Privacy changes from Apple and Google limit the supply of granular data, pushing marketers to fundamentally rethink performance goals and shift to strategies that allow them to use the data they see at the top of the funnel to reach, engage and monetize at the appropriate times to generate impressive results. 

It’s a seismic shift that puts app publishers in charge of their data and destiny. Predictably, the gaming app vertical, which accounts for the lion’s share of global app revenues, is grasping this opportunity with both hands, seeking ways to unlock first-party data and, ultimately, set the blueprint for other verticals to follow.

It’s also new territory that many publishers will find hard to navigate, and the reason Forbes interviewed our founder and CEO Mike Rhodes to get his take. 

In his view, publishers that can harness first-party data to optimize every aspect of their business should follow that strategy. But they should also change their models to match. He advises companies to “join up acquisition and engagement in a positive flywheel of profitable growth that draws on data at the top of the funnel and how users interact with the app deeper in the funnel to customize a compelling and consistent user journey.” 

This means learning to track and interpret what he calls “the digital breadcrumb trail of contextual and behavioral clues users leave behind as they move through apps.” It can be heavy lifting, which is why he advises companies to lean on AI, automation and external agencies to shoulder the burden and connect the dots. 

His advice goes double for mobile gaming, an oversaturated and fiercely competitive app vertical where consumer spend is softening and time spent in-game has hit an all-time high. (Mobile data analytics provider data.ai reports user time spent in all apps—not just gaming—has climbed 9% to reach 4.1 trillion hours.) 

Fortunately, efforts to harness first-party data about player behavior and activity can pay significant dividends. CMA observes conversion rates can increase by as much as 10-15%. “For studios spending millions a month to get their game in front of high-value users highly likely to play the game longer, that’s a lot of cash and a wealth of learnings, ” Mike tells Forbes. 

Gaming studios need little convincing--and many are moving to catch the wave. 

In January, TapNation, a mobile gaming publisher headquartered in Paris that recently reached over 1 billion downloads of its popular mobile games, joined the list of powerhouse publishers—including King and Zynga—that have snapped up data analytics companies and in-app monetization platforms to automate UA with the help of AI.
It’s a fascinating development in an app vertical that has seen-- and will continue to see-- transformation and consolidation. 

Major players in the mobile advertising space—including Applovin, IronSource and Unity (which acquired IronSource in 2022)—have snapped up games publishers to grow the supply of first-party data and architect end-to-end platforms that benefit franchises in the portfolio and advertising partners across the ecosystem. 

It would appear publishers are borrowing a page from the playbook to create new efficiencies. 

Read more about this mobile app megatrend, the increasing importance of first-party data, and the urgent need to unlock it ASAP to power profitable growth in a post-IDFA world in the full Forbes article. 

If you would like to speak with us about unlocking your first-party data in the wake of Apple and Google’s privacy changes - don’t hesitate to get in touch.