Gamesforum Meets: Dale Kerr, Game Growth Manager, Tilting Point
- Hi Dale! Can you share a bit more about yourself.
I currently live in the beautiful city of Hamburg with my husband and dog, where I love being close to water and many great specialty coffee roasters. I have a diverse professional background across marketing and operations in industries like ecommerce and gaming, and now focusing oin growth and monetisation for cross platform mobile and browser titles.
2. Congratulations on your new role! Tell us more about it.
I am super excited to have joined Tilting Point as a Game Growth Manager, part of the team responsible for UA, ASO and monetisation .
3. What drew you to Tilting Point?
The spark was participating with a fellow TPer on a panel at GameForum Hamburg in 2023. Tilting Point had been on my radar for a while, as I was following progress on new platforms like Netflix, Apple Arcade and webshops. It is also very interesting to jump into managing IP driven titles, which offer unique opportunities for creative strategy for example.
4. What will the new role have you focusing on?
I will primarily be focusing on the launch of a new title featuring Avatar: The Last Airbender, so expect to be very busy in 2024 with soft launches and of course watching the new live action series on Netflix,
5. How do you see multi & cross-platform gaming shaping growth in 2024?
The technical hurdles for running multi and cross platform games are, and remain, challenging. We are seeing a flurry of growth with Netflix, Google Play , YouTube and many other platforms building out their web gaming offerings, which help to bridge the gap and will let many companies dip a toe in the water.
As the multi platform space inevitably becomes more crowded, so too will the competition to acquire new players and with that, measuring ROAS and performance across not just many channels but also platforms will be more important than ever. MMM and other forms of predictive modelling will become more sophisticated, and this will support growth efforts despite privacy challenges.
I believe the most successful companies running on multiple platforms will be those who ensure games are not just playable on multiple platforms, but rather deliver a great and tailored experience to new and existing users regardless of how, where and when they want to play..
6. What do you think is behind the shift towards multi-platform?
There were many early indicators that a multi and cross platform shift was coming, with the growth of webshops and browsers updating their specs to be able to run higher quality browser games for example. Mobile gaming growth challenges are high with privacy changes, macroeconomics factors, competition and App Store fees. Other platforms like web or streaming services can reduce or avoid the impact of many of these factors, which put great pressure on budgets and KPIs.
Additionally, there are fewer levers for a growth manager to pull, with many mobile UA platforms and campaigns automated to at least an extent. Expanding into other platforms allows access to new audiences and offers new gaming experiences via larger screens.
7. How do you see this expansion impacting the launch of new titles? Will companies scale back new releases and concentrate efforts on existing titles?
There are many great examples of browser games turned into hugely successful mobile games (i.e. Farmville inspiring the farming and simulation genre today). It follows that now we might see great mobile gaming experiences made even better on web, PC and other platforms. Developers have already done a significant amount of work to create great mobile games, so devoting a fraction more effort to making existing titles available on other platforms makes a lot of sense.
In saying that, simply making a mobile game playable on the web or on a streaming platform will not necessarily drive greater engagement from the existing player base, as many players have a strong preference. However this can change, if we see awesome and truly cross platform game experiences - tailored tutorials based on device, webshops offering better value and new monetisation strategies that give players rewards without spending money on other platforms.
8. What can our audiences expect to hear from you at Gamesforum Barcelona in February?
It’s really interesting to dig into multi platform UA and monetisation.I will discuss how the inventory for UA campaigns on the web differs greatly from mobile and how this changes your strategy as a growth manager. The creative strategy is different for a potential new player watching a rewarded video whilst playing a competitor game on the way to work, compared to that same person seeing a native ad on a news website on their home PC for example.
The other big topic that is still very early in development is monetisation, and specifically ad monetisation. We are yet to see rewarded video available for web titles at scale, alongside more innovative formats like in game. Growth in this sector opens the door not just to web players to gain rewards for watching ads, but also potential to drive UA on a greater scale with far more inventory and targeting beyond the app stores.
9. Finally, a song plays every time you walk into a room. What song plays for you and why?
I would have to pick Tomorrow by Silverchair - anything from Frogstomp never fails to get me in a good mood.