I posted this on my blog (read the original post) and thought some of ya'll might be interested in discussing Chartboost. After a couple gameplay tweaks to improve Caribbean Catch I ran a short Chartboost campaign to get some installs and experience how Chartboost operates. My Ad I researched ads on the Chartboost Blog and came up with this masterpiece. - My game has 2 characters so I featured them both. - Made sure everyone knows this is a FREE game. - App Store badge. Campaign Logic (My own) Caribbean Catch was my entry into a Reskinning Tournament, which is judged by downloads in the US Store, getting the most downloads for dollars spent was a primary consideration (surprised?). I also wanted to see the results over several days to determine if there were daily trends. I chose a very low Cost Per Install rate which limited my daily impressions. Targeting was very narrow, limited to US gamers within the same 3 App Store listing categories. My thinking was to acquire gamers who might stick around and tap through some of my ads as well. Of course I limited the devices to iPhone users running 5.0 & higher, matching my games requirements. Results The ad ran 5 days, spanning Friday Wednesday. I had a Click Through Rate of 12.18% with a 2% install rate, ECPM was $1.35. Monday was the best day with CTR = 13.12%, IR = 2.6% & ECPM = $2.30. Friday was the worst in all stats. What I Learned (I think) My sample size is very small, but I think theres enough data to formulate a few ideas for future projects. - Im not sure how good/bad my stats are. My gut tells me the CTR is pretty good, but the IR is a lower than expected. Now this could be because some games were spamming ads & I got a lot of false clicks, but it could also mean I need to improve my icon, screenshots, & description to increase conversions. I guess it never hurts to improve them, so thats a priority for all future ad campaigns. - The competition for ads seemed to be more intense on the weekend. Im not ready to give up on those days, but I dont think targeting them for a blast would be a great idea. Which also reminds me to check on release dates of major games before scheduling a campaign. - Monday was the best day by far, Tuesday ran second. Good days to focus on if possible? - Low bid, limited impressions worked for me in this case. In the future I think investing my full budget within a 24hr period might be the best option, as long as I have a good target day. I should be able to determine the effectiveness of the campaign much easier than spreading it out. Feel free to share thoughts.
There are pros and cons... At 67 cents per install you won't climb the app store chart much, but if you're app is a decent monetizer you can make some steady money. And... you know those people installing are likely to hit another chart boost ad. I stripped away all the other ads and only served Chartboost, even experimented with custom frames. My strategy was to only have high paying ads available if someone were to click one and I'm happy with how it worked.
