11 reasons why branded mobile web games are the next big thing in digital marketing

While most Top 10 lists stop at 10, the opportunity for brands to use mobile web games as a means to engage with users on mobile is so good, this Top 10 list needed to go up to 11.

For those not in the know, a mobile web game is a game that plays directly out of the mobile browser — just tap and play directly from a mobile web site or link within a tweet, chat, post, or even within a native app.

Here’s why you should at least look at incorporating them into your digital marketing efforts:

11. No download required

The download requirement in the app stores is a HUGE hurdle for a branded game. People are just not very likely to download a branded game unless they are heavily incentivised to do so and that costs money. So suddenly big marketing budgets are needed in addition to the production costs for a native game. Unfortunately, many brands learnt this the hard way. Mobile web games do not require any download – just tap and play.

10. Leading brands are doing it

Connecting with people on mobile is hard, especially for brands. The trick is to engage mobile users in a way that resonates with them. People spend a third of their time on mobile playing games. On tablets alone that number jumps to two-thirds of time spent. Major brands like Progressive Insurance, HBO, WWE, Disney and McDonald’s get it and have made mobile web games a part of their digital strategies.

9. Unrivalled engagement

In terms of rich media, most brands favour video for their online advertising initiatives. But on mobile, where seconds feel like minutes and minutes feel like hours, video can feel intrusive and annoying. And the overall engagement time of a branded video or trailer is capped at the length of the video (e.g., 15 or 30 seconds typically, with the ability to close it out after seven seconds). No such limitations exist for branded games. The average engagement time we have consistently seen for the branded games on our platform range from three to 13 minutes.

8. Great games are now possible with HTML5

There has been a lingering perception that HTML5 games cannot rival native mobile games in terms of quality and performance. Well, times have changed. Here are some links to branded games produced in HTML5 for the mobile web: Scooby Doo/Wrestlemania, True Blood, and Progressive Insurance.

7. Easy updating can help keep content fresh

Unlike native games where app updates require Apple or Google approvals (which — especially in the case of Apple — can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks), a branded mobile web game can be updated anytime, with the changes taking effect within minutes. Easy peasy.

Because of this, games no longer need to be treated like static content that gets released and then forgotten. Brands can get the most out of this content by adding challenges, adjusting messaging (e.g., different calls to action pre, during and post launch of a movie, show or event), introducing new levels and characters, and/or tweaking game play to enhance engagement.

6. Social sharing

With no download requirement and the fact that mobile web games can work directly within the existing mobile social channels like Twitter and Facebook and emerging ones like Kik, a branded mobile web game has the real possibility of going viral should it resonate with the audience. Not only that, brands can gain deep insights into how the game is shared and by whom through use of the latest web-based social analytics providers.

5. Brands can sell physical goods right from the game

Sales for digital goods within games account for 75% of all dollars spent on mobile. Not only can branded mobile web games support the sale of digital goods, they also can support the sale of physical items. This is not possible in the app stores.

The Scooby Doo/Wrestlemania game, which was created as a marketing vehicle for a DVD, provides a great example. When a user runs out of lives and gets to the end screen of that game, they are presented with a call to action to purchase the DVD through Amazon. A whole new avenue is now open to marketers looking to sell physical goods to mobile users.

4. Games can go everywhere

By leveraging HTML5, branded mobile web games can be distributed to the widest possible market on mobile. That includes distribution through all existing and emerging game distribution channels like mobile web game sites, within content feeds of major mobile media sites, within the growing set of alternative game stores from Amazon, Mozilla and Tizen, within the game marketplaces being introduced by all major phone carriers, within mobile messaging apps like Kik Messenger, on Facebook and Twitter, and within the Apple App Store or GooglePlay (an HTML5 game can be easily “wrapped” for the native app stores). And guess what? These games also work on desktop and on connected TVs.

3. Cost is low

Producing a native game is an expensive proposition, especially when it requires producing both an IOS and Android (and KindleFire, Windows8, etc.) version of the game. So a major advantage of creating a mobile web game is cost. Mobile web games can be produced in a fraction of the time and cost of a native game and they work on all the major mobile and desktop devices and operating systems. One code base means lots of efficiency and simplicity for your brand. The games previewed in this article all took between 6 and 8 weeks to produce from concept to launch.

2. Engagement pricing available

For online video, a very popular model today is cost-per-engagement pricing, where brands or TV/movie studios pay the publisher only when a user has completed watching a particular piece of video content, typically ranging from 15 seconds to 1 minute in length. This same model is also available for branded mobile web games, only it’s better. With mobile web games you pay for engagements (in this case a game play) with a guaranteed engagement time that can range from 3 to 5 minutes in length with a truly engaged user (bots cannot fake game play).

1. Now is the time

Branded games for the desktop web were pretty cool, but games on desktop represent only 5% of time spent and traditionally have been played mostly by teenagers with lots of pimples. Facebook and Zynga helped open up casual games to the masses, but when mobile gaming took off and branded games were restricted to downloads from the app stores, brands were effectively shut out from tapping into the mobile gaming wave. But with mobile web gaming all bets are off.

Brands can now reach their target audience at scale with the ultimate form of engaging content that users want most on mobile. We are talking about the ability to engage with the largest addressable market in history. So what are you waiting for?