Maximizing Value Across the Player Journey: A New Approach for Gaming Brands

Achieving success in mobile gaming is a multifaceted process that involves multiple stages, from initial discovery to long-term engagement and advocacy. Each of these stages has a significant impact on Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), a key metric that guides performance-driven marketing decisions in the gaming industry. However, extracting maximum value from each stage requires a deep understanding of how they are interconnected. According to a recent Nielsen report, nearly two-thirds of global marketers consider measuring full-funnel ROI to be extremely or very important, yet only 54% are confident in their ability to do so. This disparity highlights the challenges of linking upper- and lower-funnel efforts within a single approach. Leading marketers are rethinking their approach to the player journey, and platforms like TikTok are helping them maximize value at every level, from discovery to long-term fandom. The traditional linear marketing funnel is no longer effective, as the gamer's journey is now an involvement funnel where players connect, engage, and invest in a game. TikTok has become a discovery powerhouse, introducing users to games they may not have known about otherwise. With its vibrant ecosystem of creators and content, TikTok enables users to discover new games in an entertaining and natural way. Once a player is connected to a game, the next challenge is keeping them engaged. TikTok is a key platform for this, with 81% of users finding TikTok ads entertaining, making them 3.3 times more likely to engage with the content. To build impact, creating entertaining, interesting, and varied ads that are made for TikTok (TikTok-First) is essential. TikTok offers a range of creative solutions to support the creation of such content, including TikTok One and the bespoke creative studio powered by AI, TikTok Symphony. As players become more invested in a game, they are more likely to share it with others. TikTok's immersive ad environment and creator-powered culture make it ideal for building emotional loyalty and community. Players are 1.6 times more likely to recommend a game to friends and family when TikTok is part of their journey. Advocacy is crucial, as it builds loyalty, lowers acquisition costs, and creates communities that can sustain a title's momentum long after launch. TikTok's full-funnel solutions allow marketers to blend creator content with paid amplification, resulting in sustained visibility, community building, and performance at a lower acquisition cost. Despite these benefits, many marketers struggle to connect TikTok's upper-funnel impact to lower-funnel conversions. Traditional attribution models often rely too heavily on last-click metrics, which don't account for the real-world influence and fluidity of the involvement funnel. TikTok offers advanced measurement tools like Media Mix Modeling (MMM), Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA), Conversion Lift Studies (CLS), and GeoLift Studies to help marketers assess the true impact of content across the funnel and optimize based on real, actionable insights. The future of gaming growth is not just about who downloads a game, but about who sticks around, shares it, and helps it grow. By reimagining the player journey and leveraging TikTok's capabilities, gaming brands can win at every level and achieve lasting impact.