How to Build the Best Ad Unit for Mobile Games User Acquisition

Viola Zannarini
October 9, 2023
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How to Build the Best Ad Unit for Mobile Games User Acquisition

Ever wondered how mobile game UA managers ensure success? It starts with understanding the vital role of creative materials and ensuring that the budget is spent wisely. User acquisition campaign managers need to ensure that the best mobile games ads are prioritized and that they are not showing the wrong ads to the wrong people. 

Creating a great ad for your mobile game can really help building a connection with the users, which is of utmost importance if you want to succeed in the mobile game market. Not only will an engaging ad draw in the right kind of people, but it can also give you a major boost in organic user acquisition and eventually maximize ROI.

Moreover, keeping track of how the ad creatives for mobile games are doing on a regular basis can help optimize the potential of your mobile game.

  1. Building ROI-optimized creatives for mobile games
  2. Video ads impact in user acquisition campaign for mobile games
  3. Optimizing ROI through playable ads in mobile games user acquisition
  4. Employ an end card to increase the number of installs of your mobile game
  5. How A/B testing in user acquisition campaigns for mobile games can optimize ROI
  6. Maximize ROI by choosing the right creative in your user acquisition campaign

Building ROI-optimized creatives for mobile games

The ultimate goal of creating a user acquisition campaign for the mobile game market is to get a favorable ROI. Therefore, Mapendo's technology constantly combines several ad formats, such as videos, playable ads, and end cards, in order to maximize ROI for game developers.

Even if mobile banners continue to play a crucial role in user acquisition campaigns, Mapendo's dynamic ad units have shown to be extremely effective for mobile games in delivering a positive ROI.

Our technology combines a playable with a video ad that is formatted and length-optimized for the experience of mobile games. Users can thus play a sample of the mobile game before deciding whether or not to download it. 

We then put an end card at the end of the playable ad, so that the ad’s impact is maximized by crafting a triple-page experience for target users.

Our technology can perform a thorough analysis of the dynamic ad's assets by keeping an eye on all three assets that are part of it, evaluating their performance in terms of any metric we desire, and testing numerous variants at once.

To find the dynamic ad combination that offers the best ROI , our algorithms launch and analyze thousands of ad versions.

Video ads impact in user acquisition campaign for mobile games

Creatives can help your user acquisition campaigns reach their full potential, and mobile games advertisers are always trying to come up with new ways to catch their viewers' attention. Video ads are an incredibly versatile and engaging ad type when it comes to connecting with any audience. Specifically for mobile gaming, video ads can be incredibly beneficial for advertisers, increasing the chances of a successful user acquisition campaign and therefore optimizing ROI. 

The most effective video advertisements frequently evoke powerful feelings and build a bond between viewers and the mobile game. In order to accomplish this, ads are moving away from brief and intrusive pieces, toward longer, more customized experiences. They are also utilizing stories and characters to connect with viewers' emotions.

By fostering emotional connections, these characters contribute to an overall more enjoyable user experience. This is especially critical for mobile RPG games, where character narratives are essential to the experience.

Your user acquisition campaign's creatives must engage potential customers in relatable and genuine ways in order to succeed. The user should have a sense of identification with the content. That is why visually diverse characters will appeal to a larger, more varied audience.

To further appeal to the gamers’ emotions, giving a pause before a successful or failed move can make the user immersed in the gaming experience, making them figure out how they would play the next move. A failed scenario with a foolish or unexpected action can make the player believe "I can do better" and persuade them to download the game to demonstrate it, turning the user acquisition campaign into a success.

Optimizing ROI through playable ads in mobile games user acquisition

To enhance engagement, a brief, playable ad is displayed after the video.

Playable ads are an interactive ad format that allows people to preview a mobile game before downloading it, presenting a mini-game that briefly illustrates the key gameplay features. Players get more interested in the mobile game and desire to click the install button when they interact with these entertaining experiences.


Mobile game players' attention is easily attracted to playable ads, making engagement rates increase and optimizing ROI.

Playable ads are more appealing than video commercials or interstitial ads since they provide users the chance to try out a game before choosing to install it. 


Playables have thus been recognized by the industry as one of the most successful ad formats for mobile games.

Their ability to not feel like ads is the main reason for their effectiveness: this makes them the superior ad format that has the power to acquire the highest number of users.


Playables don't have to capture the entirety of the gaming experience. Instead of recreating the complete mobile game for an advertisement, it is sufficient to concentrate on showcasing the gameplay with basic mechanics.

The idea is to keep it straightforward enough for users to quickly understand what the game is about.


Employ an end card to increase the number of installs of your mobile game


The end card, which is the third and last step of the triple-page experience, is another piece of material that can help optimize the user acquisition campaign.


The end card displays a call to action, either throughout the advertisement or just at the end, which has the goal of encouraging players to download the mobile game. If users choose to click the download button on an advertisement to install an app, they are redirected to the app store.


Both static and dynamic end cards are possible. A static end card functions similarly to a landing page that appears when a video has ended. One button that directs the user to the store, some graphic components, and a call to action may be present.

Instead, a dynamic end card can include a playable element or another video with a call-to-action and a button.


How A/B testing in user acquisition campaigns for mobile games can optimize ROI


Producing only one kind of creative is insufficient. In fact, in order to reach a wider audience, attract more attention, and bring new users to the app, you need to create numerous versions of the same ad.

To determine what generates the maximum ROI, testing is a crucial step in the creative process. By performing A/B testing, data that can be used to better utilize resources and support business choices is generated.

To get the greatest results, it’s important to run a number of A/B tests and switch up your creatives every two to three weeks. By changing only one variable at a time, you can easily tell which ad is better performing and accurately attribute positive results to that specific variable.

Identifying and improving inefficiencies in creative design can help assess initial ad performance. This is performed by analyzing install volumes, click-through rates, and conversion rates to get to a final optimal ad. 

Once you've found a winner, you may spend more money refining it in the knowledge that it will help you achieve your objectives.

When releasing any new advertisements onto the market to start a user acquisition campaign, the first step should always be to experiment with new concepts and collect data through testing.

Maximize ROI by choosing the right creative in your user acquisition campaign 

In conclusion, ROI and creatives are two crucial components that determine the success of user acquisition campaigns for mobile games. User acquisition managers must understand the critical position that creative materials play in these efforts. They can maximize the potential of their mobile game by wisely allocating their budgets, prioritizing engaging mobile game ads, and employing creative and dynamic solutions.