How to Use Advertising Strategies to Take the Lead, When the ACG Games Encounters the “Going Overseas” Rush?
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As a smaller subculture circle, ACG has the typical market coverage and user characteristics. The Japanese artistic style, the unrealistic worldview, the complicated character as well as the story line — — all these make it difficult for non-core players to stay. It is also for the same reason that the ACG player’s loyalty and willingness to pay are generally high. In recent years, driven by the continued expansion of the market and players, and several popular mobile games, ACG games have been gradually going beyond its own circle.
Based on the core of ACG, domestic developers have made innovative productions in the aspects of gameplay, character and plot designs, world view, etc. In recent years, many products of quality that crater the preferences in domestic and overseas markets have emerged. Here are some examples: Azur Lane , which has an overseas turnover of more than $10 million, Arknights, which tops the Japanese best-selling list, and the super-popular Genshin Impact that has attracted more than $1 billion in global mobile games in half a year, etc. According to SensorTower’s April 2021 mobile game revenue TOP30, ACG games occupy four places — — Genshin Impact under miHoYo, Girls Chronicle under C4GAMES, AFK Arena under Lilith, and One Punch Man under OURPALM Technology. The considerable market dividends and the maturity of the self-developed lines of the ACG games have enabled Chinese publishers to usher in a new round of “going overseas” on the subdivided tracks.
Top 30 Chinese Mobile Games Revenue in April 2021（App store+Google play）
We have conducted an in-depth analysis of the publicity and advertising strategy in the article “The Global Marketing Strategy Behind the Success of Genshin Impact “. So on the current track where the ACG games are competing, what are the “winning secrets” of similar domestic publishers in advertising strategies? App Growing Global will select some representative domestic ACG games and analyze their top-advertising strategies.
01
Overall Advertising Trends
In terms of popular domestic ACG game promotion, according to App Growing Global data, the total advertising of Genshin Impact , ONE PUNCH MAN and AFK Arena in the past year have exceeded 10,000 sets. The main advertising channels are Facebook, Facebook Audience Network, Instagram and Admob. As for regional advertising distribution, the advertising of Genshin Impact is widely and evenly distributed. Ads are put in Europe, America, Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea. The advertising of ONE PUNCH MAN is concentrated in Souheast Asia, that of AFK Arena is mainly in Europe and the United States, and that of Girls Chronicle focuses on the Japanese market.
New ACG games: most are adapted from well-known IPs and published this year, such as HOOLAI GAME’s 聖鬥士星矢：正義傳說and Tensura: King of Monsters, Efun Games’ BLEACH: Eternal Soul and GAME HOURS’s 新斗罗大陆：动画卡牌新霸主. In terms of advertising, the advertising of 聖鬥士星矢：正義傳說 is relatively high, the cumulative advertising of both ends (IOS and Google play) exceeds 7K, and that of other new games is about 1K+. As for advertising channels, advertising are mainly concentrated on Facebook Audience Network, Facebook, Instagram and Messenger. The advertised area is based on the mobile game’s main market for fixed-point advertising. On the whole, ACG is mainly oriented to the Hong Kong SAR, Macao, Taiwan of China and Southeast Asian markets. Ujoy Games’ カウンター・アームズ -終焉武装少女 focuses on the Japanese market, and advertising are inclined towards the region.
02
Analysis of Top-advertising Gaming Creatives
2.1 Girls Chronicle — Japanese Market
Girls Chronicle is a ACG of idle RPG that focuses on the Japanese market. The elements of the game, full of Japanese characteristics, are favored by local players. The exquisite character drawing, the feminized military commander, the girl’s romantic routine, the Casual and Incremental gameplay, etc., — — all these make the product still have a strong vitality in the Japanese market even after three years. According to top 30 Chinese publishers and apps in overseas revenue list released by App Annie in April 2021, C4GAMES ranked 22nd with this product. As for creatives, Girls Chronicle focuses on Japanese style, from dubbing, actors to video scripts.
Creative 1:
Popular Japanese actress Hashimoto Kanna starred in a funny and nonsense short film.
Creative 2:
Players participate in the shaping and development of the beautiful girl in the game, including personality, appearance, identity and so on. Seiyuu dubbing is also added to enhance the appeal.
2.2《AFK Arena》— European and American markets
AFK Arena is mainly for the European and American markets, and its advertising is also inclined to these regions (the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, etc.). The game is a turn-based RPG ACG game and has the western medieval + magical style. Creatives are rich and the main scenes include game demonstrations, event lottery, amateur performances, etc.
Creative 1:
Amateur starred in funny sitcoms
Creative 2:
Amateur Performance + Game Demonstration
2.3 Grand Fantasia — Markets in Hong Kong SAR and Taiwan of China
Grand Fantasia is a PC ported ARPG mobile game with the theme of ACG adventure in a different world, mainly for the Hong Kong SAR and Taiwan of China markets. As for creatives, a number of online celebrities and KOLs will conduct game demonstrations and present the game features to players. In addition, there are also nostalgia-oriented creatives, which evokes old memories and resonance with PC players.
Creative 1:
Nostalgia style evokes old memories and resonance among old players.
Creative 2:
Celebrities conduct game demonstration by live commerce.
The above is “How to use advertising strategies to take the lead, when the ACG games encounters the “going overseas” rush?”, log in App Growing Global now to get more mobile advertising information.
*The above-related advertising creatives are sourced from App Growing Global, which are only used for research and analysis. All Rights Reserved.
