finding potential for monetization in social casino | michal witkowski

Finding Potential for Monetization in Social Casino

Michał Witkowski

GameDesire Ltd.

Head of Product Analytics

About company

• GameDesire Ltd. – est. 2004 (previously known as Ganymede)

• The leading social casino games developer in Poland

• Key products:• Snooker Live Pro

• Pool Live Pro

• Poker Live Pro

• GameDesire.com

• Key markets:• Poland

• Brasil

• USA

About me

• Game data analyst by profession• Head of Product Analytics at GameDesire Limited

• Psychologist and researcher by education• Jagiellonian University in Krakow

• LangUsta Lab for Psychology of Language

• Gamer by passion• PC games (rouglikes, RPG, turn-based strategy)

• Narrative RPGs (World of Darkness, Neuroshima)

• Modern board games

• Chess

Introduction

• Main goal:• Social casino vs other casual games – similarities and differences

• Deriving possible strategies from data

• Presentation plan:1. Information about analysed games and data scope

2. Engagement metrics

3. Basic financial metrics

4. Lifetime value analysis

Social casino games

In-house data from the following games:

• Poker Texas Hold’em („Poker Texas”)

• Golden Reels Casino Slots („Slots”)

• Bingo

Non-casino casual games

In-house data from the following games:

• Pool Live Pro

• Snooker Live Pro

• Mahjong

• Last Temple

Design of the analysis

• Players group: Web (non-mobile) players and their paymentsonly. Extra focus on FB

• Data sources:• In-house analytical system

• Engagement and monetisation: representative time period from 2015,allowing for comparison across the products

• Lifetime value analysis: 2014-2015 payments data

Traffic metrics

0.0% 100.0%

Slots

Poker Texas

Non-casino

Bingo

Traffic metricsFB / all partners comparison

Reactivations New registrations

Commentary:

• Observation: Newly registered players overflow in Slots and Poker

• Possible action: Take 1st session funnel to perfection

• Observation : Little new registrations on Bingo

• Possible action : Work on reactivations and loyalty of your Bingo

players

New regsitrations / MAU

Reactivations / MAU

New regsitrations / MAU

Reactivations / MAU

FB

All

Traffic metricsBenchmarked against non-casino games

Poker Texas Slots Non-casino Bingo

Cohort retention

D7 / D1 retention ratio




FB

All

D1 / 7 / 28 cohort retention comparisonSplit per game and affiliate

Slots Poker Texas Bingo Non-casino

• Cohort vs rolling retention

• 100/50/25 rule

• Is the rule present in social

casino?• Repeatability

• Many similar games on the

market

• Competitive market

Cohort retention

D1 retention

D7 retention

D28 retention

D1 retention

D7 retention

D28 retention

FB

All

D1 / 7 / 28 cohort retentionBenchmarked against non-casino games

Non-casino Slots Poker Texas Bingo

Commentary:

• Observation: low long-term retention

• Possible action: long-term retention mechanism

• Observation: low FB retention

• Possible action: dedicated websites? Notification

mastery?

0.0% 100.0%

Non-casino

Poker Texas

Bingo

Slots

Players' retentionFB / all partners comparison

D1 retention D7 retention D28 retention

Game sessions metrics

Session time

Sessions played daily per user

Session time

Sessions played daily per user

FB

All

Game sessions metricsBenchmarked against non-casino games

Poker Texas Slots Bingo Non-casino

0.0% 100.0%

Non-casino

Bingo

Poker Texas

Slots

Game session metricsFB / all partners comparison

Sessions played daily per user Session time

Commentary:

• Observation: Short Slots and Bingo sessions

• Possible action: Show as much as possible, as quickly

as possible (Tradeoff: information overflow / content

hype)

Basic financial metrics

Conversion rate

ARPPU

ARPU

All

Basic financial metricsBenchmarked against non-casino games (all partners)


Conversion rate

ARPPU

ARPU

FB

Basic financial metricsBenchmarked against non-casino games (FB only)


Basic financial metrics

0.0% 100.0%

Conversion rate

ARPPU

ARPU

Basic financial metricsFB / all partners comparison


• Observation: Social casino relatively

less profitable on FB

• Possible action: Use dedicated

gaming websites / platforms

Lifetime value analysis

Probability of first payment per lifetime dayBenchmark against non-casino games

Bingo Non-casino games Poker Texas Slots

Bingo

Non-casino games

Slots

Poker Texas

Days to first payment (median)

Commentary:

• Observation: payers in social casino are moreimpulsive

• Possible action: Unethical and short-term, butpossiblyprofitable high early monetisation pressure

• Observation: Most Poker payers emerge by D2• Possible action: Early VIP offers for your payers


DAY 0 DAY 30 DAY 60 DAY 90 DAY 120 DAY 150 DAY 180

LTV realisation curve

Bingo Slots Poker Texas Non-casino games

• Observation: Poker players tend to

realise their LTV much earlier than

other games

• Possible actions: Experiment with

1st session monetisation mechanisms; create attractive early

payments offers

• Observation: Bingo and Slots

payers realise their LTV like casual payers

• Possible action: create offers that

would be attractive for mid- and

long-term players


Probability of becoming a multiple-paying user per day of first transaction made


Average amount of payments per first payment date

Benchmarked against non-casino games


Commentary:

• Observation: The most valuable players in Bingo deposit first after 6-9

months of playing

• Possible action: treat your acquired traffic as a long-term investment,

work on players’ loyalty and long-term retention

• Observation: Tradeoff in payments - pay early or pay frequently

• Possible actions: choose which one works best for you


DAY 1+ DAY 11+ DAY 31+

Percentage of a multiply-paying users yet to make their first payment

Non-casino games Bingo Slots Poker Texas

Commentary:

• Observation: Multiple Poker

payers emerge very early on

• Possible actions: VIP clubs and

special offers; quick contact with

paying users

• Observation: Multiple Bingo

payers emerge relatively late

• Possible action: Focus on loyalty

rather than quick monetisation

Summary - Bingo

• Traffic characteristics:• Loyal and conservative users

• The most casual of the three social casino games

• Engagement strategy: • Think and plan in a very long term

• Work towards loyalty and reactivations

• Monetisation strategy:• Don’t pressure monetisation too early, focus on retention

• After the critical mass is reached, the game will produce steady income

Summary – Poker Texas

• Traffic characteristics:• Impulsive, highly-monetising users• Unstable, leaving often and usually early

• Engagement strategy:• Working on short-term retention will ensure the quickest and highest profit of all

analysed games• Working on long-term retention might be very difficult (competition), but will help in

keeping long-term payers satisfied and faithful

• Monetisation strategy:• Important tradeoff: quick payments vs multiple payments• D0 is critical in Poker Texas in generating LTV• BUT most of the early-paying users don’t deposit again, as opposed to D1+ first-time

payers• Rely on VIP clubs and / or special offers to keep your paying users engaged• Consider using a dedicated website for Poker

Summary - Slots

• Traffic characteristics:• Moderately impulsive payers• Play for short preiods of time

• Engagement strategy:• Design your game to show off the important content as early and as

concisely as possible• Focus on mid-term retention

• Monetisation startegy:• Using monetisation pressure after a few sessions will be most

profitable

• Use mid-term retention mechanisms to get your players there

The end!

Thank you for attention!

Do you have any questions?

finding potential for monetization in social casino | michal witkowski

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