While the holiday season remains a busy time of year with consumers being inundated with sales, deals, and general holiday rush, an often-overlooked time period for advertisers is between the day after Christmas and mid-January. This is otherwise known as Q5, where the rush of the holidays are over, but many are still gearing up for the new year.In this post, we'll explore:How Q5 offers a unique opportunity for mobile advertisers due to increased user activity and cost-effective advertisingStrategies to optimize ad creatives by generating topical content, using interactive ad formats, and updating custom store pagesWays to diversify user acquisition campaigns with ROAS or event optimizers, offerwall campaigns, Connected TV, and adjusted bidding based on holiday user patternsThe importance of capitalizing on the influx of new devices during the holidays to reach users early in their device setup journeyAdvertisers might overlook this time period due to the post-holiday lull, however data shows us that this time period is a recipe for opportunity. Q5 also allows advertisers to close out end of year KPIs, and leverage learnings well into Q1 and beyond.The Q5 opportunityData shows us that user behavior on mobile apps during the holidays can set the stage for an opportunistic Q5, with increased play time for mobile games, increased app sessions, and cost-effective advertising.Unity recently surveyed 4,094 U.S. adults aged 18+ mobile users and found that more than a third (36%) of respondents expect to increase their mobile gaming activity during the holidays.*In the same survey, 37% of all respondents said that on average, they’d be playing mobile games around 1-2 hours a day during the holidays**App sessions experience an uptick during Q5 across both iOS and Android, according to AppsFlyer and Meta survey dataIn Q5 specifically, post-holiday CPM rates were on average -15% below Oct 1, levels, average CPAs were down -4%, and average CVR was down -8%, according to Meta’s data.The mobile gaming surge from the holidays doesn’t stop there - the demand is still high from users, and advertising costs are typically lower, making Q5 an interesting opportunity for advertisers to seize ahead of rolling into Q1.Creative best practices for Q5Optimizing your ad creatives is one of the easiest and most impactful ways to enhance your mobile UA strategy. In this section, we'll explore tips and techniques to help you craft compelling ads that resonate during Q5.Generate creatives based on topical insightsHoliday-themed creatives can help spike IPM and boost eCPM, while providing players with a fresh, fun update to your game’s look and feel. But how can you carry themed creatives into Q5, when the holiday season is dwindling down?Try tapping into the mindset of where your users might be at by leveraging the new year and new beginnings mindset – new year, new challenges in your game! Layering in nods to the new year; resolutions, new beginnings, and celebration of achievements, can all provide a distinct post-holiday/new year distinction in your game.You can also look back at how your creatives were performing in Q4 and throughout the holidays to inform certain ad formats, length of creative, or type of creative to see what drove higher conversion rates.Focus on interactive ad formatsData from our Unity survey showed that 38% of all respondents said that rewarded ads and playable ads were ad formats they’d most likely engage with over the holidays.Leaning into engaging ad formats that give potential players a solid understanding of your game’s core mechanics is a great way to showcase your game and drive installs. Playable ads in particular offer people a chance at test-driving your game before committing, so ensure that you are giving enough time for players to get a good understanding of the game’s progression. We typically recommend making playable ads 20+ seconds long.To get started creating interactive ads, use the free Unity Playworks plugin for the Editor. This plugin allows you to leverage existing projects to easily create, customize, test, publish and analyze playable ads and interactive end cards, without needing additional code or resources.Developers can also seek guidance from creative professionals who specialize in game advertising, by working with Unity’s creative studio. Unity’s experts can provide a valuable look into competitive insights, creative concepts, and tailored recommendations to help optimize ad creatives for long-term success. Leveraging the studio’s knowledge and experience, developers can create compelling ads that showcase their game's unique features and attract high-quality users.Update your custom store pageCustom store pages allow advertisers to create a seamless user experience from first ad exposure all the way through to the App Store, by creatively customizing your app store page to match the ad your potential player may have seen. If you’re updating your ad creative to be Q5-themed, mirror your custom store page as well to provide consistency. Studios that leverage custom store pages see improved conversion and IPM.When running various creative formats and versions, you’ll want to ensure you’re A/B testing to see what’s resonating with your audience, and more importantly, what’s not.User acquisition best practices for Q5Equally important as optimizing your creative for Q5, is testing various UA campaign strategies. Let’s take a look at some ways to optimize UA campaigns for Q5.Diversify your UA campaign typesWith the rollover of engaged players during the holiday season into Q5, it could be beneficial to include campaign optimizers in your UA strategy to find high-quality players who will continually take action in your game. If you're not already using ROAS (return on ad spend) or event optimizers, Q5 could be the perfect time to test them out.ROAS-based optimizationROAS campaigns that optimize for Ad Revenue, IAP revenue, or both, can be an efficient way to acquire players at scale, and at an optimal price.With increased app sessions in Q5, introducing event optimization, such as tCPE (target cost per event), or tCPA (target cost per action), could be a great way to reach players who might be more inclined to take specific actions that you set within your game, like watching a certain amount of rewarded videos, or purchasing a set amount of currency.Event-based optimizationHow do you choose an event to target? We recommend choosing an action that your top 5–20% of users with the highest LTV complete within the first seven days of gameplay. It might help to look at what your high-value players have been doing over the holidays to inform your Q5 event optimization.Our data shows that over the last two years, advertisers across both Unity Ads and ironSource Ads networks have shifted their budget allocations to further diversify their campaigns by leveraging these optimizers.Offerwall campaignsAnother way to diversify could be acquiring players through the offerwall. As a rewarded marketplace, the offerwall enables advertisers to run event-based campaigns that cater to specific player engagement behaviors. Users acquired through the offerwall tend to have higher retention rates – users who find and convert on offerwall have 2-7x higher retention compared to non-offerwall users, as they are rewarded with high-value items like in-game currency for completing certain tasks.This approach is particularly effective in the post-holiday period when players might spend more cautiously, as it provides an alternative avenue to access premium in-game content by investing time rather than money. Additionally, you can wrap the offerwall with holiday themed creatives, and create time-sensitive offers that can help drive urgency.Connected TVAs the post-holiday lull sets in, people often find themselves with more downtime to watch their favorite shows. According to a Comcast report, over 60% of U.S. households who have connected TVs are turning to free ad-supported streaming services to watch their favorite shows***. This presents a unique opportunity for advertisers to reach audiences throughout Q5. By introducing Connected TV into your user acquisition mobile strategy, you can take advantage of this increased viewership.Adjust budget and bidding strategiesTake advantage of the holiday uptick in mobile gamers and expand your budget allocation. Adjust your bidding strategies to capitalize on the influx of new players and their increased time spent playing games.Try looking at user patterns throughout the holiday season to identify any trends in session lengths, retention rates, ad engagement, or IAP activity, which could help you further optimize your budget and bidding strategies going into Q5.One strategy to consider is adjusting bids and offering promotions on the offerwall during Q5. Our recent Tap4Fun case study, showed that by increasing bids and providing bonus rewards to users who completed offerwall events within a specific time frame, they were able to significantly increase their monthly spending and improve their return on ad spend. Developers can explore similar tactics to engage users and optimize their ad spend during this period when user activity is at its peak.Leverage the influx of new devices from the holidaysNew or upgraded mobile devices are a popular holiday gift. Not only do people love them, but telco companies tend to launch deals and promotions during the holiday season to incentivize people to buy. This surge in new devices presents a unique opportunity for advertisers, as our data shows that 95% of users install over 60% of their apps within the first 48 hours of unboxing a new device****.The period right after a user gets a new phone presents a valuable opportunity for advertisers to get their apps in front of new users. By leveraging innovative advertising solutions, such as Aura from Unity, apps and games can reach users from the moment they unbox their new phones and throughout the device lifecycle, delivering high-quality users, long-term engagement, and return on investment.With the influx of new devices during the holidays, running a campaign that positions your app right in front of users at one of the earliest touchpoints in their device setup journey can be a game-changer for your UA strategy. Seize the Q5 opportunityBy implementing a diversified UA strategy that includes optimizing ad creatives, capitalizing on increased user activity, and exploring innovative channels like offerwall and on-device advertising, advertisers can maximize their return on investment and set themselves up for long-term success.Don't miss out on the Q5 advantage – reach out to your dedicated account manager to start planning your UA strategy now. There’s no better time to hit the ground running and scale your mobile growth in the new year. * Source: Unity survey of 4,094 U.S. adults aged 18+, statement: “I will be playing mobile games more than usual.” 36% of total respondents.** Source: Unity survey of 4,094 U.S. adults aged 18+, statement: “On average, how long do you play mobile games per day during the holiday season?”*** Source: 2022 Comcast FAST Report**** Source: Aura from Unity, Android, from June 2023 to June 2024


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