Gamesight released their annual State of Performance Marketing Report, where it provides insight into what kind of advertising platforms and strategies are effective for game studios. According to the latest findings, optimized marketing revolves around an adapted strategy, with different platforms offering different advantages for reaching particular audiences or retaining them. attention for a long time. The Gamesight report shows that finding the right platform on which to advertise can provide a better return on investment than a broader approach.

One of the findings of the report is the strength of different platforms. For example, of the two major video-based sites for gamers, Twitch offers 3x higher conversion rates, thanks to its unskippable ad format and targeted approach; while YouTube has a 54% retention rate, one of the highest among ad networks, and better long-term engagement.

Other revelations from the report include the untapped potential of Reddit, which recently revamped its ad system and offers 52% seven-day retention rates. It also offers hyper-contextual targeted ad programs and category takeovers that allow marketers to push ads directly to key communities related to their game genre. The report also states that X (formerly Twitter) is the most effective ad network for reaching PlayStation-based audiences.

Game marketers can meet players where they are

Sam Bonin, Gamesight’s solutions engineer, told GamesBeat how this information can be actionable for game studios: “Ad platforms provide a lot of features for campaign optimization, including audience targeting, bidding strategies, and inventory type. Advertisers should experiment with different settings and strategies that best suit their target audience… The know this report provides some high-level insights, which may differ from game-to-game, but can help guide advertisers toward the best media mix for their audience.”

The report also analyzes various statistics, such as conversion rates and seven-day retention rates, for different platforms. Gamesight calls Google Ads the leading network, followed by YouTube and Meta. However, each platform has challenges as well as benefits – the report says that increased scrutiny from antitrust enforcers seems to be a particular challenge for Google.

Bonin added, referring to the report’s note that marketing budgets in 2024 are being tightened, “When we notice that ad budgets are tightening, and spending has moved to a known amount, this results in a little which is the total number of ad networks used by advertisers. In previous years, advertisers could be willing to run ads on multiple social networks, affiliates marketers, ad platforms, etc. In 2024, advertisers will tend to focus on the biggest / most popular ad networks (ie Google / Meta /TikTok/etc).