Mobile marketers have never asked themselves, “where are my users coming from?” as often as today. For several years, attribution was simply taken for granted. But the industry has changed, and user-level data that was once freely available is now scarce. Liftoff's latest tool is designed to address this data scarcity challenge.
Our visualization provides an aggregate view of the sources of installs across several marketing categories, genres and subgenres. The tool combines paid install data on Liftoff's marketing platform between March 2021 to March 2022 with GameRefinery's industry-leading gaming taxonomy. We've used this data to uncover trends marketers can use to better understand where their users come from. We also provide a short analysis of our findings, tips on why you need to rethink who makes up your audience, and how you can convert even more players to download your game.
What trends have we seen? On a category level (the level above genre and subgenre), casual games are the primary driver of installs across all categories. For example, 66% of users from paid sources who installed a social casino title did so from a casual game. Of the other social casino installs, only a quarter of players came from another social casino app.
The story is similar for mid-core and sports and driving titles. Of the former, casual gaming apps are responsible for nearly 75% of installs. For sports games, casual is also the main source, with 63% of the share of installs. Meanwhile, 29% of users come from the same pool of sports and driving apps. Sports and driving have the most diverse range of install sources, which suggests more crossover potential and a greater ability to target gamers with the right message.
Hyper-casual games are a top driver of installs at the genre level. Hyper-casual has the second-largest share of puzzle installs (14%), and of the nine app genres, it was the biggest contributor overall. There is also a lot of crossover between genres. For example, shooters receive 34% of installs from hyper-casual titles and 15% from puzzlers. Card games, a niche genre, gain 45% of users from hyper-casual apps and 14% from simulation apps.
We can draw one clear conclusion from the prevalence of crossover installs: marketers need to figure out who their audience really is. If a significant amount of your users come from different genres, you need to broaden your appeal to maximize your reach.
There's a proven way to improve your app marketing. Target the right gaming motivations in your ad creatives and rework your ads to appeal to the reasons why people play. This way, you can highlight features and aspects of your app that speak to different genres, targeting players more effectively with your creative advertising. To learn more, take a look at the Liftoff blog, sign up to our newsletter, and download the full Casual Gaming report at the top of the page.
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