Targeted marketing can be most effective for games | Gamesight

Gamesight released their annual State of Performance Marketing Report, in which it provides insight in what kind of platforms and advertising strategies are effective for game studios. According to its latest findings, optimized marketing revolves around a tailored strategy, with different platforms offering different advantages for reaching particular audiences or retaining their attention long-term. Gamesight’s report shows that finding the right platform on which to advertise can bring a much better return on investment than broader approach.

One of the report’s takeaways was the strengths of different platforms. For example, of the two major video-based sites for gamers, Twitch offers 3x higher conversion rates, thanks largely 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 has recently overhauled 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 top communities related to their game’s genre. The report also notes that X (formerly Twitter) is the most effective ad network for reaching PlayStation-based audiences.

Gaming marketers can meet gamers where they are

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

The report also analyzes various stats, such as conversion rates and seven-day retention rates, for various platforms. Gamesight calls Google Ads the top network, followed by YouTube and Meta. However, each platform comes with challenges as well as benefits — the report cites increasing scrutiny from antitrust enforcers as a particular challenge for Google.

Bonin added, in reference to the report’s note that marketing budgets in 2024 have tightened, “When we note that ad budgets have tightened, and spend has shifted towards known quantities, this results in a lower total number of ad networks utilized by advertisers. In previous years, advertisers may have been willing to run ads across a large number of social networks, affiliate marketers, ad platforms, etc. In 2024, advertisers had a tendency to focus on the largest/most popular ad networks (i.e. Google/Meta/TikTok/etc).”