Gaming - Ads
The client is one of the leading online gaming business operating in a highly competitive and performance-driven market. Their success depends on their ability to acquire large volumes of qualified users while maintaining profitability under strict CPA targets.
Objectives & Challenges
Objective
The primary goal was to generate high volumes of user registrations for a gaming offer, using a CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) model, where a successful conversion is defined as a completed registration.
To validate traffic quality and optimize performance, the campaign was initially launched using a CPC (Cost Per Click) model for testing before scaling to full CPA.
Challenges
- Gaming traffic is highly competitive and expensive
- High risk of low-quality users and bot traffic
- Need to identify scalable traffic sources while maintaining profitability
- Optimizing conversion rates without using pre-landers
- Maintaining CPA targets while scaling traffic volume
- Google and social ads are not an option for this vertical
Our Process
We executed a data-driven performance testing and scaling strategy:
- Launched CPC campaigns to test traffic quality and user intent
- Tested multiple ad formats:
- Push notifications
- Native widgets
- Popunders
- Closely monitored:
- Click quality
- Registration rates
- CPA performance
- Scaled the highest-performing formats and placements
- Eliminated underperforming channels
- Optimized traffic sources and creatives based on real-time results
No pre-landers were used — users were sent directly to optimized landing pages to maximize conversion intent.
Media Strategy
Because gaming offers cannot be promoted on Google or Meta, we leveraged specialized performance media networks that allow and support regulated high-risk verticals.
We deployed a multi-format performance mix to maximize reach and conversion:
- Push notifications (the best-performing)
- Native advertising widgets
- Popunder traffic (used for large-scale volume)
Popunder traffic was tested and optimized over a period of 2.5 months
Key Performance Results & Outcome
- Total Clicks: 2.3 million
- Total Registrations:15,973
- CPA reduced by 22% through optimization
- CPC buying outperformed CPA, delivering cheaper registrations
- Push and pop traffic produced the strongest performance at scale
Through proper campaign setup, creative A/B testing, and auto-optimization, both CPA and CPC were reduced to minimum levels, enabling sustainable scaling.
The campaign delivered a stable, scalable acquisition engine, generating:
- Nearly 16,000 high-intent registrations
- A 22% reduction in cost per acquisition
- A profitable and repeatable traffic model
This case demonstrates our ability to run large-scale performance campaigns in highly competitive verticals like online gaming.
