Kooapps has mastered the art of creating simple yet addictive mobile games. But how does the company ensure these titles not only entertain but also generate substantial revenue? In this exclusive interview, CK Wang, Kooapps’ Co-founder and CEO, delves into the company’s ad monetization strategy, discussing how they strike a balance between player experience and profit. From the challenges of traditional ad formats to the potential of innovative approaches, Wang offers valuable insights into the world of mobile gaming.

Kooapps' games are known for their simple yet addictive gameplay. How does the company approach ad monetization within this design philosophy, ensuring ads don't disrupt the streamlined experience but still generate revenue? 

Rewarded video is opt-in and more exciting for players due to the reward, so we focus mostly on A/B testing interstitial ads. Time and time again, we’ve been surprised at how much our players are willing to watch ads to play our games, but we’ve also seen this vary with the brand strength of each of our games. We love ironSource’s Ad Quality product where we are able to see the revenue per churn from the ads that we show. This helps us make the right tradeoffs in deciding how to balance user experience, like in Snake.io (link), and still generate enough revenue to keep the lights on.

With banner ads becoming less effective, how can we innovate with ad formats to make them more engaging and potentially even add value to the gameplay experience for users

We are excited to be testing audio ads from networks such as Odeeo and Audiomob. We believe that the best ads are diegetic with the game mechanics and hope the industry moves towards this direction!

How do you identify and target high-value users with ads that are more likely to convert, ensuring profitability without compromising player enjoyment

Ad networks are very good at identifying and targeting the right users for their audience, it’s their entire business. For game publishers like us, we run a competitive auction for our inventory so we maximize ROI for every churn from ads and let ad networks and advertisers decide who they want to target.

Many mobile games struggle with user retention. How can we leverage ad monetization not just for direct revenue but also to build a long-term, engaged user base that keeps coming back for more (and sees more ads)

No one in the industry has a perfect answer for this. We test a dozen or so new game mechanics every year and depending on metrics, we decide whether to continue investing in these games. After this, we add both interstitial and rewarded video ads as best as we can from a UI UX standpoint but there still are some intrusive ads. Over the years, we’ve seen players be more receptive to ads, like now vs 10y ago. The more they enjoy the game, the more we’ve seen players be willing to pay or spend time in the game watching ads, especially rewarded video.

Kooapps has a diverse game portfolio, how can developers  tailor their ad monetization strategies to different game genres (puzzle, arcade, etc.)? If so, can you share some examples of how this is done?

The most meaningful ARPDAU increases we’ve seen has to do with banner and rewarded video ads. For puzzle games that have >20 min/day of gameplay, banner ads can bring in a meaningful amount of revenue that typically does not exist in arcade games due to user experience issues. For idle or simulation games, rewarded videos have been a big winner for us as players want more resources and boosts.

Interactive or "playable" ads are gaining traction. How do you think the mobile industry is looking at this potential new frontier in ad monetization, and are there any plans to experiment with this format?

Playable ads have been around for a while, I believe. I think audio ads and native in-game ads are newer frontiers that we think are very promising. Most of the ads we see in our games are mostly video with playable end cards, this way players watch other people play then learn to play themselves as opposed to just playable ads by itself. Anecdotally, that’s what we’re seeing, but at the end of the day it’s an auction house so if videos win the auction they get shown and if playables win they get shown, we have little control over this.

Can you share a case study of how Kooapps successfully generated revenue through ad monetization in one of its games, detailing the strategies and outcomes?

Sure, in MicroTown.io we have an RV boost feature where players can watch a rewarded video to run faster for a limited time, 5 minutes. Our game designer ran an A/B test where we added a skateboard as you run faster, just a prop to make running look cooler. Our A/B test showed +50% daily engagement for this particular rewarded video, it’s great! I think the future of ads is diegetic rewarded video that helps the player’s user experience.