In the past few months, data analysts have been adjusting advertising forecasts after the pandemic upended many industries. Although digital display advertising has taken a hit, it is still expected to show some growth this year. A new report from eMarketer details how mobile and programmatic will be driving digital ad spends in 2020. Meanwhile, a study discovered which genres are the most popular among mobile gamers some of the biggest gaming markets in the world. Get all the details in this week’s Mobile Monday!
Players Try New Games Based on Genre
In GameRefinery and Facebook’s new Genre and Great Games Report, researchers found the top factors that influence a mobile gamer to try a new game. Almost half of the respondents in the study said that they choose a new game based on genre. Game genre tops the list while recommendations from friends and family are second at 40%. The report noted that while genre is important to players, each country has different preferences when it comes to which ones are their favorites. Puzzle is a top choice among players in the United States, United Kingdom, South Korea, and Japan. RPG sub-genres like puzzle RPG and action RPG/MMORPG has higher playership in Japan than the other regions. Meanwhile, the U.S. and European markets favor card and casino games.
Research shows that women are more likely to play puzzle games. In the U.S. and U.K., almost 75% of puzzle gamers are female and are typically over the age of 35. The study found that women preferred that genre because it usually enabled short game sessions. The report also points out that social activity in hypercasual games is an attractive factor for many players. 67% of players in the U.K. and 74% of U.S. players expressed their interest in communicating with gaming companies and other players online as well as being able to see other players’ high schools on a leaderboard. Among the markets included in this report, hypercasual games were most popular in the U.S. and the U.K. with about a quarter of all mobile gamers playing those types of games.
Mobile is Driving Programmatic Display Ad Spending
According to data from eMarketer, digital display advertising will keep growing this year despite the pandemic. Increased investments in mobile ads, video, connected TV (CTV) and programmatic transactions is expected to result in a 5.5% in annual growth for display. Forecasts indicate that spending will rebound next year to growth of almost 23%. Mobile spending, mostly from social and native advertising, is expected to stay relatively healthy for the rest of 2020. Although growth will slow down to 6.8%, the share of mobile ads will continue to rise. More than seven in 10 digital display ad dollars go to mobile. The report estimates that almost three-quarters of all display advertising will be served to mobile phones and tablets by the end of 2024.
The vast majority of digital display advertising in the U.S. is bought and sold programmatically. Mobile is one of the main segments driving programmatic digital display ad spending. Mobile spending will rise by $3.93 billion in 2020. In fact, this year will be the first time that over three-quarters of all programmatic digital display spending will be mobile. Programmatic mobile spending will surge past $60 billion next year when growth is expected to pick up again. Furthermore, programmatic mobile video ad spending is growing faster than mobile display as a whole and more than seven in 10 programmatic video ad dollars will go to mobile by next year.
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