Media reports suggest that Shakira's fee for filming a Royal Kingdom commercial could have reached a million dollars, while LeBron James' fee might have been 4 million dollars
Two weeks ago, Dream Games studio launched a "star-studded" advertising campaign for the mobile puzzle game Royal Kingdom, filming several commercials featuring celebrities. The MobileGamer portal attempted to determine how much the developers might have paid the celebrities.
Scene from the Royal Kingdom ad featuring LeBron James
To estimate celebrity fees, MobileGamer journalists consulted experts "well-versed in celebrity marketing."
According to rough estimates, the most expensive celebrity for Dream Games was basketball player LeBron James. One expert suggested his fee could be up to $4 million, while another, more conservative, expert estimated James was paid no less than $1.5 million, assuming the Royal Kingdom commercial shoot took him 4-5 hours.
The second-highest fees were shared by TV host Jimmy Fallon and singer Shakira. According to expert estimates, Dream Games paid them $1 million each.
Fees for actors Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki, best known for their roles in the series "The Big Bang Theory," were estimated at $500,000 each by experts.
Overall, the entire campaign might have cost Royal Kingdom's creators "tens of millions of dollars." It's worth noting that in addition to celebrity payments, Dream Games also had to spend on filming the commercials themselves and their promotion.
MobileGamer noted that following the campaign launch, Royal Kingdom's download levels spiked noticeably. According to AppMagic service data, the game recently averaged about 80,000 downloads per day over the weekends, and on Saturday, April 26, it generated a record 365.5 thousand downloads. The daily revenue from the puzzle also reached a record level — $563.8 thousand in net IAP revenue.
To date, Royal Kingdom has earned a total of $70.37 million with 19.85 million downloads.
Experts interviewed by MobileGamer also shared estimates of celebrity fees in ads for two other mobile games.
Squad Busters by Supercell
- Chris Hemsworth — up to $2 million;
- Ken Jeong, Will Arnett, Christina Ricci, and Auliʻi Cravalho — about half or a third of Hemsworth's fee.
MONOPOLY GO! by Scopely
- Will Ferrell — $2 million;
- Jason Momoa, Chris Pratt, and Keke Palmer — the same amount or slightly less.