🎮 What should gaming marketers do around Black Friday? Here is what the data says 📊

In this episode, we dissect the impact of Black Friday on the gaming industry. We dig into the data from Sensor Tower to explore and understand the impact of Black Friday on games.

The revelation? Black Friday isn’t about discovering new games; it’s about existing players splurging on their favorites. As user acquisition costs soar, our advice to smaller developers is to ride out the storm, go easy on UA, and focus on maximizing revenue from current players.

How? Transform routine live ops into something special, aligning with the festive spending spirit.

More details in the episode.

📈 Gaming downloads rise 10% on Black Friday, contrasting e-commerce trends.

💰 Despite modest download increases, gaming revenue surges 50% on Black Friday.

🕹️ Black Friday prompts existing players to boost in-game purchases significantly.

📈 ARPDAU shows a notable spike across all gaming genres on Black Friday.

💰 User acquisition costs spike during Black Friday, spiking advertising expenses.

⏳ Smaller devs might want to wait out the Black Friday ad storm rather than double down on UA.

💰 Much better to maximize revenue from current players, capitalizing on their spending mood.

🛠️ Double down on live ops during Black Friday.

🚫 Avoid direct retail competition; capitalize on player spending in games.

All data thanks to our friends Sensor Tower.

FULL TRANSCRIPT BELOW

It’s clear and known that Black Friday is a HUGE opportunity for e-commerce websites and apps – but how does Black Friday impact you if you’re a game(or any genre that isn’t e-commerce)?

And what should you do about it?

I answer this key question in today’s episode – because while Black Friday can be a huge opportunity, it’s also a MASSIVELY competitive time of the year.

This post is thanks to our friends and partners Sensor Tower, who have provided all the data that you see here. For simplicity, I’ve looked at 2022 data over here.

First of all, there isn’t a huge jump in install volumes across any of the key genres of apps(source).

Yes, you do see a spike in the last week of November – but it’s not humongous. It’s about a 10% increase compared to the previous weekend’s peak – as compared to the 30-50% increase that is routine for e-commerce businesses.

How about gaming revenue? There is a 50% increase in gaming revenue – which is humongous(source).

To put this in perspective, downloads go up by about 10% – AND revenues go up by close to 50%.

So there isn’t a massive increase in the number of new users downloading gaming – BUT there are a massive number of users that make purchases in the games that they are playing.

And was there a skew in terms of the gaming sub-genres? Turns out not – all key sub-genres of gaming saw huge revenue spikes but not-so-huge download spikes on Black Friday

(source)

(source).

It also turns out the ARPDAU(or average revenue per DAU) spikes around Black Friday – and this happens across all key genres.

Source

What does all this mean for your strategy as a marketer around Black Friday?

Based of this data(and based on our experience), new users don’t have any particularly increased propensity to download more or newer games around Black Friday – BUT they do have a propensity to spend or buy more in the games that they are already playing.

Players(like shoppers) are in a mood to spend – and spend big on games they love, but not necessarily on brand-new games they might have just found.

It is a time for users to spend, not to discover.

If you are managing UA, you are also confronted with a massively more expensive advertising inventory across all channels.

So your cost of acquiring new users can be up to twice as much as even a week before Black Friday.

**
Given this, it may not be worth going big on your user acquisition unless you have something that can capitalize on the moment. If you don’t (and that’s perfectly fine) or if you are a small to mid-size game developer, wait for the CPM spike and inflated inventory to pass.

You might not want to go head-to-head against Walmart on Black Friday.

BUT what you might want to do is double down on monetizing the players that you already do have. Players want to spend, they want deals, and they want cool, new, and interesting deals in the games they are already playing.

What you want to double down on is your live ops(not UA). And you make this live op more special than the usual biweekly cadence. Make this something big and special, rather than live-ops-as-usual.

Do that – and maybe this will be the week that can make your annual margins pop. This is something that retail and e-com folks intuitively get – and given the size of the opportunity for gaming, this could very well unlock massive growth for you too.

A REQUEST BEFORE YOU GO

I have a very important favor to ask, which as those of you who know me know I don’t do often. If you get any pleasure or inspiration from this episode, could you PLEASE leave a review on your favorite podcasting platform – be it iTunes, Overcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast fix. This podcast is very much a labor of love – and each episode takes many many hours to put together. When you write a review, it will not only be a great deal of encouragement to us, but it will also support getting the word out about the Mobile User Acquisition Show.

Constructive criticism and suggestions for improvement are welcome, whether on podcasting platforms – or by email to shamanth@rocketshiphq.com. We read all reviews & I want to make this podcast better.

Thank you – and I look forward to seeing you with the next episode!

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