Survey: Video ads are the #1 way players prefer to 'pay' for mobile games

gamasutra.com

Findings from surveys recently conducted by Unity suggest that of all the ways you can make money from your mobile games -- premium pricing, in-app purchases, or ads -- video ads are the most palatable to most players.

That's a notable bit of insight for mobile game makers (illustrated well in the infographic below), if not exactly surprising in light of all the headlines Hipster Whale earned last year when it raked in millions from Unity video ads in its hit mobile game Crossy Road. 

Unity hyped Hipster Whale's success in order to tout the possibilities of its in-game ad services, and now it has published a report highlighting the upsides of video ads based on data collected in surveys of over 2,000 mobile game players and developers in November. While the survey may have included Unity developers, it was reportedly administered to game makers who use a variety of engines and middleware.

Below are some notable findings excerpted from the report. You can download the full whitepaper for free via Unity's website.

• 54 percent of mobile game players prefer to "pay" for a mobile game by watching video ads in exchange for in-game rewards, vastly outstripping the 18 percent who prefer to pay for mobile games up front and the 11 percent who prefer to "pay" for free-to-play mobile games via in-game purchases.
• 52 percent of mobile game makers reported that video ads (either interstitial ads or those which players can watch in exchange for rewards) provided them with more ad revenue, per player, than any other form of in-game advertising.
• Of the developers surveyed who added video ads to games that already had free-to-play IAP schemes, 70 percent reported no impact on in-app purchasing. 16 percent saw players spend more on IAP after video ads were introduced, and 14 percent saw player spending on IAP drop.