How to monetize an Android game so addictive, people won't click on the ads?

[WordHero]

I have a highly addictive Android word puzzle game. I have two problems. (1) Getting people to notice it. My app is buried under > 1000 others.

Problem (2): The app connects to google's appengine for realtime scoring/etc of each round. This costs, so I need to monetise the app. I am currently using banner ads, but the app is so addictive, people won't click on the ads, so my Click-through-rate is too low to get any well paying advertising. Currently I am getting an eCPM of $0.04 with Admob @ 15k impressions/day over 100 users (they play a LOT!). Can anyone share any similar experiences on solving these problems ?

[benologist]

A few ideas:

- Charge a small subscription for saving scores etc, just take those options away from the free users or segregate it so you have the ghetto public stuff and the awesome subscribers' stuff

- add customization, ad-free and anything else you can think of that users might pay for ... yes there's an on-going cost but if you can get any dollars at all out of your biggest fans that's better than the penny or two they're worth per month right now.. a single $1 purchase a day almost doubles your revenue

- interstitial ads like mailarchis mentioned, find a way to put them in and show them to each user at least once per day

- get a referral system in place so that these people who obviously love your game are motivated to share it

- outsource the backend through companies like http://parse.com/ if you need a full-blown database for your app might be cheaper than your current arrangement, and we (http://playtomic.com/) are debuting our first Android version next week which has free leaderboards that might suit your requirements

- sell the ad space yourself or use it to promote other games of your own

[WordHero]

I like the idea of micro-payments to see your name in the leaderboards.

Backend is currently google appengine. Referral system (facebook/email/etc) is all in place. The app is pretty mature, but like a lot of others, it just needs more users and a way to monetize it.

When I initially did the numbers, I did web searches and it seemed like people were getting $1/1000 ads shown. By the time I launched, the bottom dropped out the market and I am getting under $0.05/1000 ads.

I feel that the problem is my low CTR (Click-through-rate)... low CTR = cheap/nasty ads = low CTR because they get ignored = more bad ads = low revenue... vicious cycle.

[mjs00]

Don't assume that lack of clicks is due to great / addictive gameplay. It also may be that your audience or demographic is not prone to clicking on ads; the ads contextually are not well matched to your audience; etc ...

With your particular challenge, as you hit higher audience levels, maybe think about sponsorships / branding opportunity where you can sell the 'eyeballs'. Since you are currently making nothing from the ads, maybe dump them and play around and give some sponsorships away as a trial to brands that you think are cool and well matched to your audience.

##

Second the comments on paying for extended play, but maybe instead of levels (which you say don't exist), pay is for extended time per day. (free 60 minutes cumulative a day, extended no daily limit)

[WordHero]

Okay, so this is a really good point. While gameplay is addictive (comments like, "omg, 5am, I should be asleep") it does not help when I get bottom-of-the-heap advertising for dating / etc.

Sponsorships/etc are not something I feel the app is ready for. I feel those are something games with 1mil+ impressions/day do.

I have already ditched all of the Mobclix advertisers because of dating/etc ads and will be moving to another advert provider for my 15k impressions/day (and growing) which are currently served through admob. Just not sure who though !

The app in question is a Boggle-type word game with a bunch of extra's thrown to add a element of strategy. We payed a LOT of attention to addiction psychology to ensure the game is really compelling.

Perhaps if I added a "about you" dialog and asked for (optional) sex/age/zip code/etc to better target ads. I don't think anyone has done this before.... actually ask users to help them better target adverts !

[mailarchis]

Note - I have no experience in building or monetizing mobile games. Still sharing an idea for problem 2

1. Somewhat similar to Wii, after every X minutes of game play, display a popup with a one minute timer asking users to take a break. to play non stop ask them to buy a premium version.

2. Ask users to pay for higher levels of game maybe ?

[WordHero]

I have definitely thought of going the 'interstitial' ad route (show one ad only at the end of every N rounds). But the reason the game is so addictive, is at the end of a round, the scores are shown for all players playing (hence the need for a Cloud connection) and then the next round starts without any user interaction. This is key.

There are no higher game levels. Each round is different.

Can't do a premium version, since there are ongoing server costs. I want those covered by advertising. I don't want to have to fund the servers from now till forever with potentially no future income.