Indian gaming app marketers expanding their global footprint: Study

Brand marketers spending on mobile gaming app advertising may be missing out on high revenue opportunities by limiting their ad spending exposure to only a few country markets, according to the latest study released by the machine learning-based advertising solutions provider, Moloco.

Moloco's report, 'Beyond Borders: Mobile Gaming Insights for Global Growth, ' notes that a substantial 71% of the global mobile gaming apps advertising budget is spent in 10 markets only, with nearly 40% directed towards the USA alone.

The focus on a few markets is more prominent in the case of mobile gaming app marketers based in the USA. These marketers direct 60% of their user acquisition spending to North America (the USA, Canada, and Mexico). Their combined spending in North America and Europe stands at about 82%.

The research, however, notes that while the ad spends are tilted in favour of a few country markets, between 70% and 85% of in-app purchase revenues are driven by the top 10% of payers across different markets. This indicates that high-value users exist beyond geographic boundaries and that several markets that have been ignored by brand advertisers may provide high revenue opportunities. 

The brand marketers in a few Asian countries, however, seem to be taking a contrarian approach, find the report. For instance, the marketers in India can be seen spending 33% of their total ad spends on mobile gaming apps in Europe, while diverting only about 35% spends to North America.

Brand marketers in India can be seen diverting a sizeable portion of their mobile gaming app ad spends to different markets. 16% of their mobile gaming app ad budgets are spent in markets including Latin America, the Middle East, North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa, which surpasses the global average of 13%. The marketers in India, in effect, going against the tide, are exhibiting an aggressive spending strategy, looking to tap the hidden, untapped opportunities in new geographies.

Similarly, marketers in China too can be seen allocating only 36% of ad spending to North America. According to the virtual reality multiplayer online game maker Rec Room's head of growth marketing, Sarah Yamanouchi, the countries beyond the traditional markets present an immense opportunity to brand marketers due to lower competition and ease of achieving key performance indicators in these markets.

Reporting on advertising within India, the study, however, observes the median advertiser's average revenue per paying user (ARPPU) in India to be only about $5.44, compared to a global average of $11.

Moloco research also notes that unlike the developed economies, India also offers an advantage of exceptionally low cost of acquisition, thus, promising new opportunities to global mobile gaming marketers. The other countries that also assure growth possibilities at a lower user acquisition cost include Brazil, Greece, Iceland, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, and South Africa.

Siddharth Jhawar, GM, Moloco India, said, “As the global landscape evolves, constant experimentation and expansion into diverse markets will be key to sustainable growth. For advertisers outside of India, there might be untapped hidden opportunities for growth in India given the low cost of user acquisition in the region.”