In the previous article of our series on “Promoting online mobile games,” we have explored E-sports and action games.
Here are the links of the previous articles of the series-
- Introduction- How to Promote your Online mobile games
- Advertise Online Rummy and Online Poker Games on These Platforms (Part 2.1)
- How to promote your online Fantasy Sports games? (Part- 2.2)
- 10 Effective ways to Promote E-sports Games (Part-3)
In this article, we will be exploring “Casual online mobile Games”.
Introduction
India, being the mobile-first nation, mobile games have become one of the greatest sources of entertainment for Indians. With over 278 Million game players in India, 70% of them play mobile games for stress relief.
When it comes to light mobile games, casual games have always been a one-stop destination for popular pastime. Casual games are popular for a long while and it’s commonly played with almost every age group and demographics because it’s simple and can be played anytime for a short period.
While the competition of casual games is touching the sky, practicing alone app store optimization for games and praying for downloads isn’t going to work.
That’s why this article of our series will be focused on casual gaming and the effective ways to promote it.
Growth of Casual mobile games in India
With over 5 bn mobile game downloads in all categories, casual games have become the highest growing gaming category in India.
Casual games grew by 40% to reach INR22 Billion In 2018 and expected to hit INR49 Billion by 2021.
The popularity and demand for casual games can also be determined by the humongous fan-following of Candy Crush, Subway Surfer, and Pokémon Go.
Trends say it all!
There have been numerous search queries on these popular casual games over a period of the last two years.
Classification of casual games
Casual gaming, in general, can further be classified into the following 4 categories with their examples:
- Casual Games- Ludo King, Fruit Ninja, Angry Birds.
- Puzzle Games- Candy Crush, 4pic1word
- Simulation Games- Temple Run, Subway surfer
- Mystery Games- Criminal Case
Let’s start by having an understanding of your audience and then we will be heading towards the marketing challenges and the approached to target your audience.
Know Your Audience
As casual games are easy to be played and it doesn’t require any hardcore skills to be played, it’s generally made to target mass reach and can be played by any age group and demographics.
Though according to a report, 60% of puzzle games are played by females.
Marketing Challenges to promote casual online mobile games:
There are a million apps available on the play store and the number is growing only.
Since the genre is made for everyone because of “it’s easy to play” format, the main marketing challenge in front of marketers is to understand whom to target and how.
Below is a vein diagram which shows the segmentation of a large set of an audience of casual mobile game players-
- Core target group– This is the group of people who are already exposed to the casual gaming market, who have casual games on their phones.
- 18-30 Age group– Casual games are usually seen as the source of entertainment and pastime, hence the age group which seeks entertainment in their day to day life would be the ideal age to be targeted.
- 30 (age) onwards– The preference shift towards “mental simulation” games, especially puzzle and word games, usually increases with the increase of age.
Now we will be discussing the platforms on which you can promote your casual mobile games on the basis of your targeted group-
1. Platforms to promote casual mobile games to your core audience
This is the group of audience who already have casual mobile games in their smartphones. So we will be choosing the platforms which allow Appographic targeting.
Following are the best effective platform for Appographic targeting:
- Pokkt– Pokkt is a very popular in-game advertising platform with a strong focus on rewarded video ads. Including Pokkt in your advertising strategy to target your audience on the basis of game categories will give you an opportunity to hit the audience with your game while they are already engaged in other games.
- Hotstar Advertising– Hotstar is a popular entertainment platform in India with over 300 million users and numerous targeting options including appography. Hence, targeting your core audience on Hotstar on the basis of the type of apps they have would give you more consideration.
- Dailyhunt Advertising– Being the top downloaded application in the news domain, it also allows marketers to do appography targeting. Hence, advertising on Dailyhunt would let you target your untapped audience.
- Jio Apps–They are very popular across cities and across age groups, making it a very popular choice for mass targeting. The ability of appographic targeting makes Jio Apps suitable for advertising your casual mobile games.
- Truecaller– With over150mn DAU, Truecaller has various creative ad inventories with numerous available targeting options including appography.
2. Platforms to promote casual mobile games to the age group of 18-30.
This is the group of audience who haven’t been exposed to the casual gaming market and seeks entertainment source in their day-to-day lives. So we will be choosing the platforms which are high in reach and allows age targeting.
Following are the best effective platforms for this age group-
- OTT Platforms – On-demand video and audio services are on the peak. The majority of people access content on their personal devices for entertainment. Hence targeting people on the basis of age when they are highly engaged watching their favorite shows is an effective way to grab attention.
Best Video and Audio OTT platforms–
- Truecaller Advertising
- Social media Platforms– Social media platforms have always been one of the most preferred media for pastime and consuming entertainment content. Hence, advertising on social media would give you more advantages.
Best social media platforms for advertising casual mobile games-
3. Platforms to promote casual mobile games to the people who exceed the age of 30
According to a report, with the increase in age, the preferences get shifted towards “mental simulation” and that’s where the majority of people prefer playing casual mobile games.
So we will explore the platforms which allow age targeting and are more common at the age of 30+.
Following are the best advertising platforms –
- News platforms
- Truecaller
- Jio apps
- Video and Audio OTT
Offline platforms to target casual mobile game players-
Since there’s no targeting option available in offline platforms it will help you get exposed to a larger set of audiences
The following are some offline advertising platforms that would be best for promoting Casual Mobile online games.
Your advertising strategy can include one or more above discussed media for better results.
Here’s is the summarization of what we discussed in this article in a single table:
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