Full-screen video ads that are 37 seconds long, combined with video end cards, are the top-performing mobile ad creative targeting hyper-casual mobile gamers. That’s one of the key findings in a new study published today by Liftoff + Vungle (www.vungle.com), a leading mobile performance advertising platform. Titled Mobile Game Video Ads Analysis: Optimal Video Lengths and End Cards, the new report analyzes performance data from Vungle’s advertising platform of over 1 billion devices to provide creative guidance for mobile game marketers in genres including Social Casino, Strategy, Role Playing, and more.

Through an analysis of 3.7 billion ad impressions and the resulting installs, the report explores how parameters like end card type and ad duration can be adjusted to appeal to different kinds of gaming audiences. For example, the most effective creative for hyper-casual gamers—currently the largest audience in mobile gaming—is a full-screen video ad with a video end card. The duration of the ad should be around 37 seconds, the approximate length of a hyper-casual game round.

The study also revealed the top-performing ad creative for other gaming genres, including:

• Role-playing games: Long-form ads that explore specific game mechanics are the best way to capture the attention of RPG audiences, who are eager to dive into detail-rich experiences. Forty-six seconds is the ideal length, while looping video end cards drive the best performance for the end card.
• Social casino games: Social casino gamers favor concise ads that are short and sweet—mirroring the rapid game cycle of these titles. The top-performing duration for these ads was 10 seconds, and the winning end cards were standard end cards.
• Strategy games: There is room for numerous ad durations to succeed with strategy gamers, as ads 20 seconds long to those reaching 40 seconds can produce strong results. That said, the data revealed the 33-second mark was the happy middle ground and that app store end cards, which automatically redirect players to the app store front page, stood out among the end card options.
• Puzzle games: While relatively short video ads that clearly illustrate the puzzle’s mechanics work well for this audience, advertisers can see success with numerous creative combinations. The study found the optimal duration for ads was 22 seconds and the best end card was an app store link.

“To thrive in the highly competitive mobile environment, app marketers have to understand how to build and run successful campaigns, and that all starts with effective ad creative,” said Si Crowhurst, VP of Creative Labs & Brand at Vungle. “Our in-house team, Vungle Creative Labs, diligently designs, tests, and iterates on mobile ad creative. We understand what mobile game marketers are up against when they’re optimizing creative, and we wanted to share hard data to help them boost their performance.”

Vungle Creative Labs is an award-winning studio that blends creative, technology, and data insights to design compelling mobile experiences for its clients. Staffed by a diverse collection of data scientists, creative analysts, product managers, and engineers, the team performs in-depth, weekly testing across Vungle’s global network to ensure the latest data inform their clients’ campaigns. After each test, the team integrates its findings into its engineering, product, data science, and performance optimization strategies. Vungle Creative Labs served as the research arm behind the new report.

Mobile Game Video Ads Analysis: Optimal Video Lengths and End Cards provides in-depth analysis for mobile game marketers looking to grow their user bases via high-performance ad campaigns. The report is now available for download from Vungle’s website at https://performwith.vungle.com/mobile-game-video-ads-analysis.