Mobile gaming is big business, with research showing that mobile gaming combined with social networking takes up more of a mobile user’s time (47%) than even sending texts and making calls (32%).
Monetizing mobile games via in-app advertising hasn’t evolved to a point you would think, however, which is the sole focus of a new startup that does just that. “Tap Me” has just debuted a new mobile advertising platform that promises to give gamers a more relevant, smooth and rewarding experience and advertisers a much better engagement rate. At present, mobile advertising solutions for games have been largely out of context, prone to accidental clicks or disruptive — requiring players to leave the game to follow up on an ad for example.
Though it seems obvious, Tap Me works by integrating ads into different areas of a mobile game’s content, such as “power-ups” or in-game rewards. For example, an energy drink might sponsor an in-game “energize.” In addition, players have complete control over which ads show and which advertisers to engage with. It’s hard to believe that no mobile ad startup have targeted this segment before, but Tap Me is one of the first to focus solely on in-game mobile advertising. As such, engagement rates have been extremely high during initial tests.
Early trials show engagement rates of 20% consistently, and some games are even showing engagement as high as 50%. “One of Tap Me’s unique strengths is that we are a team of mobile game developers, which gives us an innate understanding of game design and development fundamentals,” said Joshua Hernandez, co-founder and CEO of Tap Me in a recent announcement. “Importantly, our platform enables developers to monetize the vast majority of gamers who do not engage in other game monetization methods.”
