GameHive exceeds ROAS target by 20% with data-driven user acquisition from Moloco

Since 2009, GameHive has racked up an impressive collection of publishing wins with casual mobile titles like Beat the Boss and Tap Titans, and well-optimized programmatic growth has been key to their success.Over the last five years, the company has enjoyed explosive growth in the midcore market as its flagship title, Tap Titans 2, resonates with fans worldwide. This success has allowed GameHive to expand its team to almost 50 strong. Building off steady organic install growth, the team has consistently looked for profitable ways to grow the game. The difference between Tap Titans 2 becoming a sustainable profit center rather than a flash in the pan came down to GameHive’s ability to consistently acquire high quality users at a price that ensured strong profits, and Moloco was there to help.

Multi-channel growth strategy to deliver revenue-generating players

Led by Mary Kim, GameHive’s growth marketing team was responsible for implementing a multi-channel paid growth strategy that would deliver a healthy flow of revenue-generating players for Tap Titans 2 following launch. At the dawn of the game’s lifecycle, the team relied heavily on social media advertising to source users that met their aggressive return on ad spend (ROAS) targets. As time went on, the team looked for new ways to diversify their UA funnel. In response, the team made it standard practice to allocate 10% of their monthly budget towards testing new user acquisition channels in hopes of discovering pockets of high-value inventory that could vitalize growth in new ways.

“We were interested in DSP as a channel, and we’d heard a lot of good things about Moloco from folks in the industry,” explains Nick Cullen, GameHive’s User Acquisition Manager. “We track all the standard retention and monetization metrics, but we also track detailed in-game events like the number of times a player completes an achievement in the game. Moloco helped us use our data to acquire the kind of valuable users we needed to hit our ROAS targets. They’ve allowed us to reach new audiences that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. Working with them has been great!”

Post-test period & support from UA managers At Moloco

After an initial test period and support from the dedicated UA managers at Moloco, GameHive was able to exceed its ROAS target by 20% using programmatic user acquisition. The marketing team has since migrated Moloco from the experimental portion of their growth budget into their collection of persistently managed growth channels.

“It’s really been a great experience working with them,” explains Mary Kim, GameHive’s Head of Growth Marketing and Monetization. “The Moloco team is super supportive and are real experts. They really get us and understand what we’re about, so it’s been fantastic working together.”

GameHive has plans to soft launch a variety of new titles, including an action/rpg title called Battle Bouncers and have every intention of giving Moloco a prominent place in their UA budget.

“Moloco helped us use our data to acquire the kind of valuable users we needed to hit our ROAS targets. They’ve allowed us to reach new audiences that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. Working with them has been great!"

- Nick Cullen, User Acquisition Manager, GameHive

The full story on GameHive's collaboration with MOLOCO can be found by clicking on the link here.

To learn more about Moloco Cloud DSP and how you can start leveraging your own strategic insights to fuel growth across the programmatic ecosystem, contact the machine learning and ad performance experts at Molcoo today.

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