In this article, we will talk about the available options for purchasing traffic for different platforms: mobile, PC, and Console. The process is designed differently for each, and we will specifically take a closer look at how influencer marketing works. Let’s go!

Mobile gaming
Most of the time, developers perform primary traffic A/B tests by placing them in CPA networks prior to the release. Here’s how it goes: The ad offers that are being tested are uploaded to the platform and then displayed to users in mobile apps. This is one of the primary ways to test and buy ads for mobile games.

Larger companies that have been in the market for a long time are more likely to use influencer marketing, where they work with bloggers by integrating into their platforms, such as:

1) YouTube videos;
2) Instagram posts;
3) TikTok videos.

PC and Consoles
The process of buying traffic for both platforms is similar, so we decided to speak of them together. Most of the time, the process is organized through integrations into influencer content on:

1) YouTube;
2) Twitch;
3) Steam (the specific process is deserving of its own guide).

In addition, these platforms also use targeted advertising on social media: networks (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Discord) and placement in gaming media or relevant Discord or Reddit communities.

In this article, we will analyze in more detail how influencer marketing works.

Influencer Marketing

All services are built around Twitch, Youtube, Instagram, Tiktok, and Facebook. Offers are placed on these platforms, and the game developer pays a certain price for each registered user. There are two main ways to work with influencers: manual services и automated services.

Manual services

Agencies

The game developer need to create manually the technical specifications, offer, and submit these documents to the agency. Then, based on the request, they manually select a blogger for integration. It is important to understand that this is often very expensive and time-consuming: the price range is from tens to thousands of dollars, and most of this amount is spent on management. In addition, when working with an agency, it can be difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of an advertising campaign: metrics can be opaque and are more often collected without subsequent analysis.

Inhouse
The same functions of an agency can be performed within a company. The process will take longer: search and manual selection of relevant bloggers, search for their contacts, further communication with each one individually. The cost of work will be much less than in the case of working with an agency, but in this case there are more risks – for example, many bloggers may simply not respond. Agencies, on the other hand, have established direct communication with bloggers and have a well-established reputation. Often, companies that use influencer marketing lack recognition, so communication with bloggers may not develop or be lost.