5 Must knows about Mobile Advertising in China

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5 Must knows about Mobile Advertising in China

 

If you’re a Mobile Game developer and have ever thought about developing games for the Chinese market, then it’s imperative that you read this article.

 

WHY?

 

Well, it may just save your life. (maybe)

 

Let’s get into it.

 

Needless to say, China has the 2nd largest economy in the world (when GDP is brought into the mix),  and when it comes to population they stand tall and proud at #1 with  India, right behind them and the US to follow.

 

So you can imagine that with such a large population the mobile game market is also very MASSIVE.  Niko Partners forecasts by the end of this year there will be nearly 200 million Chinese owners of iOS and Android phones.

 

Below I will give you 5 tips you can use if you’re looking to break into the Chinese Market and try and get your piece of the pie in the mobile industry whether it be: Mobile advertising, app revenue, or in app purchases.

 

#1 The Chinese Ad market is segmented and still evolving

 

If you’re an indie game developer and you sign up with one of the major  Ad networks, don’t expect your revenue to be consistent. One day you might monetize well; the next day it could be very poor, and you have very little control or visibility as to why.

 

#2 Banner Ads,  CPA & CPC

 

Unlike here in the US there isn’t much of a market for Pay-per-impression (CPM) campaigns. Sure, if you were looking to get into the market 9 months ago it might have been the right time, but since then – the market has moved almost entirely to performance based cost-per-action (CPA) and cost-per-click (CPC) campaigns.

Banner ads still remain to be the highest valued units, so as a game developer what you should be looking to do is optimize your ads designs to get the best click-through-rate (CTR) without disrupting game-play.

 

#3 Consumer Brands vs Other games for mobile ad monetization

 

Generally, consumer brands tend to drive the highest revenue to game developers in the Chinese market.  Since most of the ads in China are CPA, their revenue is totally dependent on installs &  conversions, and most game developers and ad networks have not learned how to drive conversions effectively.

 

#4 Optimize Ad Content to minimize bid price

 

Because most Chinese mobile advertising networks have wildly fluctuating ad fill rates and inventory it creates serious fragmentation of the market.  Basically resulting in CPM bids range from .05 cents all the way up to .80 cents.

 

To avoid paying the higher end of these bids you can optimize your ad content by ensuring it’s only going to a select target audience that you’ve defined.

 

As an example..

People playing a random smartphone game aren’t generally in the mood to think about buying a new car..

..but..

Put this ad in a more appropriate context – like a realistic car racing game – and the response rate would be much higher.

 

Finally..

 

While it may seem like a difficult and daunting task to find the right solutions, here’s what I would suggest.

 

Wait until the mobile ad market consolidates so that it can provide an AdMob-like experience in terms of efficiency (if they’re willing to work directly with China’s major ad networks).

 

Or..

You can work with a local partner who is capable of federating inventory across networks.  In order to get the optimal eCPM for your ad inventory, developers and publishers need to regularly tune inventory allocations, maintain relationships with the major Chinese ad networks, and ensure that the right ad campaigns are matched in their approriate context to optimize performance.

 

It’s said that within the next few years, half a billion Chinese will own a smartphone or tablet, and it’s a safe bet that the advertising market will grow and evolve with them.

 

Hope this helps, leave your comments below.

 

-Kevin

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