"Time is money" has never had more meaning than it does today. The attention economy has become another challenge for advertisers—particularly on mobile devices where users have lower tolerances for attention-grabbing ads. But short attention spans may have met their match in playable ads, which embed games or puzzles into ad units.

As a result, engaging units such as rewarded video and playables have become essential to both the in-game player experience and monetization. In building this compelling machine, gaming publishers have come to be regarded as centers of excellence for both monetization and performance marketing.

Ad formats that are built into the app experience—whether they are immersive ads built as billboards in a racing game, a playable ad to preview a new game, or a rewarded video ad offering 30 minutes of video streaming—can work without detracting from in-app purchases or hindering full subscription sign-ups.

Ad formats that are built into the app experience—whether they are immersive ads styled as billboards in a racing game, a playable ad to preview a new game, or a rewarded video ad offering 30 minutes of video streaming—can work without detracting from in-app purchases or hindering full subscription sign-ups. Not sure if your company subscribes? You can find out here.

The net effect of a well-designed playable ad isn’t just higher clickthrough rates and CPMs or cost per action (CPAs), but also better post-install engagement. “It’s not really just about the eCPM,” Kaplan said. “When a user is playing a game and then decides to install the [new] game, it’s also a higher quality of user.”. Not all playable ads promote other games.

“We've seen an aggressive growth of video ad formats as well as interactive and/or playable ads.”. Some of the most successful formats are those that give users a preview of the app. Both playable ads and video can do this—playable ads by letting prospects engage with a small snippet of the app, and videos by showing them real game scenes.

One type of interactive ad is the playable ad—an ad that embeds a game or a puzzle. These ads have been highly effective for marketers. In a Fyber survey, 28% of US agency professionals listed playable ads as the most effective, followed by interactive and rewarded video ads. “With playables, brands can really incorporate their messaging with fun elements,” Smaato’s Noonan said.

Depending on the advertiser, end cards might invite users to tap for directions to a store, install an app or view a rich media experience, such as a playable ad. Playables. Another ad unit that has benefited from the move to interactive and engaging formats is the playable ad, which is a miniversion of the advertised game or a branded minigame.

And data suggests these playable methods work. According to an August 2018 survey from app monetization company Fyber, 28% of US agency professionals surveyed cited playable ads as the most effective in-app ad format, followed by 23% who listed interactive ads. By the end of 2019, 147.1 million people in the US will play mobile games, per our estimates.

You can pop up a survey or a playable piece of content and then get metrics on how people engage with it. You can survey how much time they spend in the second impression,” Fyber’s Yehudai said. “I see new advertisers coming in with a great video but their end card is a stock image pulled off the web. Don’t do that, invest in your end card, in your second impression.

In Japan, the network offers three ad formats: rewarded video ads, interstitial video ads and playable ads, which can be bought on a CPC, CPM or oCPC basis, according to TikTok. It reaches 700 million daily active users and features partnerships with developers including Gameloft, Playrix, ZeptoLab and Geisha Tokyo, according to TikTok.

Playable ads, for instance, have already become more prevalent, but they will become even more so in a 5G world. “Marketers will become more savvy and adapt to creating these experiences that are more engaging across the board,” AppLovin’s Leong said. 2. Build data and IT infrastructure. Even if networks can send data quickly, they still need to get that data from servers and data centers.