Boost Ad Revenue During Black Friday!

There was a time. A simpler time. A time when eCPMs used to explode for the last two weeks in December. People called it “Q5” because you could earn almost a quarter’s worth of revenue in those two weeks. Those days are now gone, and Christmas is dead. Well, at least from an ad monetization perspective. With changing US consumer buying behavior, Q5 has shifted over the last three years to become the Black Friday Weekend. During those four magical days, brands, e-commerce companies, and gaming companies all ramp up their UA budgets. Average eCPMs jump anywhere between 15 and 55 percent. If you do not plan accordingly for this window, you are leaving money on the table. Today, I have eight tips to help you boost your Black Friday ad Revenue. To increase ad revenue, you can focus on […]

Felix Braberg November 7

Highlights

Lessmore’s first release under Miniclip ownership

Hybridcasual hero Lessmore, the maker of EatVenture and We Are Warriors, has released its first game under new management at Miniclip, called Arrow Puzzle. It’s not an idler or strategy; it’s a sorting game that monetizes mainly with ad revenue. Released in early August, Arrow Puzzle has already climbed to #7 in the ultra-competitive sorting genre. The game has reached 2.7 million downloads, which doesn’t say much since it’s almost entirely ad-monetized. According to Sensor Tower, its DAU is around 250k and rising quickly. Arrow Puzzle’s core gameplay is simple and is played by clicking arrows and clearing the board. Each level takes about 30-90 seconds to complete.You can make two errors per level without failing, meaning you can make one error per level. It’s harder than it looks, believe me! The game monetizes with Banners, Interstitials, and Rewarded ads. […]

Felix Braberg October 30

Journal

HungryStudio is Hungry for More!

I’ve written many times about HungryStudio’s ad monetization behemoth Block Blast!. The studio has gone from strength to strength, scaling the game to over 41 million daily active users, making it the largest ad-monetized title in the world. But today, I don’t want to talk about that. I want to discuss their latest project, Sudoku Master! Launched in September 2024, Sudoku Master! is currently ranked #13 in the Numbers genre by DAU, according to Sensor Tower. The category is still primarily dominated by Miniclip, which owns six of the top 20 titles, especially after its high-profile EasyBrain acquisition. But between May and October, Sudoku Master!’s DAU has tripled, and by downloads, it’s now ranked #6 in the genre, and was driving over 25% of the downloads in the top 10 titles in the genre. The game monetizes with interstitials and rewarded ads, which […]

Felix Braberg October 22

Journal

EU Digital Fairness Act: What is being Proposed

🚨Digital Fairness Act: What is being Proposed🚨 The Consumer Protection Cooperation Network has proposed legislation in the EU based on seven principles: 1. Price indication should be clear and transparent - 🤔 No non-EURO prices2. Practices obscuring the cost of in-game digital content and services should be avoided - 🤔 No multi-currency systems3. Practices that force consumers to purchase unwanted in-game virtual currency should be avoided - 🤔 No bundling, and users can choose how much currency to buy4. Consumers should be provided with clear and comprehensible pre-contractual information 5. Consumers’ right of withdrawal should be respected - 🤔 14-day money-back6. Contractual terms should be fair and written in plain and clear language7. Game design and gameplay should be respectful of different consumer vulnerabilities - 🤔 Assumes whales are all gambling addicted There are four primary stages to passing legislation […]

Felix Braberg October 9

Analysis

Is Coin Master Adding In-Game Ads?

Few things in life are constant. Whether you’re Jimmy Buffett or Warren Buffett, no one can predict the stock market. But in mobile gaming, one rare constant stands out: since 2020, Moon Active’s Coin Master has generated at least $70 million per month in IAPs. With lifetime revenue surpassing $5.4 billion, it’s one of the most successful titles in mobile and social casino history. But is the game about to make its most controversial move yet? Is Coin Master about to implement in-game ads? Coin Master Reddit forums have reported, over the last seven months, various ad placements that appear to still be in a testing phase and not yet rolled out to the entire user base. So far, the placements that have been noted are: Potions in specific game events Purple Tokens Food for pets This alone wouldn’t be […]

Felix Braberg September 30

Highlights

Banners: The Walking Dead of Mobile Ads

After years of working in mobile ad monetization, one trend stands out above the rest: banners are on a death march into oblivion as a monetization source. Banners’ overall contribution margin in the ad monetization pie is decreasing. Looking at the former hypercasual titan Voodoo, once known for monetizing heavily with banners, it’s clear the format is starting to fall behind. Their latest surprise hypercasual hit, Epic Plane Evolution, completely ditches the format, favouring IAPs, Interstitials, and Rewarded Videos. So what’s happening with Banners on mobile? Ad networks have aggressively doubled down on full-screen video formats since 2020. Rewarded videos and interstitials are becoming increasingly longer and more challenging to skip; rewarded ads now often run past 60 seconds and include end cards that require 10 seconds and four clicks to exit. That friction drives higher conversion rates, which fuels […]

Felix Braberg September 10

Journal

Epic Plane Evolution: Voodoo’s HyperCasual Revival

We’ve all heard it: HyperCasual is dead. But in mobile gaming, nothing ever really dies without a revival.🔥 Voodoo’s Epic Plane Evolution is generating $29,000 per day in IAPs and an impressive $140,000 per day in ad revenue. 80–84% ads, "minimal" IAP 100K+ daily downloads, ~13 mins daily playtime VIP & gem purchases only on iOS → 85% of revenue from Apple Basic hypercasual creatives (gates + crash gameplay) Why Vietnam will clone this and add IAP depth The loop is simple but highly effective: • Shoot airplanes and pilot them downrange to finish levels • Earn coins based on distance • Use coins to upgrade your plane, sling, or income • Runs last just 20 to 30 secondsThen comes the monetization design: • After each run, players can watch a Rewarded Video to double coins • Skip it, and […]

Felix Braberg September 1

Analysis

From 44 to 72: Vietnam’s Studio Surge Continues

🇻🇳Vietnam’s Gaming Ecosystem Just Exploded💥👏The number of Vietnamese gaming studios with over 1 million downloads in the last 30 days has grown from 44 in January to 72 in July. That’s a growth of 64% in less than 5 months.🤯According to Sensor Tower, 58 new Vietnamese gaming studios were formed in July alone.🧨Vietnamese gaming studio Onesoft Global is now the third-largest studio in the world by downloads, behind only Miniclip and Azure Games.😮Hanoi-based iKame Global’s IAP sales grew by 417% in 4 months from $2.9m/month to $15m/month in the last 30 days. Back in February 2025, 44 Vietnamese studios had crossed 1 million downloads in the past 30 days. Fast forward just five months, and that number has surged to 72. That’s a 64% jump in less than half a year. Beyond the headline download surge, two meta-trends are starting to shape Vietnam’s gaming ecosystem: […]

Felix Braberg August 26

Journal

End Cards: The Silent Driver of Player Retention

Let me ask you, what is the single most significant predictor of a user clicking on an ad? You might think it is the creative itself. But it is not. In reality, it is often the end card, the final screen ad networks place on every video creative, that has the most significant impact on Click Through and Install Rates. Time to go back to April 2022. A simpler time in the mobile ecosystem. Rewarded ads were 30 seconds long and were exited with one click. Interstitial ads were closable after 5 seconds. This is when IronSource began exploring the impact of adding a 3-click-to-exit to the end of rewarded and interstitial videos. I am not sure what the results were, but three weeks later, AppLovin followed and added the same clicks to exit. The creative end card arms race […]

Felix Braberg August 13

Journal

Are Ads Falling Out of Fashion?

Habby’s latest release, Wittle Defender, earns less than 12% of its revenue from ads. Rollic’s newest puzzle hits, Knit Out and Hole People, come from a studio once entirely dependent on ads, yet now see less than 20% of revenue from IAA. Even Vietnamese developers, historically reliant on ad-only strategies, are shifting aggressively toward IAP-first approaches. One has to ask… Are ads falling out of favor? A few years ago, flooding your game with interstitials and rewarded ads was the solid strategy to reach fast revenue. But things have changed. Rising user acquisition costs, stricter privacy rules, and player fatigue from longer end cards have pushed studios to prioritize long-term retention and deeper monetization. With IAP, the payoff might take longer, but the revenue is more stable, scalable, and less reliant on volatile seasonality from eCPMs. Despite the shift, ads […]

Felix Braberg July 23

Analysis

Six Ad Placements That Delivered in 2025 So Far

Happy Q3, everyone! As it’s now mid-July and we’re more than halfway through 2025, it’s a great time to reflect on the ad placements that have been converting well in the first half of this year. Hopefully, anyone reading this will be able to try some of these placements and derive value from them for the remainder of the year. Step Offer Chain Tired of the same old “limited-time offer” banners in your game? Here’s a better way. Try this sequence: Free → Free → Rewarded Ad → Paid Offer → Free → Free Here’s why it works: The first two gifts serve as a gentle introduction, encouraging users to engage with the offer flow. The rewarded ad creates a low-friction monetization touchpoint and primes users for value exchange. The IAP offer lands right after that, now bundled mentally with […]

Felix Braberg July 11

Analysis

Thanks for Scaling, Now Get Out: The Amazon Way…

June 4th, a day that will live in infamy for mobile ad monetization managers. Over 100 top publishers awoke to an automated message from Amazon Publisher Services (APS): access to Amazon’s demand and the Transparent Ad Marketplace (TAM) had been revoked without warning. The automated and identical message explained bluntly that Amazon Ads continuously evaluates inventory to ensure policy compliance and performance, and has made the decision to stop serving Amazon and third-party demand to your apps.At the same time, the demand and access to the platform were cut, and the revenue disappeared. In just three years, APS has become the primary source of banner demand for mobile publishers on MAX in the U.S. and Europe (image below shows the largest three networks in Q4 2024 on MAX). Its strength lies in direct e-commerce demand, which is further amplified by […]

Felix Braberg June 30

Felix Braberg

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