Post-IDFA Mobile Game Advertising Costs: Casual vs Core

PAGE 1 | POST-IDFA MOBILE GAME ADVERTISING COSTS: CASUAL VS CORE
Post-IDFA Mobile Game
Advertising Costs:
Casual vs Core

PAGE 2 | POST-IDFA MOBILE GAME ADVERTISING COSTS: CASUAL VS COREMoloco analyzed 13.5 billion ad
impressions from across the programmatic
ecosystem to better understand the impact
tha
t Apple’s latest privacy restrictions have
had on the cost of user acquisition for
mobile game marketers.
The analysis, which grouped data from
hundreds of games into two primary
categories of Casual and Core, found
that Casual advertising costs have largely
declined while Core advertising costs
have increased.
Moloco recommends mobile marketers
invest in a strategy of diversification
and return-on-ad-spend (ROAS) based
optimization to keep portfolios pro
fitable
going into 2022.
Advertising Costs for Casual Games
Are Falling
• The average cost per install for Casual
games on iOS has fallen 38% since the
release of iOS 14.6
Advertising Costs for Core Games
Are Rising
• The average cost per install for Core
games on iOS has risen 78% since the
release of iOS 14.6
• The average cost per install for Core
games on Andr oid has risen 36% since the
release of iOS 14.6
Executive Summary
iOS Android
Core
+78% +36%
Casual -38%+16%
Cost Per Install Post-iOS 14.6
January 1, 2021 – May 23, 2021 vs May 24, 2021 – September 30, 2021

PAGE 3 | POST-IDFA MOBILE GAME ADVERTISING COSTS: CASUAL VS CORE
Adapting To The New Mobile
Games Marketing Landscape
Apple’s new privacy restrictions — and the
resulting loss of user-level identifiers as a means
of mobile ad targeting on iOS — have had
contrasting impacts on advertising costs across
the mobile game market. Some categories have
seen immense benefits as the cost of customer
acquisition fell with little change in average
customer lifetime value. Others have seen
advertising costs increase as demand for
identifiable high-value users rises.
To better understand these changes and
provide actionable insight into how mobile
game marketers can adapt, Moloco analyzed
13.5 billion ad impressions across the
programmatic ecosystem. This report analyzes
those impressions to provide a clear
understanding of the macro-level pricing trends
that have resulted from the release of iOS 14.5
and 14.6.
In the case of Casual games, the release of iOS
14.5 triggered a month-long transition that saw
the cost of iOS installs, which earlier in the year
averaged more than twice the cost of Android
installs, fall to being only slightly more expensive.
Core games, on the other hand, have seen
average install costs rise as marketers compete
for high-value users that, as more users opt out
of tracking, are in increasingly short supply.
Regardless of your category, there are a few best
practices that every mobile games marketer can
employ now to ensure they make the most of
their paid user acquisition budget for the future.
1. Set aside a budget for campaigns optimized for return on ad spend (ROAS) while
keeping an eye on CPI trends. While CPI averages continue to change, make sure you’re
running campaigns that target big-picture gains. Otherwise, you may become embroiled
in bidding wars that won’t pay long-term dividends. If you aim for the forest instead of the
trees, you’ll be in a great position to make the most of this paradigm shift.
2. Continue to diversify your marketing channels. CPI changes can motivate erratic
behavior, but it pays to be patient and run campaigns that target a broad range of traffic
sources. With so much still to be determined, this approach minimizes risk as the dust
continues to settle and increases your chances of spotting a winning tactic.
3. Use next-generation techniques, like machine learning, to balance spend based on
performance. Changes in the industry often open up the opportunity to upgrade your
approach. New methods of ad spend optimization that leverage machine learning have
proven much more capable of navigating rate volatility than traditional means. Mobile
game marketers that take advantage of this period to adopt new technology that can
better deal with shifting market conditions while also laying the groundwork for greater
ROAS over the long term.

PAGE 4 | POST-IDFA MOBILE GAME ADVERTISING COSTS: CASUAL VS CORE
Methodology
For this study, Moloco analyzed 13.5 billion ad impressions across the iOS and
Android programmatic advertising ecosystems. The analysis was informed by a
proprietary taxonomy that the Moloco Cloud platform uses to categorize games
and apps. Individual titles are sorted into categories based on a variety of
factors. Individual subcategories like Card or Simulation are not mutually
exclusive across the primary categories of Core vs Casual.
To measure relative change in pricing, cost-per-install data was aggregated and
averaged on a weekly basis across the three key date ranges listed below.
Arcade Card
Geolocation AR Hypercasual
Lifestyle Puzzle
Simulation
Action Card
RPG Shooter
Sports Racing
Simulation Strategy
Casual Game Categories
Casual games typically have lower retention,
lower customer lifetime value, and tend to
have lower advertising costs as a result.
Core Game Categories
Core games typically target deep, dedicated
engagement. They tend to have higher
customer lifetime values and higher retention.
Pre iOS 14.5 iOS 14.5 to iOS 14.6 Post iOS 14.6
January 1, 2021
to
April 26, 2021
April 26, 2021
to
May 23, 2021
May 24, 2021
to
September 30, 2021

PAGE 5 | POST-IDFA MOBILE GAME ADVERTISING COSTS: CASUAL VS CORE
2021-02-012021-03-01
2021-04-01
2021-05-012021-06-012021-07-01
2021-08-01
Date
iOS Baseline +20% -45%
Android Baseline +97% -30%
Casual Games See Decline in User Acquisition Costs
Casual games tend to attract high-churn gamers
that are more interested in a breadth of titles
and less committed to specific gameplay.
The introduction of iOS 14.6 and the mandatory
ATT prompt kicked off a steady decline in
advertising costs for casual games, which is
excellent news for marketers looking to pick up
new audiences at affordable rates.
Android saw an increase in cost between the
release of 14.5 and 14.6 before backing off,
suggesting that marketers looking to secure
top-of-the-funnel volume from the Casual
category are moving some of their spend to
Android, where they can be more confident that
the intended audience is viewing their creative.
Even so, it isn’t clear from the data that the shift in
spend from iOS to Android has been major or
had a significant impact on overall trends.
The release of the iOS 14.6 update also
narrowed what had long been a sizable CPI gap
between the cost of acquiring Casual users on
iOS and Android. While that gap closed primarily
due to falling iOS CPIs, it’s also true that the cost
of Android CPIs has risen since the update. This
suggests that marketers need to stop thinking of
Android users as second-class downloads; dollar
for dollar, the market now values Casual installs
across platforms virtually equally.
Platform Pre iOS 14.5 iOS 14.5 to iOS 14.6 Post iOS 14.6
iOS CPI
Android CPI
Release of iOS 14.5
Legend
Release of iOS 14.6

PAGE 6 | POST-IDFA MOBILE GAME ADVERTISING COSTS: CASUAL VS CORE
2021-02-012021-03-01
2021-04-01
2021-05-012021-06-012021-07-01
2021-08-01
Date
iOS Baseline +10% +64%
Android Baseline +67% -8%
Core Games See Rise in User Acquisition Costs
For games falling into the Core category, 14.6
caused a dramatic increase in the cost of iOS CPI
averages. This can likely be attributed to more
advertisers competing for a smaller pool of high-
value, tracked users that opted in to tracking.
Unlike Casual, Core audiences tend to have a
higher average lifetime value, making the
potential returns much greater and driving up
demand as a result.
Even though non-LAT traffic is in the minority
among iOS users, it still makes sense for
advertisers to commit spend for impressions —
with some adjustments. While Core traffic has
traditionally been more valuable to advertisers
than Casual traffic, iOS traffic has historically
been considered more valuable than Android
due to a higher average rate of IAP conversion.
The release of 14.6 made quality acquisition for
iOS users even more desirable.
We can exclude seasonality as a cause of this iOS
CPI increase for two reasons. First, the increase
has been steady and sustained since it began
right after the launch of iOS 14.6. Second, there’s
no clear correlation between CPI prices this year
versus last year. In the case of Android, for
example, CPI costs have also risen since earlier in
the year, but that put them on par with where
they were at this time last year.
Platform Pre iOS 14.5 iOS 14.5 to iOS 14.6 Post iOS 14.6
iOS CPI
Android CPI
Release of iOS 14.5
Legend
Release of iOS 14.6

PAGE 7 | E-COMMERCE CPA TRENDS ON IOS – H1 2021
In the post-IDFA future, managing
advertising spend is going to be critical
for down-funnel performance across
all categories.
Overall, mobile advertisers can take three
simple steps to better navigate this period:
1. Diversify spending: Minimize risk by
diversifying your advertising spend
across multiple traffic sources.
2. Optimize for ROAS: Wherever
tech stacks allow, dedicate more
of your advertising budget to
campaigns optimized explicitly for
return on ad spend.
3. Maximize ROI: Use machine learning-
driven techniques and tools to help
maximize return on ad spend.
CONTACT US
How Mobile Marketers Can
Adapt to Changing Ad Prices
Thankfully, we can help. Moloco is focused
on making mobile ad tech more accessible,
combining machine learning and big data
to help customers supercharge their growth
and monetization efforts. Moloco Cloud DSP
enables performance marketers to scale
performance quickly and efficiently through
battle-tested prediction models. Moloco
Retail Media Platform enables retail media
publishers to easily set up their own ads
business and earn revenue from advertising.
Moloco was founded in 2013 by a team
of ex-Googlers and has a global presence
with 8 offices around the world. Sixty-three
percent of Moloco’s team work in data
science and engineering.
To learn more, click the button below to
get in touch with our team of mobile
advertising experts.

PAGE 8 | POST-IDFA MOBILE GAME ADVERTISING COSTS: CASUAL VS CORE
Moloco is a ML company focused on making
mobile adtech more accessible. Moloco
combines machine learning and big data to
help customers supercharge their growth
and monetization efforts. Moloco Cloud DSP
enables performance marketers to scale
performance quickly and efficiently through
battle tested prediction models. Moloco
Retail Media Platform enables retail media
publishers to easily set up their own ads
business and earn revenue from advertising.
Moloco was founded in 2013 by a
team of ex-Googlers and has a global
presence with 8 offices around the world.
Sixty-three percent of Moloco’s team
work in data science and engineering.
To learn more, visit www.molocoads.com.
About
MOLOCO