Monetization in mobile games is evolving—fast. Between shifting UA economics, changing ad formats, and rising expectations around player experience, studios in 2025 face a more complex set of decisions than ever before.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been diving into industry podcasts and conversations—particularly those featuring Felix Braberg from Two & a Half Gamers, whose tactical views on hybrid monetization, LiveOps, and ad pacing are shaping how top studios operate today.
Here's a breakdown of what we found most valuable, and what it might signal for where the industry is headed.
🎙️ Podcasts covered:
GOAT: Felix Braberg on Ad Monetization, and Fun | Full Interview
LiveOps Secrets Revealed: How Top Game Developers Drive Success
Building a F2P Liveops Playbook | ft. The Games Consultant Matt Emery
1. Segmenting by Campaign Type is the New Meta
Studios like those behind Hexa Sort are adjusting monetization logic based on user acquisition (UA) campaign type, not just geo. For example:
IAP-optimized campaigns → no ads for first 72h
Blended ROAS campaigns → balanced mix of ads and IAP
IAA-optimized campaigns → ads shown immediately after FTUE
“If it comes from an IAP campaign, you don’t see ads for the first three days... if you are an ad ROAS user, you see ads after the first-time user experience.”
— Felix Braberg @ 08:21
This kind of segmentation points to a more nuanced view of monetization—one that aligns early user experience with acquisition intent. It also suggests that the future of pacing logic may be tightly interwoven with MMP-level data.
2. Design for Monetization from Day One
Studios pulling $50K–$100K/day in ad revenue aren’t treating monetization as a post-launch add-on. From prototype to soft launch, they’re testing:
Level duration (target ~90 seconds)
Playtime (20+ minutes/day)
Session frequency (5+ sessions/day)
“You need your users to watch about 12 to 15 interstitials per day… that means 18–25 playable minutes over five sessions.”
— Felix @ 03:50
This isn’t about overloading players with ads. It’s about designing loops and session flows where ads feel organic—and don’t cannibalize retention.
3. Rewarded Videos Work—When Balanced Right
Some top-performing games are pushing up to 16 rewarded video impressions per user per day while maintaining retention. That’s a big shift from the days of 1-2 RVs per session.
“You need at least five rewarded impressions for it to make a difference.”
— Felix @ 22:16
The takeaway here isn’t "more RVs = better." It’s that performance is cohort-specific. RV saturation should be monitored across segments, not applied uniformly.
4. Ad Duration Is Quietly Undermining UX
Ad creatives—especially rewarded videos—are getting longer. Some now run over 100 seconds, unskippable. And interstitials? Many are locked at 15 seconds minimum.
“The max duration for rewarded in their highest category is 114 seconds… and this trend is not going to change because the money’s not going to let them.”
— Felix @ 11:04
This puts studios in a tough spot. Long creatives may boost short-term revenue, but the tradeoff is often churn. Mapping ad length to retention metrics might become a new frontier.
5. eCPMs Are Down, Even As Network Profits Rise
In 2024, publisher-side eCPMs dropped by 20–30% while ad networks reported record profits. It’s a shift in leverage—and a wake-up call for monetization teams.
“eCPMs are 30% lower than last year… all the publishers have moved from price setters to price takers.”
— Felix @ 25:01
Studios may need to revisit their assumptions about how much control they really have over pricing dynamics—and look harder at fill rates, floor pricing, and LTV forecasting.
6. Seasonality Is Shifting: Black Friday > December
Holiday eCPM spikes are no longer December-bound. Most of the seasonal uplift now happens around Black Friday.
“There has been no Q4 for the last three years… all the eCPM gains that used to be in December are now concentrated in Black Friday month.”
— Felix @ 24:28
Monetization teams that still anchor their Q4 strategy around Christmas may be missing the real window. Smart pacing and cooldown adjustments should begin earlier.
7. Everything Is an Experiment Now
Top studios aren’t just testing creatives. They’re running A/B tests on:
Difficulty curves
Cooldown logic
Ad timing and frequency
Session structure
“You can get the data science team to design the A/B test… product team to run it… and validate if it's statistically significant.”
— Felix @ 21:22
Monetization is now part of the broader LiveOps loop. That means ad pacing isn’t static—it should evolve alongside gameplay.
8. Web Shops Are the Quiet Power Channel
More studios are steering users to web shops to bypass store fees and own more of the monetization funnel.
“It’s essentially a dark pool of monetization and UA… people are driving a lot of traffic to web.”
— Felix @ 15:04
What used to be fringe experimentation is now becoming core strategy. Web-to-app flows, first-party data collection, and cross-channel offers may define the next wave of monetization.
Final Thoughts: Building Toward Smarter Monetization
Game monetization in 2025 is no longer about just placing ads strategically—it’s about understanding user context, acquisition source, and moment-to-moment experience.
As the gap between publisher margin and network margin grows, studios need more levers—more control. The most resilient monetization strategies will likely be those that treat ad logic, LiveOps, and segmentation as part of the same real-time operating system.
More testing. Smarter pacing. Better timing.
Not just more ads—the right ads, at the right time, for the right user.
