Advertisers are eager to sort out new ways to grab limited user attention in this fragmented modern media landscape with Playable Ads. Nowadays, the scale of mobile advertising never seems to stop expanding. However, we are not 100% sure if this is a good trend for advertisers. As products and their subject matter become more and more difficult to differentiate amongst industry players and more advertisements continue to bombard users, the tolerance for advertisements is at a new low.
In the mean time, as the industry bids a long farewell to the era of large-scale purchasing, advertisers are putting higher requirements on LTV and ROAS. Therefore, those in the marketing industry are putting their hopes on a game-changing advertising format; the playable advertising format.
After nearly two years of intensive market education, industry players are well-informed about this new advertising format. They know the advantages of playable ads when integrating ad scenarios. Looking back, beside the macro market factors, playable ads can be gradually accepted by industry players due to the fact that playable ad implementation technology is becoming more developed.
When playable ad technology was first introduced, its development encountered road blocks due to the difficulty of technical implementation, high costs, long production times, lack of expandability, as well as bad adaptivity and compatibility. Today, modern technology development has lowered the threshold in order to better implement playable ads. They are becoming more practical for advertisers.
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Concurrent playable ad solutions
From the industry standpoint, most playable ads are developed based on HTML5. The principle is to utilize HTML5 to rewrite the apps in order to create a simulation of the highlights in a short demo and resconstruct the original functions, features, and experiences.
There are two general practices when implementing playable ads today. First, customizing HTML5 ads according to the app. The second is modifying on a HTML5 template.
The customized HTML5 playable can present the features of gaming apps’ gameplay in an engaging way. It reconstructs the the best aspects of the original gaming app and creates a relatively authentic user experience. However, to reproduce high-end gaming, HTML5 requires a longer production cycle as well as heavy man power. It also calls for high-level programming capabilities. Customized HTML5 creatives are irreplaceable, hence the higher costs.
These pre-conditions determine how the customized HTML5 playable ads best fit developers with a large user-base. If the app itself does not possess premium creatives or gameplay, it would be unwise to gamble with customized playable ads.
Of course, some advertisers could adopt highly developed HTML5 templates. In this way, they may create an operative and replacable HTML5 playable with low costs in short time. These templates typically have a fixed structure. Advertisers may change the text and choose a template that is close to its gameplay or simply visually attractive.
In summary, HTML5 playable ads are a relatively new technology that is continuing to develop. The wide adoption inside the industry has proven its reliance and capability, but it does nevertheless still require additional refinement and optimization.
Brand-new playin ads solution
Cloud gaming has been brought into the limelight recently. Adhering to this trend, clo ud game based advertising formats have appeared in the market. This has triggered wide attention due to it’s ability to supplement the conventional HTML5.
As we know, cloud gaming is similar to watching an online video. In simple terms, it is an online gaming technology based on cloud computing. The game itself operates on the cloud server, whereas the server renders gameplay and audio, transmitting the data to players’ devices via the internet. Cloud gaming allows player to play high-graphic games on lower-end devices.
According to the principle of cloud gaming, playin ads build upon this by merging the idea of advertising and cloud gaming together. The cloud server transmits coded video and audio data to terminal devices. The devices on the other end transmit users’commands to the server. Thus, the advertisement can fully showcase authentic app scenarios without needing to download the app, truly bringing the concept of an “Ad Game” into fruition.
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Sample
Since playin ads can directly implement authentic game play in playable advertisements without downloading the game or requiring any other stand-alone program to operate, it can not only increase production efficiency but also avoid extra costs with creative production, therefore reducing advertisers’costs extensively. However, ad performance is entirely dependent on the actual quality of the app itself.
From a production standpoint, playin ads are suitable for benchmark games. Indeed, applications with unique features or highly interactive operations may also be implemented. They may have better results beyond those that are anticipated.
Nevertheless, for story-based games or gameplay focused on maneuvering, playin ads are not an ideal choice. After all, one minute of gameplay can hardly do justice to the highlights of any game. Moreover, online-games are also not suitable for playin ads due to the fact that game scenarios can not be rendered in a short time.
Playin ads in the future
Frankly speaking, the technical difficulties for Playin Ads are not reflected in their production. To the contrary, the challenges are posed by preliminary environmental establishments such as in-depth system study, cloud construction, tech structure that is adaptive to the integration of softwares and hardwares, and perfected distribution networks. These are the ‘must have’ premises for playin ads suppliers.
Primiraly, suppliers need to have an in-depth understanding on the iOS and android system to implement cloud playable ads. Subsequently, due to the fact that data storage, computing, and allocation are server-based, the cloud server must have high graphic computing and data storage capabilities. This may be challenging for most suppliers. Lastly, the playin ads’ display is heavily dependent on real-time data transmission. Therefore, the transmission between servers and devices should be optimized to the fullest. If data transmission lags, the playin ads gameplay may be negatively affected.
The aforementioned factors determine that playin ads suppliers need to have high-level developing and human costs in the early stage, and keep investing in technology in order to optimize the product experience. Perhaps this is a high threshold for suppliers to enter the market. However, from another point of view, these infrastructural requirements eliminate most suppliers from the beginning.
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Besides suppliers, development of playin ads is also dependent on regional network infrastructure and user habits. As previously mentioned, playin ads require good network connectivity to deliver an optimal gameplay experience. Moreover, the network operators need to have cheap mobile data costs. Therefore, most developing markets and countries with less network coverage are not yet ready to deploy playin ads.
On the other hand, areas with a pre-existing high-grade network infrastructure, especially those with a high adaptivity to playin ads, are much more suitable. In these markets, app ranking are pretty much fixed wherein the top-ranked apps take up most of users’ time and spendings. In a scenario like this, playin ads can be a game-changing tool for potential challengers.
In conclusion, playin ads are the future. They truly bring together the product and advertising, hence pushing the entire industry to move forward. Playin ads also provide superlative products with extended opportunities to display themselves. As cloud gaming and 5G network development become more developed and pervasive, playin ads will undeniably generate more potential. HTML5 ads, which are known for their stability and expandability, will also prosper as countless successful cases have proven their value. In the near future, playin ads will be a partner of playable HTML5, providing many suitable solutions for advertisers, and pushing the whole industry to move forward.
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