Chartboost Advertising my App via CPI

BigDave

GOAL: Drive installs to Orcs as it is my highest ARPU game right now
So I just use this post as a small update about how my advertising test went.

Terminology:

CPI= Cost per Install
I pay to get a user to play my game and hope to make a profit after that fee.

ARPU= Average revenue per user
How much money your app makes on average per user.
Installs/Total Revenue within same time frame= ARPU

My ARPU'S (iOS)
iOS tends to have 30% higher ARPU with my Apps compared to the android versions.
Orcs ARPU $0.24
Three Points ARPU $0.03

Steps 1:
Testing video ads:

I setup chartboost video ads to drive installs to my game.
Which works NOT with CPI but rather you pay for each completed video view.
It should be ending up cheap than CPI but of course it is not guaranteed to generate an install.

The video ads didn't create an impression or install at all, regarding to Chartboost I just bet to less to be shown, even with raising it to $0.30 even tough it says the minimum is $0.01.
Also they kept referring that an install right now costs around $2.50 instead telling me why my impression NO CPI campaign doesn't start rolling.

Also started testing it with $0.50
No installs generated or paid.

Steps: 2
Testing Interstital pop up ads:

I took the remaining $100 and created another campaign an interstitial one this time.
Bidding $0.50 for an install right now. Definitely again way above the minimum price ($0.25). But way below the suggested bid. I just wanna see if I can get a download here and there for that price range

If that all doesn't work I might just go big play and pay the $2.50 for an install since I did not find a way to transfer the $100 back to my main balance. And I also wonder how much impact such installs have, how much can bring me a "quality user", would it effect my ARPU calculation or is it the same.

Steps: 3
After 1.5 days with no result I increased the CPI to $2, the suggest bid is $1.65 to $2.50 here.
Awaiting a result soon..

BigDave

Fact:
Your app just needs a very solid ARPU to be able to play in the league.

Key factors for having a great ARPU:
+Well selling In-apps (with solid range $1.99 to $10+)
+Re-play value or/and a lot of Content / Player Progression
+Banner ad
+Chartboost ads
+Right niche where advertiser pay more to get installs (popular section)

if you can manage to achieve $1 ARPU your already playing well.
Of course your ARPU is also effected by how popular your game is and the with it coming "meaning"/"importance"/"relevance" which:

+increases the likely hood to sell an in-app
+increases the play sessions
+increases the value of your shown ads as they start competing to be shown in your app

Dues

Is the purpose just to see if you can drive downloads with buying installs?

If your ARPU is $0.24 and you are paying $0.50 for a install, wouldn't that make you lose $0.26 per install or am I missing something?

BigDave

@Dues thanks again for your rating on creepy just read it

Yes i would make -
But I guess I just wanna test it maybe the users are more likely to pay an in-app.
Orcs has $7 in-app and 10$ in-app which get bought here and there. Which are in the ARPU calculation. I guess I just really hope to get better monetising users.
And $100 I am willing to try.

But yes theoretically it looks like a total waste.
But I am desperate to find a proper tool to grow faster.

Dues

NP

Alright, looking forward to see how you did with this.

adriangomez

I don't know how many apps I still have with Game Salad since I moved on to other frameworks. In my limited experience Tapjoy is the cheapest way to get installs. I ran an experiment with 100 dollars. In a span of three days I got around 1000 installs or about .10 an install.

If Gamesalad integrated Tapjoy, I might even consider coming back. I don't know of any other way to get installs quickly and cheaply.

BigDave

@adriangomez
insightful but if you advertise your game with it why you need it as part of game salad?
I guess you made an account and created a campaign with your "creatives" (pics,videos)
right?
Sounds really good if this is true!

adriangomez

I advertised a native app. You can't advertise unless you integrate their API. Since Gamesalad doesn't have Tapjoy, you can't advertise with them. They charge 10cents incentivized installs and 20cents incentivized engagements (they have to play your game for x number of minutes). You get to pick the country. So for example on my native app I was able to reach the top 50 in the charts in a few country (Venezuela). The reason why I left Gamesalad was that without Tapjoy I don't know of a way to make any money.

adriangomez

I don't know if you know of this link. But it has helped me to target my app to specific countries where eCPM is high but the cost to climb the charts isn't as expensive as the USA.
http://ecpm.adtapsy.com/

BigDave

@adriangomez
great bookmarked it!
thanks dude

The_Gamesalad_Guru

As Apple is always an early indicator or the canary in the cage. Ad based games will be done with in the coming years. Apple dumping iAds means they see it is not a solid monetary option. Soon games will return to pay to play for small to medium titles.

BigDave

@Lost_Oasis_Games thats not a trend its they try to force it through.
Also by featuring more and more paid apps again. The dirty ad world simply doesn't fit their image. Rather design and solid prices.

btw. thanks for letting me know, I did not know that.
Will have to update all games using admob instead.
https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=01152016a

BigDave

The Cpc (cost per click) campaign before was a desaster.
I blasted 108 dollar on 23 on the first try paying $4 dollars an install.
I could tune it down to $2 dollar there.

But Cpcv (cost per completed view) is performing so much better now.
i am running a cpcv campaign over chartboost
with a bid of $0.02 and got an install rate of 26% to 30%
thats pretty solid, now i am paying around $0.65 to $0.85per install.

Thats pretty nice as for most cpi(cost per install) campaigns your minimal bid would be $1.60-$2.50 to be even shown

I read about some people achieve $0.50 as cheapest(none incentvized downloads) and I am pretty close so I am proud
Still orcs on iOS only has ARPU $0.30

Gotta make a game where buying is more part of the core loop to acquire users like this
Like an Energy/heart system which I do with the new now

BigDave

Hopscotch

@BigDave , great stuff. When are you going to give a talk at a GS Meetup? Your methods would be a great source of info and an inspiration to others.

DigiChain

@BigDave - brilliant stuff! This is why we need reward videos in GS now - they would work brilliant for a game like Orcs and allow you to cash in from all those players who will never pay for iaps!

Clock

GS dev would starve to dead for waiting reward video.

DigiChain

@Clock - I am starving to death waiting for reward videos!

BigDave

Some update its good but I really wanna see if i can reach the cpi of 0.50
somehow.
Also I see direct impact on charts.
The first day I did geo sweden and switzerland it even reached top 100 in sweden from being unranked before. I stopped the geo after 2 days and focused on another country, poland and the same effect reached top 100 in role playing
I think the already existing good ratings of the app make it easier to score with less downloads higher in the rankings. And it seems to consider % increase downloads to last week/days.

Geo 1 (2 days) Switzerland and Sweden

Geo 2 (2 days) Poland