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Hay Day Dissection: How It Got to $1.2 Billion in Revenue?

Hay Day Dissection: How It Got to $1.2 Billion in Revenue?

by Andrea Knezovic

Remember when farming games were a big deal a couple of years ago? Well, one of them remained quite successful to this day – Hay Day. One of the things that makes this game profitable in the sea of other similar games is its well-thought-out user acquisition and monetization strategies.

The team behind Hay Day set a great example for all game developers to follow, so let’s analyze it.

How Successful Is Hay Day?  

Before we get into Hay Day advertising and monetization, let’s look at some numbers.

Here’s how many people downloaded this game and how much it earns in revenue according to data.

Unless stated otherwise, the data in this article comes from AppMagic. 

All-Time Hay Day Downloads By Country

Overall, Hay Day got more than 300 million downloads since 2012 when it was released. Peak downloads happened in January 2014, reaching more than 8 million. After that, downloads were lower, between 2 and 4 million. In 2020, they were the lowest ever. However, in 2023, they picked up again, demonstrating the resilience of this game.

All-Time Hay Day Revenue By Country

We see a similar trend with revenue as with downloads. Peak revenue was in 2014, reaching more than 25 million in the middle of the year. After some ups and downs, the revenue spiked in 2023, making it a successful year for Hay Day.

Overall, the game earned more than $1.2 billion in revenue. 

The majority of Hay Day’s revenue comes from the US. However, Germany, Japan, Great Britain, Canada, France, Australia, Switzerland, and Demark are also among the top markets for this game.

Hay Day ARPDAU

Back in 2016, ARPDAU for Hay Day was about $0.10. By 2021, it grew significantly and reached more than $0.40 in January.

Just to put this in perspective, according to GameAnalytics’ Benchmarks+, the average ARPDAU in 2020 for the top 10% of casual games was about $0.20. For the top 2% of games, it ranged from $0.50 to $0.60.

backstory

Hay Day: First Impressions

When you first launch the game, you are given a backstory.

Your uncle has decided to retire and left you a farm. This means you will have to learn to take care of farm animals like chickens, pigs, and cows. You will also learn how to grow and harvest your own crops.

Ready to become a farmer?

art style hay day farm

Art Style

If I had to explain Hay Day’s art style in a single expression it would be feel-good.

A farm is simply that kind of place, and Hay Day really successfully brought the experience. The game comes in casual art style and high-quality 2D graphics.

One of the first things you notice are the game’s detailed landscapes and warm and bright color palette. The whole simulation of the farm – from landscapes to characters, animals, and features comes in animation style.

This kind of cartoonish art style makes the game lightweight, attractive, and funny.

hay day ux and ui

UI/UX

The controls in this game are just like the game itself logical, natural, and smooth.

Let’s say you want to harvest your wheat. All you have to do is tap and drag your fingers over your fields. The same gestures apply to most of the features such as collecting eggs or milk. These kinds of controls make the experience both quick and enjoyable.

As a player, you spend most of your time at your farm, and there’s plenty of things you can do around there.

The top right corner shows you how well you’re doing in terms of the games’ two currencies: coins and diamonds. At the top middle of the screen, you can see how many stars you collected. It works as a progress bar to let you know how much more it takes to level up.

The bottom right is where you can get social, connect with your Facebook friends or fellow farmers.

In the bottom left corner, you enter the game’s shop. This is where you will get everything you need to upgrade your farm – from animals to production buildings.

game tutorial

Game Tutorial

To help you with the basics, you get a helper, a scarecrow called Mr. Wicker.

This talkative helper guides you through a step-by-step tutorial. The tutorial is interactive and teaches you about farming as well as the basic game features. First, it shows you exactly how to make an action (e.g., harvesting) and then you get to try it out yourself.

For a newbie such as myself, this phase felt logical and easy to learn, just like it should be.

Main Game Mechanics

The farm works just like in real life. Your animals have to be fed, you grow and harvest crops, and make products out of them.

The game’s core loop consists of:

  1. Planting crops
  2. Harvesting, feeding animals, and producing
  3. Collecting the manufactured products
  4. Selling manufactured products for coins
  5. Buying new production equipment and animals

This is a never-ending process. If you repeatedly do all of this, you can level up to unlock new and exciting meta-features.

To make the whole system exciting for players, Hay Day uses many different mechanics, and these are some of them.

timing mechanics hay day

Timing Mechanics

Timers have an important role in Hay Day: they bring players back to the game, but also drive its revenue.

For example, when you plant your crops, you will have to wait a while for them to grow. You even get to see them grow in real-time, which can feel satisfying. Product manufacturing also comes with wait times.

However, everything comes with its own wait times. It may take you 2 minutes to grow some crops and as much as 20+ hours to build production plants.

The only way you can skip wait times is by using diamonds. They work as the game’s hard currency so you get a small amount of them from the game.

Idle Mechanics

In Hay Day, we can see idle mechanics in relation to the timers.

What this means is that you don’t have to actively play the game while the timers are counting. You can go offline to eat, sleep or do anything else really, and the countdown will continue.

Thanks to this mechanic, you can progress even when you’re not interacting with the game.

Collectible Mechanics 

Almost every action you take in the game will bring you stars (experience points). Your stars collection is what tells you how far you are from reaching the next level.

Now, the only way for you to collect coins is by selling your products to other farmers.

You also collect diamonds, and they are almost nowhere to be found (except in the game’s store).

achievements

Achievement System

The game has an achievement system based on – well, achievements. Once you complete an achievement, you will be notified. If you tap your farmhouse, you can see a list of available achievements and how close you are to completing them.

For example, you will get an Egghead achievement once you collect 12 eggs. Each time you reach some kind of a goal, you can claim a reward for it.

Completing an achievement is a big deal because it brings you the rarest jewels of all – diamonds.

social features newspaper hay day

Social Features

Hay Day always encourages you to get social and use its social features. For this reason, it gives you one default friend, Greg, to teach you all about the value of in-game friendship.

You can visit your friends’ farms and trade crops with them. If you connect with Facebook, you get to do the same with your actual friends.

If you don’t want to do so, you can befriend random players in the newspapers or your neighborhood.

All of these are the good old casual game mechanics. So what is it then that makes the game stand out in the sea of farming games?

Here’s what one of the product leads at Supercell, Timur Haussila, (interviewed by Deconstructor of Fun) thinks on the subject:

“I believe the success can also be linked to our approach, as we avoid teaching players how to play the game. There are no forced tutorials, missions or quests in Hay Day. And there’s no ”right way to play” the game or punishment for playing the game in different way.”

And I couldn’t agree more on this one.

I was surprised to see the game doesn’t punish you for not logging in. If you don’t play the game for a while, your crops don’t dry out and your starving animals somehow stay alive. It really is a feel-good game.

Hay Day Monetization Strategy 

It’s no secret – casual players just want a simple and enjoyable gameplay experience.

In this case, the audience consists of players who just want to kill some time, relax, and do some farm work.

The question is: how to monetize them?

Typically, casual games make more revenue from in-app purchases (71%) than in-game ads (29%) (Unity). However, there are a lot of games that combine these two models.

Here’s why.

This way, the non-payers get to enjoy gameplay for free. On the other hand, the players that want to progress faster enjoy the convenience of making in-app purchases. Another key thing is to integrate in-app ads properly.

hay day monetization models

Which Monetization Models Hay Day Uses?

Hay Day monetizes with a smart blend of in-app purchases and in-app ads. The game recently added a subscription feature as well.

According to Supercell’s product lead, Timur Haussila, the game is extremely non-payer friendly.

“This might sound crazy, but we designed the game so that it could be truly played for free without ever having to pay in order to progress.”

“We wanted to give our non-paying players a chance to earn some hard currency and ads were the perfect solution.”

Is it really like that though? Keep reading to find out.

diamonds currency

Hay Day In-App Purchases Strategy and Setup

Players that want to make in-app purchases in Hay Day have plenty of options to choose from.

At the heart of it, Hay Day monetization is set on a pay-to-skip approach. 

Let me explain.

The thing is, a lot of features in the game revolve around diamonds. Their main purpose is to skip wait times. And as I mentioned before, wait times are all over the place. Other than skipping wait times, diamonds can get you almost anything.

Ran out of corn? Can’t find it anywhere? Use a diamond. 

Unlike other in-game resources, diamonds aren’t easy to get from the game. And when you do get them (from achievements or level-ups), you mostly get just 1.

This is why the game’s store offers a variety of diamond packs for you to purchase.

Besides these, the diamond shop lists offers and weekly deals. When you first begin playing, they are locked. You will be able to access them once you level up a bit.

However, they are not the only item sold in the game. The game’s store also sells coins. You will use coins to buy items from the game’s shop. For example, for buying more animals or production buildings.

Unlike diamonds, coins are easier to earn in the game. You get them for each product from your farm that you can sell. But hey, there is no such thing as too much money, right?

Pricing Structure for In-App Purchases

The #1 rule of setting up prices for in-app purchases is to create a wide range of offers and price points.

Another good practice is that the minimal price point shouldn’t be below $2 (DeltaDNA). Besides, as the prices increase, the offers should get more and more valuable.

Hay Day is a textbook example of how to properly set an in-game store.

hay day monetization diamond shop

The offer of diamonds comes in six different sizes and prices. They range from $1.99 for a Pile of Diamonds to $99.99 for a Trunk of Diamonds.

hay day monetization coin shop

When it comes to coins, the offer is diverse as well. There are six different offers: from $0.99 for a Pile of Coins to $79.99 for a Trunk of Coins.

Wondering which one of these the players are most likely to buy?

Diamonds are the game’s bestsellers. Here is a list of top in-app purchases among the Apple App Store users:

  • Pile of Diamonds ($1.99)
  • Bag of Diamonds ($4.99)
  • Sack of Diamonds ($9.99)

How In-App Purchases Really Work in Hay Day

Now that we’ve got the basics covered, let me take you through my farming experience.

I’ve played Hay Day for 7 days to figure out exactly how their money-making machine works.

Days 1, 2, and 3

When I started playing Hay Day I was awed.

The thing is, I’ve been playing the game for 3 days. In fact, I have already progressed to level 7. I unlocked a bunch of new features and enjoyed endless gameplay. But there were no clues of IAPs whatsoever.

I kept wondering, what’s the catch?

Only after I spent all the diamonds that I received at the beginning, mild hints of IAP monetization started appearing. I was taken to the game’s store, right to the diamond section.

Day 4

When I reached level 8, I got the first special IAP offer in the game.

special IAP offer hay day monetization

It didn’t come as a pop-up, but as a small notification next to the diamond store icon.

Apparently, I unlocked the offers segment in the store and got a special bundle offer.

The offer says it comes at a price of $1.99 and with a 24-hour timer. According to the offer, the discount is as high as 76%.

Day 5

On the next day, the IAP offers continued. Another one appeared as a ticking timer placed underneath the store icons.

farm pack iap offer

It is named the Farm Pack and brings a lot of resources at the price of $0.99. However, you only have 24 hours to make a purchase. This was the most generous offer I’ve seen in the game so far.

Day 6

When I reached level 11 I unlocked the Farm Pass – Hay Day’s subscription feature.

farm pass subscription feature hay day monetization

Farm Pass runs every month for the whole month, for players at level 11 or higher. And there are two versions of it, free and paid.

The free version grants you rewards, but they are limited. On the other hand, the paid version gives you access to all the rewards during a month’s time.

Finally, I was offered to purchase the Farm Pass at the price of $4.99.

After that, the Farm Pass offer was included in the Diamond Shop’s offer section.

Day 7

On Day 7, the Farm Pass offer was included in the game’s store.

It replaced the previous offer, so I learned that the offers here really are time-limited. Unlike other games, the timers in Hay Day are not just a cheap trick.

weekly deals

On this day, I finally unlocked the diamond shop’s last locked category, the Weekly Deals. There are three bundle deals – and you can only purchase them with diamonds.

And you already know how hard it is to get diamonds naturally, so your only choice is to purchase them.

Hay Day In-App Ads 

When you have a lot of non-paying players, you have to find a way to monetize them as well.

And this is where in-app ads come to the rescue.

At the same time, including ads in your game means skating on thin ice. The main risk is obvious – they can ruin the gameplay experience. You don’t want a bunch of angry comments about this across the app stores.

Hay Day’s developers are aware of this, so they carefully approached ad monetization.

hay day ads

Which Ad Format Is Used in Hay Day

Hay Day uses the players’ favorite ad format – rewarded video ads.

Unlike interstitials and banners, this ad format is hardly going to hurt the gameplay experience for anyone. In fact, let’s go over some statistics that tell us about how players perceive rewarded video:

  • 68% of players say they like this ad format (TechCrunch)
  • 32% of players think they are useful, 27% find them interesting, and 12% think they are enjoyable (Facebook Audience Network)
  • They are seen as the least disruptive ad format – only 24% of players find them disruptive (Facebook Audience Network)

Bonus: the players who watch them are 6x more likely to make in-app purchases! (ironSource)

Now let’s get into more details on how Hay Day included rewarded video ads in the game.

How Frequently Ads Appear

The craziest thing about ads in Hay Day is – they don’t chase you, you have to look for them yourself.

Here’s a worried player’s comment from Supercell’s forum: “Why does HayDay have optional advertisements? Are they not earning as much income as the other games?”

Yes, they are that unobtrusive.

The possibility to watch rewarded video ads opened up when I reached level 10. I wasn’t even introduced to the possibility, but had to find it myself.

Here’s how it works.

rewarded video ads hay day monetization

It comes in the form of a cinema ticket that is placed right by your farm’s mailbox. It takes you to the Night at the Movies and you watch a Trailer to get a random daily reward. The trailers are actually ads for other games.

There were two ads for the same match 3 puzzle game, one for an adventure game and one for a strategy game. All of them were 30 seconds long, so I had to wait that long to claim my rewards.

rewarded video ads daily limit

However, you can’t watch endless ads. I watched four ads and reached my daily limit. If you want more daily rewards, you have to return tomorrow.

It is also interesting that paying players don’t have to watch ads. After you make your first purchase, you won’t be able to see ads. Instead, you can just come to the movies to claim your daily rewards.

I would dare to say that the game could afford to be a bit more obtrusive with ads. For example, at least by presenting the rewarded video ad option once in a while.

User Retention in Hay Day

For a monetization strategy to work, the game has to be able to retain players. It is well known that players naturally tend to lose interest in games early on.

According to Benchmarks+ platform by GameAnalytics, even the top 2% of casual games lose roughly half of the players on the very first day. After 7 days’ time, only about 23.5% of them keep playing.

Average casual games have it even worse. On the first day, they keep an average of 23% of players. After a week, they are left with only 4% of players

This is why the first-time user experience has to be flawless.

To keep the players from churning, there must be something new and exciting to keep them coming back all the time. This is why Hay Day never stops upgrading the game and its user retention techniques.

 retention tutorial

Tutorial

The first contact with the game, the tutorial, is done well. It doesn’t overwhelm you with unnecessary information but provides an easy-to-learn experience. It is interactive, simple, and logical.

Activities 

Another thing important for user retention is always keeping the player busy. And even though wait timers are all over the game, that doesn’t mean you have nothing to do.

Exactly the opposite. You can catch up with the newspaper, buy products you might need, put your products up for sale, visit your friends’ farms, go to the movies, etc.

However, these activities are not as exciting as upgrading your farm and progressing. For this reason, you will probably exit the session at one point and return once the timers do their thing.

hay day events user retention

Events

You get to unlock events at level 9. At this point you’ve proven – you’re an engaged player.

And to engage you even more, they let you participate in different in-game events. If you participate, you can get bonuses, boosts, or rewards.

For example, I participated in a global Truck Deliveries event that encouraged me to make as many truck orders in a short amount of time as possible.

Social Features

The social features in the game like neighbours, friends, and Facebook friends give players a sense of community.

Besides, the social media features can boost word-of-mouth and organic growth.

Unlockable Features

Not everything is revealed to you at once, so you are curious to see what your next level up will bring you.

This is one of the things that motivates you to continue coming back to the game and progress.

hay day push notifications

Push Notifications 

Once you leave the game and go back to real life, push notifications will be there to remind you about your farm.

And here’s my experience with push notifications in Hay Day.

In the first few days, there were only a few messages per day.

Later on, as I played more, they got a bit more frequent. Basically, I was notified when the timers have done their job.

Over the course of 7 days, the content was pretty much the same. I got messages like Milk is ready to be collected, Dairy construction finished, and All crops are ready to be harvested.

As you can see, they were all related to my farm’s progress, nothing else. There were no IAP offers or even event notifications.

5 Things You Can Learn From Hay Day’s Monetization Strategy

If Hay Day created a manual called How to Monetize, I assume it would look something like this.

Let’s sum up all the best practices we’ve learned from Hay Day monetization.

1. Use the Winning Monetization Combination

If you’re in search of a promising monetization formula for your game, here’s one.

In-App Purchases + Rewarded Video Ads + Subscriptions

In-app purchases have been the #1 monetization model for a long, long time. Even after all this time, they are still the most popular one – 79% of games use them. (Business of Apps).

Then there are rewarded video ads. This ad format is an excellent fit with in-app purchases, and can even increase them. If that doesn’t happen, you still monetize your non-payers.

It’s interesting that subscriptions were added to Hay Day after 8 years of existence. Why now? Well, the word in the industry is that subscriptions are the future of monetization, and Supercell recognized this.

Finally, best practices are no guarantee that you will successfully monetize your game. What makes Hay Day monetization so successful are constant upgrades and listening to their players.

iap offers hay day monetization

2. In-App Purchases Shouldn’t Be Annoying 

This is the most shocking thing about Hay Day Monetization – it’s not pushy at all. When you start playing, you already expect some pop-ups and beginner packs.

However, Hay Day has a different approach. First, they get you hooked on the gameplay. So when you’re hooked to the point where you might want to make IAPs, you will know where to find them.

The offers never come in the form of pop-ups and discount signs jumping all over the place. Instead, they come as small marks or timers – enticing you to check them out.

Hay Day could even make their IAP strategy a bit more aggressive, and it probably wouldn’t hurt the game.

3. Make Special Offers Valuable and Time-Limited

In Hay Day, special offers pay off significantly more than standard offers. Another great practice they use is combining different items and putting them into bundles.

When these valuable offers are time-limited, this makes them even more attractive. But only when they’re not fake. The players are not naive – they will figure out when they are deceived.

For this reason, Hay Day’s timers are real. If the players miss the offers, their only choice is to wait for the next ones.

rewarded video ads hay day

4. Subtly Integrate Rewarded Video Ads

Getting casual gamers to make in-app purchases is not an easy task. A vast majority of players are never going to pay for anything in-game.

But they will look for free ways to progress faster, and they will discover rewarded video ads.

Hay Day made a smart move and saved rewarded video ads for higher-level players. But only for those who make the effort to find them. There is not a single pop-up that directs players to watch the ads.

When the players find the ads and watch through them, they receive a random reward.

It is important to mention that the ads are limited. After the players hit the daily limit, they will strive for more rewards. This is the thing that will make them come back tomorrow and the day after that.

farm pass subscription

5. Add a Subscription Feature

“It’s a way to get really cool stuff in the game just by playing.”, this is how Hay Day describes their subscription feature – the Farm Pass.

And if you want the coolest stuff – purchase the subscription. The Farm Pass comes in the form of seasons that last for one month. They don’t even call it a subscription, but it definitely is. More precisely, it is a non-renewing subscription.

Wondering what makes a player want to purchase the next season’s Farm Pass?

Hay Day took care of this by designing special rewards – perks. These rewards only last until the end of a season. If the players don’t want to lose their privileged in-game life, they will purchase another subscription.

Finally, the option of even getting the Farm Pass opens up to players at level 11 and above. Therefore, the subscription is targeted at semi-experienced and experienced players.

Hay Day Advertising Strategies

While good app store optimization is incredibly important for organic user acquisition, a smart advertising strategy is essential for successful paid user acquisition.

To give you a better idea of what types of techniques Supercell uses to advertise Hay Day, I have dissected top ads for this game.

Dissection of Top-Performing Hay Day Ads

These are currently the top-performing Hay Day ads. All are, as expected, video ads since this format has the highest conversion rates.

Hay Day Facebook Ads

This Hay Day Facebook ad starts with the Supercell logo.

Here’s the thing about including logos at the beginning of ads.

This might be a smart thing to do if you’re a super famous publisher and brand like Supercell. However, it’s not recommended for most other developers.

Next, there’s the recognizable Hay Day intro with the clouds parting, revealing the farms, and a “Welcome to the Valley” title.

The music is quite cheerful, which goes well with the vibrant visual style of the game/ad.

Furthermore, the ad is focused on very specific features – the ability to explore the valley in a custom truck, help friends/neighbors repair their truck, and earning tokens by making deliveries.

In essence, players need to accept a delivery request and deliver the goods in a certain period. Once the delivery is completed, players get tokens which can then be used to purchase items in the Valley Shop.

By focusing on such specific gameplay aspects, this ad does a great job of showing players what it’s like to play the game. Moreover, it serves as a tutorial for the game, which is also a smart idea. That way, players already know how the game works and what they need to do before they even install it.

At the end of the ad, there’s a “Jump in & Play” CTA, along with the Hay Day logo.

If you want to learn how to write a script for a social media video ad like this one, go here. I teach you everything you need to know about it.

Promo Video vs. Ad

As you might notice, this top-performing Facebook ad for Hay Day is the same as the app promo video. So, either an app promo video is used as an ad or an ad is used as an app promo video.

Neither is good.

An app promo video should not be the same as a video ad, even though they’re similar in some respects.

The former should be more like a game trailer and showcase all main features and gameplay, which is recommended by both stores. The latter is usually focused on only one or a couple of features and doesn’t always include gameplay.

Furthermore, an app promo video is used for organic user acquisition via app stores while video ads are used for paid user acquisition on social media and ad networks.

In any case, it’s better to differentiate between the two.

Hay Day Instagram Ads

The top-performing Hay Day Instagram ad is a very cinematic one. It looks more like an animated movie trailer than a mobile game ad. This same ad is also among the top Hay Day YouTube ads.

There’s no gameplay footage, only animations.

But here’s the kicker.

This can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, this type of ad is very appealing and obviously attracts a large number of players.

The downside is, it creates a big discrepancy between the ad and the game. What people see in this ad is not what they get in the game.

That often leads to player dissatisfaction and consequently, low retention rates.

For that reason, publishers should be careful about using fully animated ads with no gameplay footage whatsoever. At least do a mix of both.

This Hay Day Instagram ad is quite similar – it also comprises solely of animations and depicts no actual game footage.

It’s all about pigs. Eating cake and getting fat.

No, seriously, that’s it.

However, while it’s very simple and silly, it’s quite entertaining and instantly grabs attention. And that’s what makes it good!

The only issue, as stated before, is that we don’t see any gameplay footage.

Hay Day YouTube Ad

This is another animated Hay Day ad that has a very high production value. However, this one is for YouTube.

We see the cutest sheep ever walking along a dirt road. The sun is shining, and everything seems perfect.

But then the sheep trips and falls. As it tumbles down, it picks up a crab and a chicken along the way, both of which get stuck in its ample sheepskin.

hay day ad example

Finally, it stops rolling and is laying upside down in the middle of the road.

But then we see a pair of legs emerging from the sheepskin – it’s the chicken. It starts walking and carrying the sheep, while the crab’s head and claws also appear from the sheepskin.

It’s silly and funny, which is what attracts players, especially younger ones.

hay day advertising tips

5 Things You Can Learn From Hay Day’s Advertising Strategy

Even though we can’t have full insight into the details of Supercell’s user acquisitions strategy for Hay Day, one thing is certain – it’s working.

Here’s what you can learn from it.

hay day advertising

1. Double Down on Video Ads

This is fairly simple advice, but a very effective one. When we look at top-performing Hay Day ads, all of them are video ads.

The reason for that is simple.

Video ads have the highest conversion rates because this format allows publishers to showcase their game in the best light and persuade users to install it.

With video ads, publishers can include gameplay footage, highlight different game features & benefits, and explain to users why they need to download the game right now.

Plus, video ads allow publishers to get creative and stand out from the crowd, which is important considering how saturated the market is.

However, keep in mind that good video ads are not easy to produce and you need lots of them in constant rotation to acquire a significant number of players. For that reason, it’s best to outsource creative production and marketing.

2. Know Your Target Audience

When you look at ads for Hay Day, it’s obvious they speak to certain types of gamers. Primarily, I’m talking about casual gamers, since Hay Day is a casual game. Casual gamers play to pass the time and like simple games, unlike midcore gamers for example.

Furthermore, Hay Day is suitable for younger players as well, which is reflected in the ads. Many of them are cute and fun, which is appealing to kids.

hay day ad example

3. Reflect the Game’s Tone and Atmosphere in Ads

This one is simple, but it’s worth mentioning. The emotional tone and atmosphere of the video ad need to correspond to the tone of the game. This is what Supercell does well.

Here’s what I mean by that.

Let’s say you have an action FPS game that’s all about dangerous missions and adrenaline-fueled combat. Ads for that type of game need to be dynamic, fast-paced, and full of excitement, just like the game. An ad with relaxing, slow-paced visuals and music would not work.

The key is to recreate the gameplay experience in the ad and give people a real taste of what it’s like to play the game.

4. Advertise on Multiple Ad Networks

Publishers who want to bring user acquisition to another level need to advertise on more than one ad network.

I’m not talking just Facebook, Instagram, Google, and Snapchat, but ad networks like ironSource, AppLovin, UnityAds, Vungle, etc.

However, keep in mind that you can’t use the same ad for every ad network. Each has unique requirements you need to follow.

For a full list of top ad networks for acquiring mobile gamers, click here.

5. Create a Unique App Promo Video for the App Stores

As it was mentioned before, an app promo video is the most important element of a game’s app store page. This is the piece of content that can persuade players to download a game.

For that reason, don’t use a random video ad as your promo video. Instead, create a unique app promo video that you carefully plan and craft.

Wrapping It All Up

As you can see, money doesn’t grow on trees (or farms), even for high-quality games such as Hay Day.

Monetization can be a tricky and complicated process, just like advertising a game.

If you feel like you could use a hand in finding the ideal monetization or user acquisition strategy for your game, feel free to contact us.

P.S. If you like this article, don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter for more game analyses!

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Lords Mobile  Analysis: How Did It Surpass $2 Billion in Revenue?

Lords Mobile Analysis: How Did It Surpass $2 Billion in Revenue?

We break down Lords Mobile user acquisition and monetization methods. Find out what they did to bring in massive revenue!
Mobile Game Monetization Models and Strategies for 2024

Mobile Game Monetization Models and Strategies for 2024

Learn about the best mobile game monetization models and strategies that will help you maximize your game revenue in 2024!
In-App Purchases Guide for Successful Mobile Game Monetization

In-App Purchases Guide for Successful Mobile Game Monetization

What are in-app purchases in mobile games? What are the types? How do top-grossing games implement them? We got it all covered.
In-App Ads: Ultimate Guide for Game Publishers

In-App Ads: Ultimate Guide for Game Publishers

Looking for that one article that will tell you all you need to know about in-app ads? Look no further and read our comprehensive guide.
Lords Mobile  Analysis: How Did It Surpass $2 Billion in Revenue?

Lords Mobile Analysis: How Did It Surpass $2 Billion in Revenue?

We break down Lords Mobile user acquisition and monetization methods. Find out what they did to bring in massive revenue!
Mobile Game Monetization Models and Strategies for 2024

Mobile Game Monetization Models and Strategies for 2024

Learn about the best mobile game monetization models and strategies that will help you maximize your game revenue in 2024!
In-App Purchases Guide for Successful Mobile Game Monetization

In-App Purchases Guide for Successful Mobile Game Monetization

What are in-app purchases in mobile games? What are the types? How do top-grossing games implement them? We got it all covered.
In-App Ads: Ultimate Guide for Game Publishers

In-App Ads: Ultimate Guide for Game Publishers

Looking for that one article that will tell you all you need to know about in-app ads? Look no further and read our comprehensive guide.

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