THE MEDIABRIX SOCIAL AND MOBILE GAMING REPORT
FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR 2014
www.mediabrix.com
www.mediabrix.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS
3 Overview
4 Key Findings
5 In-Game Ad Benchmarks
8 Demographics
9 Methodology
9 About MediaBrix
The MediaBrix Social and Mobile Gaming Report
2
www.mediabrix.com
OVERVIEW
Cross-platform social gaming continues to
be the most engaging and largest lifestyle
and entertainment activity across all screens—
desktop computers, laptops, mobile devices
and tablets. According to MMA data, there are
1.6 billion desktop and notebook PC gamers
and 700 million mobile gamers around the
world, which shows that cross-platform games
offer massive global reach for brand marketers.
This fourth installation of our biannual report
report shows how cross-platform social game
adverting continues to perform for brands. It
looks at the first two quarters in 2014, revealing how in-game branding ads greatly surpass
leading digital advertising formats when comparing the following metrics and benchmarks:
click-through rates (CTRs), engagement rates,
video completion rates (VCRs), interaction rates
and reward acceptance rates.
New to the report, proprietary data reveals
that the more emotional the Breakthrough
Moments™ (BTMs™) are, the more they outperform other advertising formats. For example, Rescue BTMs™ garner CTRs that are 66x
higher than what standard online and rich
media advertising and mobile rich media
advertising can deliver, according to DoubleClick and PointRoll data.
The MediaBrix Social and Mobile Gaming Report
3
www.mediabrix.com
KEY FINDINGS
♦ According to proprietary data sources, MediaBrix reaches over 200 million cross-platform global monthly game players.
♦ For the first time, MediaBrix has broken down performance by emotions that align with moments users experience during
game play, including encourage, reward and rescue BTMs™. According to the data, the more intense the emotion, the higher
the performance is for brands: Encourage BTMs™ garnered an average engagement rate of 17.0%
• Encourage BTMs™ garner an average engagement rate of 17.0%
• Reward BTMs™ garner an average engagement rate of 73.6%
• Rescue BTMs™ garner an average engagement rate of 86.9%
♦ Rewards are fueling the growth of in-game advertising. According to the data:
• Marketer adoption rates increased by 452% from H2 2013 to H1 2014
• Acceptance rates are 69.6% on the web, an increase of 9.0% from 2013
• Acceptance rates are 76.4% on mobile, an increase of 13.0% from 2013
♦ MediaBrix’s value exchange video advertising continues to engage cross-platform audiences. According to the data:
• Average video completion rates are 98.6% on the web
• Average video completion rates are 85.0% on mobile
• Average engagement rates are 99.9% on the web
• Average engagement rates are 85.5% on mobile
♦ According to DFP and Exelate demographic data, MediaBrix found that compared to 2013, the composition of its online
audience has gotten older, better educated and more affluent. According to the data:
• There was a 47.0% increase in players ages 45-65+
• There was a 23.4% increase players that are college educated
• There was a 14.8% increase in players earning an annual HHI $75-$150K+
The MediaBrix Social and Mobile Gaming Report
4
www.mediabrix.com
THE MEDIABRIX IN-GAME ADVERTISING BENCHMARKS
MediaBrix is the leading social and mobile advertising platform for brand marketers. Over the past six months, MediaBrix
has compiled benchmark data on in-game branding ad campaigns. Below are the benchmarks compared to leading digital
advertising formats.
Advertisement
CTR
VCR
Engagement
Interaction
Encourage Gaming Ad Unit
2.3%
18.5%
17.0%
2.4%
Reward Gaming Ad Unit
5.0%
14.3%
73.6%
5.2%
Rescue Gaming Ad Unit
6.6%
92.0%
86.9%
6.8%
Facebook Page/Brand Posts
2.0%
--
0.16%
0.07%
--
11.93%
--
--
0.1%
25.2%
--
0.57%
PointRoll Online Floating Rich Media Ads
PointRoll Mobile Rich Media Ads
Emotional Targeting and Breakthrough Moments™
Emotional targeting reaches players with cross-platform
social game advertising as they experience emotions aligned
to key moments in the gaming experience such as encourage, reward and rescue. As the chart above shows, the
more emotional the moments are, the better the ad that
reaches users as they experience that emotion performs.
For example, a rescue moment is when a player is stuck on
a level or has no more lives and is in need of help. Rescue
BTMs™ offer players a chance to advance or continue game
play in exchange for watching a brand’s message through
an immersive advertisement.
This opt-in form of brand advertising is additive to the
overall gaming experience, positions the brand as a hero
in the player’s eyes and facilitates a true people-to-brand
connection. As a result, rescue BTMs™ garner CTRs that are
66x higher than what online rich media ads and mobile rich
media ads deliver, according to DoubleClick and PointRoll
data. Also, rescue BTMs™ garner engagement rates that are
over 543x higher than what Facebook brand posts deliver,
according to SocialBakers data.
*post engagement
The MediaBrix Social and Mobile Gaming Report
5
www.mediabrix.com
THE MEDIABRIX SOCIAL AND MOBILE ADVERTISING BENCHMARKS
CTRs
AVERAGE CTR RATES
According to DoubleClick, standard
image, flash and rich media ads generate
average CTRs of 0.1%. According to
PointRoll, mobile rich media ads garner
average CTRs of 0.1%. According to
SalesForce, Facebook page posts see
2.0% CTRs. On average, social and
mobile gaming ads see CTRs of 1.5%
on the web and 3.9% on mobile. Video
value exchange ads see an average
CTRs of 3.3% on the web and 8.1% on
mobile, outperforming standard and
rich media online ads and mobile rich
media ads.
Video Completion Rates
AVERAGE VIDEO COMPLETION RATES
Online floating rich media ads generate
average video completion rates (VCRs)
of 11.93%, according to PointRoll who
defines VCRs as the “number of times
100% of the video was watched.”
Meanwhile, PointRoll states that VCRs
are 25.2% for mobile rich media ads.
Social and mobile gaming value
exchange ads see average full video
completion rates of 98.6% on the web
and 85.0% on mobile, exceeding the
other VCRs in the industry.
The MediaBrix Social and Mobile Gaming Report
6
www.mediabrix.com
THE MEDIABRIX SOCIAL AND MOBILE ADVERTISING BENCHMARKS
Interaction Rates
AVERAGE INTERACTION RATES
According to DoubleClick, rich media
ads have a 2.1% average interaction
rate, while eMarketer data states that
Facebook brand posts garner a 0.07%
average interaction rate. PointRoll data
states that mobile rich media ads garner
a 0.57% average interaction rate. Average social and mobile gaming non-video
interaction rates are 20.15% on the web
and 21.9% on mobile, the highest of the
reported advertising formats; clicks and
custom moments (shares, widgets, calendar downloads, etc.) are calculated
into MediaBrix interaction rates.
Engagement Rates
According to SocialBakers data, average Facebook brand posts generate
an engagement rate of 0.16%. Comparatively, social and mobile gaming ads
see engagement rates of 19.8% on the
web and 15.8% on mobile, while in-game
value exchange ads see engagement
rates of 99.9% on the web and 85.5% on
mobile devices; clicks, custom moments
(shares, widgets, calendar downloads,
etc.) and video views are calculated
into engagement rates.
AVERAGE ENGAGEMENT RATES
Acceptance Rates
Rewards are delivered to social and
mobile game players during moments
of achievement such as a new high
score or a longest jump, which allows
brands to reward players with a virtual
good and leverage a positive emotional
moment. According to MediaBrix proprietary data, marketer adoption rates
increased by 452% from H2 2013 to
H1 2014, which increased the success
of this burgeoning ad offering. Social
gaming acceptance rates were 69.6%
on the web (an increase of 9.0% from
2013) and 76.4% on mobile (an increase
of 13.0% from 2013). Reward BTMs™ are
so unique in the market that no other
industry research is comparable.
The MediaBrix Social and Mobile Gaming Report
7
www.mediabrix.com
DEMOGRAPHICS
MEDIABRIX AUDIENCE: GENDER
According to proprietary data sources,
MediaBrix reaches over 200 million
cross-platform global monthly game
players. As more and more people
play games, social gaming continues
to attract and engage diverse groups of
people. According to DFP and Exelate
demographic data, MediaBrix found that
compared to 2013, its online platform’s
audience has gotten older, better educated and slightly wealthier. For example, there was a 47.0% increase in game
players ages 45-65+, a 23.4% increase
in players that are college educated and
a 14.8% increase in players earning an
annual HHI $75-$150K+.
See to the left and below for MediaBrix
social game player demographics.
Male
Female
MEDIABRIX AUDIENCE:
EDUCATION
MEDIABRIX AUDIENCE:
AGE
33.8% 66.2%
MEDIABRIX AUDIENCE:
INCOME
High School
College Grad
18 - 24 yrs
45 - 54 yrs
< $20,000
$50,000 - $74,999
Some College
Grad Degree
25 - 34 yrs
55 - 64 yrs
$20,000 - $39,999
$75,000 - $99,999
35 - 44 yrs
65 + yrs
$40,000 - $49,999
$100,000 - $149,999
$150,000 +
Source: MediaBrix / Exelate
The MediaBrix Social and Mobile Gaming Report
8
www.mediabrix.com
METHODOLOGY
The MediaBrix Social and Mobile Gaming Report data was compiled with data from the time period January 1, 2014 to
June 30, 2014 across social and mobile games. The MediaBrix benchmarks were calculated by averaging proprietary data
collected from over 200 social and mobile gaming advertising campaigns and over one billion impressions. The advertising data was then compared to industry benchmarks supplied by eMarketer, DoubleClick, PointRoll, SocialBakers and
SalesForce. Please note that social gaming performance rates and metrics may be higher or lower than the data included in
the report depending on varying factors including intent, creative, media and other factors.
ABOUT MEDIABRIX
MediaBrix powers the leading platform for humanizing advertising by connecting brands with people during emotional
moments. We deliver emotionally targeted messages during Breakthrough Moments™ (BTMs™) within games and apps. Our
ads reward, rescue and encourage players and provide an additive (not disruptive) user experience. As a result, people appreciate the brand’s participation and develop an emotional connection with the brand. Our campaigns routinely see average
engagement rates that are more than 500% higher than other digital ad formats. Hundreds of top brands, including CocaCola, MTV and T-Mobile, and many of the world’s largest game developers leverage the MediaBrix platform to provide over
500 million user-friendly BTMs™ to more than 200 million global game players each month. ■
The MediaBrix Social and Mobile Gaming Report
9