Cross Promotions in Video Games

Cross-promotion generally involves advertising one product or service through another. In the context of video games, it means utilizing the audience of one game to promote another, effectively driving engagement across titles.

Cross promotions in video games typically takes two major forms.

1. Promoting games in your own portfolio
2. Collaborating with other game developers (Partnerships)

Let’s look into how promoting games within your own portfolio works. Developers use different methods for this.

1. Native ads
2. Menus
3. Events
4. Catalogue
5. Notifications
6. Ad Monetization
7. Incentivized rewards for trying other games

While these may be some examples of techniques developers already use for cross promotion, new innovations are tend to happen in near future.

Mostly cross promotion can be seen in hyper casual games. Why is that? Because hyper-casual gamers are not typically hardcore gamers; they tend to switch from one game to another frequently. So, why not keep them engaged within your portfolio by promoting your own games? Makes sense, right?

However, this approach isn’t limited to hyper-casual games; it can be effectively applied to a wide variety of game genres.

Cross promotion offers several advantages to game developers and publishers.

• Cost Effective : It’s completely free of charge
• User-Level Targeting: Developers have greater control over what users see.
• Boosts Growth: It helps newly launched games gain traction.

However it is not without any downsides. Cross promotion introduces a certain set of challenges to the developers. How to reach the right users at the right moment with the right game from your portfolio without harming the game’s monetization? This is way harder than it sounds.

Cross Promotion is not just about showing your other games to users. It’s about identifying what kind of games appeal to which users and determining the best time to promote them. So it’s important to understand What, When and Who.

1. What to Show

The first step is figuring out what to cross promote. The effectiveness of cross promotion often depends on the size and diversity of a developer’s portfolio. Larger portfolios with games in similar genres or aimed at similar player personas tend to see better results, as players are more likely to switch to games offering familiar experiences.

Ex: A developer with multiple match-3 puzzle games can easily cross-promote one game to the players of another without risking player dissatisfaction

💡Tip:- When making creatives for cross promoting, showcasing the gameplay mechanics of the promoted game while using the aesthetics of the current game can serve as an effective hook to engage players.

2. When to Show

Timing is critical in cross promotion, and the right moment can significantly boost conversion rates. For example, introducing another game as soon as a player starts your game is generally ineffective. One of the best time to cross promote your portfolio is right before a player leaves your game. So it makes monitor player churn essential.

Player churn can occur for various reasons, such as:

• Boredom
• Difficulty
• Poor User Experience
• Lack of Time to play

Understanding these triggers allows developers to target their promotions effectively.

💡Tip:- No-Fill and Pre-Fill scenarios are ideal opportunities to display interstitial or rewarded creatives for cross-promotion, ensuring effective utilization of ad space without cannibalizing ad network revenue

3. Who to Show

Not all players are ideal candidates for cross promotions. So we should identify and segment the audience to ensure that only the right players are targeted. Player segmentation can also be done based on various factors.

Ex: Segmentation by spending pattern

1. High Value Players
   • These players are highly engaged and contribute the most revenue. It’s usually better to avoid cross-promoting to them, as keeping them in their current game is often more profitable.
2. Low Value Players
   • These players may install games but never engage deeply or make any purchases. While they might be candidates for cross promotions, their overall value is limited.
3. Mid Value Players
   • The sweet spot for cross promotion lies in targeting players who fall between low and high value. They can be called ‘Dormant Payers‘ and these players are more likely to engage with other games in the portfolio, making them an ideal target audience.

Apart from spending patterns, grouping players based on in-game behaviors, locations and player affinity can help effective segmentation.

Ex: While match 3 type games are good for promoting specially among female players, while sporting titles are great among males.

What are your thoughts on cross-promotion? What types of cross-promotion strategies do you think we’ll see in the future? Have you come across any particularly effective uses of cross-promotion in games? Share your thoughts in the comments below!