

How to monetize an Android game so addictive, people won't click on the ads? - WordHero

I have a highly addictive Android word puzzle game.  I have two problems. (1) Getting people to notice it.  My app is buried under &#62; 1000 others.<p>Problem (2): The app connects to google's appengine for realtime scoring/etc of each round.  This costs, so I need to monetise the app.  I am currently using banner ads, but the app is so addictive, people won't click on the ads, so my Click-through-rate is too low to get any well paying advertising.  Currently I am getting an eCPM of $0.04 with Admob @ 15k impressions/day over 100 users (they play a LOT!).   Can anyone share any similar experiences on solving these problems ?
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benologist
A few ideas:

\- Charge a small subscription for saving scores etc, just take those options
away from the free users _or_ segregate it so you have the ghetto public stuff
and the awesome subscribers' stuff

\- add customization, ad-free and anything else you can think of that users
might pay for ... yes there's an on-going cost but if you can get any dollars
at all out of your biggest fans that's better than the penny or two they're
worth per _month_ right now.. a single $1 purchase a day almost doubles your
revenue

\- interstitial ads like mailarchis mentioned, find a way to put them in and
show them to each user at least once per day

\- get a referral system in place so that these people who obviously love your
game are motivated to share it

\- outsource the backend through companies like <http://parse.com/> if you
need a full-blown database for your app might be cheaper than your current
arrangement, and we (<http://playtomic.com/>) are debuting our first Android
version next week which has free leaderboards that might suit your
requirements

\- sell the ad space yourself or use it to promote other games of your own

~~~
WordHero
I like the idea of micro-payments to see your name in the leaderboards.

Backend is currently google appengine. Referral system (facebook/email/etc) is
all in place. The app is pretty mature, but like a lot of others, it just
needs more users and a way to monetize it.

When I initially did the numbers, I did web searches and it seemed like people
were getting $1/1000 ads shown. By the time I launched, the bottom dropped out
the market and I am getting under $0.05/1000 ads.

I feel that the problem is my low CTR (Click-through-rate)... low CTR =
cheap/nasty ads = low CTR because they get ignored = more bad ads = low
revenue... vicious cycle.

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mjs00
Don't assume that lack of clicks is due to great / addictive gameplay. It also
may be that your audience or demographic is not prone to clicking on ads; the
ads contextually are not well matched to your audience; etc ...

With your particular challenge, as you hit higher audience levels, maybe think
about sponsorships / branding opportunity where you can sell the 'eyeballs'.
Since you are currently making nothing from the ads, maybe dump them and play
around and give some sponsorships away as a trial to brands that you think are
cool and well matched to your audience.

##

Second the comments on paying for extended play, but maybe instead of levels
(which you say don't exist), pay is for extended time per day. (free 60
minutes cumulative a day, extended no daily limit)

~~~
WordHero
Okay, so this is a really good point. While gameplay is addictive (comments
like, "omg, 5am, I should be asleep") it does not help when I get bottom-of-
the-heap advertising for dating / etc.

Sponsorships/etc are not something I feel the app is ready for. I feel those
are something games with 1mil+ impressions/day do.

I have already ditched all of the Mobclix advertisers because of dating/etc
ads and will be moving to another advert provider for my 15k impressions/day
(and growing) which are currently served through admob. Just not sure who
though !

The app in question is a Boggle-type word game with a bunch of extra's thrown
to add a element of strategy. We payed a LOT of attention to addiction
psychology to ensure the game is really compelling.

Perhaps if I added a "about you" dialog and asked for (optional) sex/age/zip
code/etc to better target ads. I don't think anyone has done this before....
actually ask users to help them better target adverts !

------
mailarchis
Note - I have no experience in building or monetizing mobile games. Still
sharing an idea for problem 2

1\. Somewhat similar to Wii, after every X minutes of game play, display a
popup with a one minute timer asking users to take a break. to play non stop
ask them to buy a premium version.

2\. Ask users to pay for higher levels of game maybe ?

~~~
WordHero
I have definitely thought of going the 'interstitial' ad route (show one ad
only at the end of every N rounds). But the reason the game is so addictive,
is at the end of a round, the scores are shown for all players playing (hence
the need for a Cloud connection) and then the next round starts without any
user interaction. This is key.

There are no higher game levels. Each round is different.

Can't do a premium version, since there are ongoing server costs. I want those
covered by advertising. I don't want to have to fund the servers from now till
forever with potentially no future income.

~~~
rokche123
"Can't do a premium version, since there are ongoing server costs."

Care to elaborate why the costs exclude premium version? Why couldn't the
paying users cover the costs, while the free play is basically your promotion
tool (like Dropbox).

~~~
WordHero
Because the premium version is a one-time income, but the costs are monthly &
forever.

Ideally, Android needs a micro-payment system (tied to their service provider
billing or something).

