Gone are the days when gaming held a niche and nerd reputation.
With about 2.6 billion gamers globally, video games have now become a popular hobby and a practice of leisure. Gamers no longer sit in the corner of their rooms playing the same game over and over again, all by themselves. Reach and online interactions have expanded, with a significant portion of them trying out new games every day.
And honestly? This is great news for all the businesses out there who want to advertise gaming offers. No worries about a niche market being dominated by a few major players. Plenty of promotional options are available- with advertising being one of the most attractive approaches.
So, if you’re a gaming business wanting to level up your gaming promotions, this is the right place. With this blog, we will cover what the gaming industry looks like and how you can craft effective ad campaigns to promote gaming offers.
Game Advertising: Advertise Gaming Offers like a Pro
If you’ve ever played a game, you know how likely it is for ads to show up once you clear up a level. Or those ads that sit still and look pretty at the top and bottom of the gaming sites and apps. That is what it means to advertise gaming offers. You promote your game on other gaming apps and websites in hopes that it will reach a broader and more targeted audience.
Game advertising is the act of running ads for a gaming business to promote it to the public or within the gamer community. They aim to develop a user’s interest in the game and prompt them to download it and give it a play. The more attractive and engaging your ad looks, the more plays your game will get.
What’s the Need?
You just hit the nail with the most awesome game ever. But how will people get to know about it? How will you earn from it? The simple answer is telling people about it yourself. Obviously, you cannot go around doing that one by one, so you choose to advertise gaming offers.
We know our end goal is to monetize our game and make millions from it. But let’s start smaller and fix goals depending on what stage your business is at.
- If it’s in the early development stages, then spreading awareness should be your priority. Tell gamers that this new option will be available in the market soon.
- For games that have just been launched, getting clicks on your ads should be the goal. Here, you need people to try it out and give their feedback on the experience.
- If your game has been here for a while, you’re probably looking for long-term players to ensure continued revenue.
- For extra profits and long-term commitment, advertise gaming offers with premium subscription models. But for this, you will have to prove that your game is worth it first.
- And obviously, it is about making players come back again for more.
It’s possible to improve your brand image and get more players- all you need is the right pair of strategies.
iGaming Advertising: Adopt a Strong Approach for the New Season
The Expanse of the Gaming Industry
This might come off as a shocker, but the video gaming industry is a billion-dollar market globally. It is only expanding, giving you a brilliant opportunity to enter and advertise gaming offers as well.
According to reports by Statista, revenue from the worldwide gaming market was estimated to be around 455 billion U.S. dollars in the year 2024. Mobile gaming is one of the biggest gaming segments, generating around 98.7 billion US dollars.
Furthermore, a global survey in 2023 found that more than 8 in 10 users aged between 16 and 44 played video games on at least a single device, leaning slightly more towards men. From kids running around with their Nintendo switch, adults spending their weekend gaming, and students turning out to be professional gamers and streamers, you can’t deny the potential of this market.
These are clear indications of how broad the gaming industry is. And if you use the right strategies to advertise gaming offers, you can definitely find a place within them. While there are some challenges concerning the high prices, along with other macroeconomic and geopolitical factors, this market always finds its way.
Strategies to Better Advertise Gaming Offers
If you don’t know where to start, we have got you covered. Use these strategies to advertise gaming offers and get more players to your platform.
Get to know the gamers
The first and foremost thing to do is to understand the gamers. Although the gaming sector is an entire niche on its own, it still has its differences. Players play for different reasons, engage in different categories of games, and have their own preferences.
A survey of gamers once revealed that shooting and action-adventure games were the most popular among gamers of most age groups, followed by simulation and racing games being the most popular ones. Younger gamers were more likely to play battle royale titles, while puzzles and casino games stood out to older audiences.
Think of this stage as one that establishes a base. You know the gamers better, so your targeting gets better. You create ads that would resonate with them, and would automatically lead to higher player conversions.
Hit up the top convertible GEOs
Even though games are popular in every other country, some regions just stand out more.
According to reports, the Asia-Pacific region is home to the most gamers, with the largest burgeoning markets lying in China and India. In addition to this, we have well-known gaming countries like Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Following them are the Middle East and Africa, Europe, Latin America, and North America. But out of these, only half of the players pay for their games.
When it comes to revenue generated from each GEO, the scenario looks a bit different. Newzoo states that the top countries contributing to gaming revenue is the United States, followed by China, Japan, South Korea, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
For promoting iGaming, the United States, Indonesia, Vietnam, Brazil, and Turkey stand as the most popular countries.
Targeting regions that churn out the most gamers and revenue can be a great option to find a larger reach and exposure.
Use deeply engaging ad formats
Now, should you keep your gaming ads static and let them do all the talking, or make them playable to engage users? Let’s take a look at the ad formats most commonly used by gaming advertisers.
Banner ads
The classic, but just as effective. Banner ads are promotional graphics that appear at the top or bottom of the gaming app or website. They are usually non-disruptive and stay on the page throughout the user’s time on it.
Interstitial ads
If you need to give users a much more immersive experience, then interstitial ads are for you. They are highly customizable and usually unavoidable, appearing at natural transition points of a game, like in-between levels and online matches.
Playable ads
Use playable ads to give your audience a trial of the game itself. They are completely interactive and give users a first-hand experience to explore core features and get a chance to experience the main mechanics.
Video ads
Video ads promote a product or a service through videos. They can either appear as standalone videos, native videos, or reward videos anywhere on the website or platform.
Rewarded ads: You know ads that you watch to gain an extra life, a coin, or bonus points? Those are actually called rewarded ads. They play for a few seconds, provide a CTA to download or play the game, and then give users the option to click.
Native ads
Native ads blend in seamlessly with the website’s content and don’t appear to be too intrusive for the users.
Advertise gaming offers using these ad formats and you might just see exemplary results within the next few days.
Whip up ad creatives
Suppose you just created the most interactive and fun game ever. But here’s the challenge: nobody knows about it, and nobody cares about it. How are you going to turn the tables now?
Here, you let your ad creatives do the talking. Flaunt your graphics and give a demo to engage the viewers. Write ad copy that gives players FOMO and makes them want to play it ASAP. Show your best features using dynamic elements and offer exclusive benefits.
It’s all about not boring them out. Hook them in, tell them why they should try your game instead of a million others, and why it’s worth their time.
Start running some PPC ads
One of the most effective ways to reach your audience at the most convertible GEOs is through paid advertising. Not only can you set what demographics and locations you want to target, but also base it on the online behavior of the players.
You can try out two things to advertise gaming offers here:
- Search ads that work on keywords and show up when a user searches for those words in the SERPs. However, you will rarely see them in gaming advertising for the simple reason that they are extremely costly and don’t get much conversion.
- Display advertising where you display your ads on relevant web pages, mostly on other gaming sites and platforms. They work well for both brand awareness and conversion campaigns.
When it comes to launching these ads, you will have to refer to a gaming ad network. Bid on ad spaces you want your ads to show up on, and pay only when someone clicks or interacts with them.
So, keep a regular check on your budget and look at performance insights that can help you minimize your costs.
Jump to social media platforms
Social media has everything to do with entertainment. And guess what else does? Games.
Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Discord are great places to promote gaming apps. Similar to PPC advertising, you can target ads based on their demographics and online behavior. You can choose from Image ads, Facebook ads, Carousel ads, Story ads, Message ads, and Collection ads. Using the best pair of ad formats can get you better reach within your audience.
Just make sure that whatever ads you run on social media are entertaining for users as well. Stay as visually perfect as you can, maintain your profile, and simultaneously make efforts to connect with users organically.
Join forces with streamers
You’ve probably seen people watching gaming streamers instead of playing games themselves. And if you’ve stopped to wonder if that even makes sense.. well, it does. Firstly, it’s a good source of entertainment. Viewers are attracted to the streamer’s personality, humorous commentary, and the thrill of social interaction. Another reason is that serious gamers can learn a ton of new strategies and tactics by watching these streamers play.
You can tell that streamers and their community is a tight-knit group. So, your leverage here could be collaborating with them and advertise gaming offers through them. Either they play it themselves, talk about all its cool features in the middle of a stream, or maybe even make a community post about it.
Currently, Twitch has over 140 million users and is the top-ranked platform for game streaming and promotions. Just behind it are YouTube gaming, Kick, and TikTok. So, keep an eye out for them and collaborate with streamers that fit your budget.
Go within the games
When we say go within the games, we mean in-game advertising, which is a bit different than advertising on gaming sites. Here, you advertise gaming offers within the interface of an actual game. Here’s how this works: Suppose you’re roaming around the streets playing a simulation game. A car passes by you, and displayed on it is a banner promoting another business.
How did it get there? The advertiser probably bought the ad space that the game put up for sale. It got displayed once the advertiser paid for it. The benefit here is that you can directly reach a diverse variety of consumers who are more likely to be interested in playing the game.
Conclusion
In the end, all there’s left to say is that don’t rush, keep things slow, and try out multiple strategies as you go. As technology develops and updates itself, the gaming market is only going to expand, ultimately paving the way for newer opportunities. Grasp onto the favorable ones, don’t fret about the missed ones, and focus on the ones yet to come.
Keep on experimenting with your ad creatives, try different advertising strategies, and utilize multiple advertising channels. Track what works and what doesn’t to ensure continuous optimization of campaigns. You never know what techniques will shoot up your business game ten levels and reward you as the next Minecraft.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What does it mean to advertise gaming offers?
Ans. Advertising a gaming offer entails running ads to promote it to a wide group of gamers and users. It generates better game awareness, invites in more players, gets premium signups, and makes people come back for more plays.
How do I promote a game?
Ans. To promote and advertise gaming offers, start by understanding the gamers and positioning your game to the right audience first. Choose ad formats that fit your budget, draft attractive ad creatives, and target high-convertible GEOs. Check the performance and keep on testing different platforms until you find the best ones.
Which ad formats work the best for game promotions?
Ans. To advertise gaming offers, banner ads, playable ads, video ads, native ads, interstitial ads, and rewarded ads work the best.
What are the top GEOs to advertise gaming offers?
The top convertible GEOs to advertise gaming offers include:
- The United States
- Japan
- South Korea
- The Philippines
- Indonesia
- Brazil
- Turkey
Ans. These regions are known to have the most number of streamers and contribute the highest to gaming revenue.
Where can I advertise games?
Ans. You can advertise gaming offers on other gaming apps and websites through any gaming ad network. The best ones can help you focus on reaching the correct demographics and drive interest and location-based reach.
