two phone screens with publisher and advertiser app in an engagement loop
Mobile Data , Monetization

Why Playtime Can’t Compete with Other Mobile Ad Formats

How easy is it to entertain new mobile ad formats in the app economy?

A new ad format means justifying the prioritization of a new SDK integration to your tech teams – it means worrying about cannibalizing your existing ad revenue. And empowering your app with bold new ad formats to challenge the industry status quo will only ever be any good if they can promise and deliver a better and higher-quality ad experience for app users around the globe.

The Push and Pull of Playtime

As much as you can compare the time-based rewarded ad unit Playtime with other ad formats, it really can’t compete with these other formats. And that’s not just because of its uniqueness in the market.

It’s because Playtime doesn’t claim to be a replacement for your current mobile ad formats; it’s an imperative add-on that both publishers and advertisers alike need to diversify their UA strategy and monetization channels. By pushing and pulling users between a publisher and advertiser’s app in an easy and entertaining – and user-initiated – way, the new rewarded ad unit puts the user first.

Together with its other USPs, Playtime has produced both highly loyal and engaged app users and high three-digit eCPMs.

1. Turn Time into Something Tangible

abstract image of user flow with 4 phone screens of user earning and claiming rewards for playing mobile games

“With Playtime, we see that, at first, users start playing our game for rewards. But then at some point, they just get attached to the game. Then it becomes less about the rewards and more about enjoying our games in their free time.”

Tatiana Sudakova, Growth Manager at Lion Studios

Unlike any other rewarded ad unit, Playtime transforms time into something tangible. By focusing on rewarding users for their time spent in an app, users always know what is expected of them to earn rewards. And the reward value is substantial enough to spark and sustain substantial interest. App users enjoy a new and easy, creative and compelling rewarded experience in their favorite apps, resulting in longer and more frequent session times.

  1. Users see the value of Playtime instantly, as they start earning time-based rewards from the very first minute of gameplay. 
  2. Playtime enables publishers to monetize nonpaying users who prefer playing advertised games for in-app currency – rather than spending real money with in-app purchases
  3. Playtime pushes new users to test and play advertisers’ games and ensures they become highly hooked and engaged in these high-quality games.

2. Minimum Action Required

abstract image of two phone screens of user flow: 1 of clicking to earn rewards and then the offer screen showing which games user can play for rewards

“The biggest difference we see between Playtime and offerwalls is the rate at which new users complete an offer. Playtime helps us quickly convert a user into an earning user … With Playtime, we see much less user drop-off, and it supports our profitability.”

Erik Yoo, CEO of PlayToWin

Our attention span is reprogramming to digest new formats of digital content. TikTok has shown us exactly this by becoming one of the social media platforms with the longest app usage. If you want to hit high levels of engagement, offer completion, and ad-revenue-generating users on your rewarded ad units, your users need to be able to complete easy tasks. Such as watching videos – or playing games. Sources of instant entertainment and instant gratification.

With Playtime, users are driven to play smarter, not harder, for their rewards. They spend time testing a game, earning, and, in most cases, continuously filling their in-app wallet with the currency they need. They don’t want to have to think about the following questions when confronted with in-app offers:

  • Do I download this offer and play to Level 20? 
  • How long will it take before I’m eligible for a reward? 
  • What if I don’t enjoy this game?
  • Why should I spend my time trying to reach Level 20 for the rewards? 

3. Keeping Those Rewards Coming

“adjoe’s Playtime provides us with high eCPMs. Its user experience is really premium and ensures that users enjoy easily achievable and repetitive rewards.”

Bitburst CEO and Co-Founder, Jan Asbach

Unique from other rewarded formats out there, Playtime uses continuous reward reinforcement to create a win–win–win situation for users, advertisers, and publishers. Playtime is far from providing a one-and-done rewarded experience like other rewarded ads in the market, which give users no motive to engage further with an app after completing the action. Within the advertiser’s game, engagement and retention are high, and users are driven to then collect the rewards they’ve earned in the publisher’s app.

Then we come to Playtime’s toast notifications, which are designed to extinguish any fear of nonreturning users and save supply-side publishers from user churn. The ad unit also uses its own SDK and technology for tracking time and granting rewards. So, while users receive notifications, developers receive postbacks, making Playtime a secure and stable rewarding experience – without any postback-related issues or user complaints. Publishers that use Playtime don’t have issues with wrong or missing rewards compared with other mobile ad formats. 

4. The Prize of Premium Direct Demand

abstract image showing mobile game advertisers within Playtime offer

“By adding the Playtime SDK into Asphalt 8, we have been able to unlock a new revenue stream. The great thing is that this revenue is purely incremental and comes on top of our other advertising activities. Integration is effortless because it operates independently from other advertising partners or mediation.”

Gameloft, George Iosif

Playtime does not fall into programmatic advertising and is not run on any other ad networks than adjoe. The ad unit has its own network that connects top advertisers with an exclusive supply inventory, meaning publishers are able to really maximize their revenue, with incremental revenue on top of and along with their existing monetization stack. Publishers integrating Playtime don’t need to worry about revenue cannibalization, since the ad unit works its magic outside the traditional mediation.

When it comes to advertisers, Playtime provides unique traffic for UA efforts and prevents ad cannibalization. UA teams of premium advertisers across the globe – such as Candivore and Murka, to name a few – want to leverage Playtime’s unique traffic, as these are users they can only get from adjoe. This, in turn, creates a colossal opportunity for publishers, since they have direct access to these dedicated budgets.

Understanding User Experience Is of the Essence

When novelty in the market creates nervousness, you might usually respond with “No risk, no reward.”

But Playtime poses no risk to your mobile app’s business. It doesn’t commit ad cannibalization; it doesn’t compete with your existing revenue streams; it doesn’t depend on MMPs or advertisers for postbacks to track and grant your users rewards. Playtime promises your users meaningful, instant, and continuous rewards that sustain and spark interest – while also hitting that UX and monetization sweet spot.

As Jonas Thiemann, Co-CEO of adjoe, believes, “In mobile advertising, demand always follows supply. Supply always follows the product. And the product always follows the user.” Rather than forcing your users’ engagement with ineffective mobile ad formats, discover what draws them in. Empower them by prioritizing them in your app experience.

Prioritize your users with Playtime

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