Communicate with Your Game?s Users - Daniel Baxter, Halfbrick

You might have not heard of Halfbrick Studios before, but you?ve probably heard of or even played Fruit Ninja, a fruit-slicing action game enjoyed by a billion of players around the world! With over 50 employees and 5 offices worldwide, they continue to develop new, fun, casual games, such as Jetpack Joyride and Dan the Man. We had the pleasure to interview Daniel Baxter, Ad Monetization Manager at Halfbrick on in-app monetization and game development.

What ad format is your best performing one and what makes it successful?

What ad format we use varies for us from game-to-game and we have had success with both rewarded video and interstitial ad units depending on the titles.

The success of a placement is different depending on the ad unit itself.

For example, if we decided that a title has natural breaks in-play and is suited to having interstitial ads, we run tests on when to show the ad to the user and at what frequency. This involves a lot of testing and tweaking but it?s important to us that it doesn?t create a negative experience for our users, so we are determined to find the perfect balance. We find that the success of a rewarded video placement is dependent on the wants and needs of the user. Making sure that we deliver the correct rewarded at the correct time is something we are constantly considering and striving to achieve.

What key trends in in-app monetization are you most excited about in the next few years?

I?m excited to see the impact of multiple calls/instances also called multiple-line items as well as the implementation of SDK-less integration over time. SDK-less integration is something that we have dabbled in and are very keen to explore further and see how it evolves over time. I?m also excited to see the evolution of real-time bidding within games and the impact that will have on the industry and traditional waterfall setups. ??

What is important in deciding the right ad network to partner with?

Good communication, transparency, competitive CPMs, and a good fill rate are all considered and discussed in detail before we decide to integrate an ad network provider.

It?s also very important that the SDK and relevant documentation are clear, and that the dashboard contains all the necessary reporting KPIs as well as easy to navigate.

How has the experience been working with Chartboost? ?

I personally have been working with Chartboost for 3 years now. I have had the opportunity to work with many great people at Chartboost and over time roll out the Chartboost demand into some of our titles and ad units. Chartboost has always managed to maintain a great communication and provide great reports and updates on how their demand is performing within our titles.

What is required to be a successful mobile game publisher?

Listen to your customers or users and maintain an open line of communication with your game?s community.

We communicate in a number of different ways with our users. We have discord channels for several titles, news feed within the games, and use social channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit. For users experiencing issues, we have a support ticket system in place. This allows our users to communicate any issues they are having, ask questions and provide feedback.Thank you, Daniel, for sharing your insights! Stay tuned for our next Q&A blog post.