How does the revenue and cost of advertising in mobile games change during the winter holidays

During the winter holidays, revenue and downloads of games traditionally grow. This is reflected in the mobile advertising market, as well as the price per thousand impressions. At the same time, in order to maximize income, it is necessary to take into account, among other things, the peculiarities of individual regions.In the new Gamesindustry material.

biz, prepared in conjunction with Facebook, notes that this year’s winter holiday season will be special for the gaming industry for several reasons at once:

• According to the Global Web Index research firm, 76% of the world’s users have started spending more time on smartphones since the beginning of the pandemic. This also applies to games;forecasts indicate that consumers have begun to plan the purchase of gifts in advance.
• This can lead to a sharp jump in prices and an even more pronounced drop after the delivery deadline (this year many retailers will stop shipping goods after mid-December);due to the return of restrictions and quarantine in many countries of Europe and the world, people are more likely to stay at home for the holidays.
• This can lead to an increase in the time that users spend in games.Such trends are likely to play into the hands of advertisers.

This year, holiday revenue may be higher than ever.

According to Sensor Tower, in the last four years, the peak of mobile game downloads has always been during the winter holidays. In 2020, an additional jump occurred after the outbreak of the pandemic. At the same time, if the number of downloads in the App Store gradually returned to the pre-quarantine level, then downloads in Google Play stabilized at higher rates.

Jumps in mobile game downloads during the winter holidays (data: Sensor Tower)As with downloads, revenue from mobile games peaks annually during the holidays.

At the same time, revenues in the App Store during these periods are much higher than in Google Play. Thus, it makes sense to launch advertising campaigns for iOS a few days before the Catholic Christmas.

Revenue jumps of mobile games during the winter holidays (data: Sensor Tower)Data for 2019 also show that after Black Friday, there is a steady drop in CPM in key markets such as the United States, Great Britain and Germany.

According to Facebook’s forecast, the fall may last until the end of January.

CPM index chart in Brazil, Russia and India (data: Facebook Analysts) If we compare the indicators by platform, then the price per thousand impressions in Google Play is less volatile and costs less than in the App Store.

Also on Android, CPM indicators recover more slowly after the New Year.