Why Mobile Gaming Belongs in Every Retail Media Plan

It may still be summer, but the start of the holiday shopping season is growing closer by the day. According to research from Unity, over a third of holiday shoppers will make purchases during October and November, well before the typical Black Friday/Cyber Monday promotional week. As brands try to find efficient and effective ways to reach holiday shoppers online, they should be focusing on one of the biggest channels for consumer attention — mobile gaming.

With over 2.6 billion players worldwide, mobile gaming has among the largest reach of any ad-supported channels, which are often more engaged in gameplay than in social media or other media formats. Mobile gaming also plays a critical role during the run-up to the holiday season. For example, 44 percent of gamers agree that gaming is the ultimate stress reliever over the holidays, and a third state they will be playing more than usual during the holidays.

Perhaps most critically, gamers are also highly likely to shop online for holiday gifts. Ninety-two percent say they shop for the holidays at some point, and 48 percent of gamers shop on mobile for holiday gifts. More broadly, 90 percent of gamers shop online for holidays, with only 10 percent preferring to shop in-store.

How Retailers and E-Commerce Brands Can Integrate In-Game

For retailers and e-commerce brands, gaming offers a variety of formats that have been especially effective at driving lower-funnel conversion. Rewarded placements, traditionally employed by direct response advertisers, can be especially effective at moving an engaged audience to storefronts. New non-interruptive formats, such as in-game audio, are also proving to be cost effective for performance advertisers focused on acquiring new customers profitably.

Recently, there has also been a trend of emerging partnerships between retail media networks (RMNs) and mobile gaming platforms. As retailers look for additional off-site reach to connect with their customers, they’ve increasingly integrated with mobile gaming ad networks to increase their scale. For brands working with RMNs, this can be an incredibly effective extension of their existing retail media plan, helping to drive more success through the combination of retailer data and broad, cost-effective reach.

Your Shoppers Are In-Game

Gaming has been a well-established medium for over a decade and has featured advertising for most of that time. However, many brands and media planners still view in-game advertising as a format for endemic brands or targeting stereotypical “gamers.” However, the fact of the matter is that today, everyone is a gamer.

Mobile gaming audiences are evenly split between men and women, and are distributed across all age groups, from Gen Alpha and Gen Z to baby boomers. Advertisers can leverage genre and publisher data, along with programmatic data, to ensure they’re reaching their target audiences. For example, puzzle games and word games often overindex among mothers of school-age children, while sports and strategy games may align with more male-skewing audiences.

How to Get A Winning Score With Mobile for Holiday Shoppers

There are several key tactics marketers should consider as they incorporate mobile gaming into their holiday media plans. Here are three:

• Test early, optimize during peak times. Instead of waiting until peak shopping season, start testing creatives earlier and find your winning execution BEFORE the run-up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
• Test multiple formats. Video, audio, and new e-commerce formats from partners like AppLovin can all be effective; determine which formats drive the best results.
• Collaborate with partners to reach your audience. In-game networks can access audiences at scale across thousands of mobile games, in very popular titles that may be unfamiliar to brand marketers. Instead of relying on big titles and IPs, trust your partners to help you efficiently find your target customers.

Amit Monheit is co-founder and CEO at Odeeo, an in-game audio advertising platform.