambitious target of 100% and enabling them to break even quickly.

Game District's hybrid monetization model also enhanced their ad revenue by leveraging in-game ad engagement from new users. This integration of ad views and in-app purchases significantly boosted their overall ROAS.

The campaign’s impact was significant too, generating a total of 79.4 million views and achieving an impressive overall click-through rate (CTR) of 26.47%.

With these successful outcomes under their belt, Game District is now leveraging this approach across all new game titles. The studio plans to extend its strategy to iOS and explore TikTok-only placements for IAA VBO, aiming to replicate and build upon their success.