It’s that time of year again…

Discover a path to more game downloads

Insights to drive Holiday sales

Slightly shrinking market

Loss of signal

Global pandemic

global games market forecast

in billions

...but gaming has also had some very big wins

Achieves Global Appeal

The video game industry has thrived as more people turn to mobile and console/ PC titles for social connection, stress relief, and relaxation.

global player forecast

2015-2024, in billions

2024

2.03

2.17

3.32

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

3.22

3.09

2.96

2.81

2.64

2.49

2.33

The stereotype that gamers are young, white, and male is a thing of the past. Gaming now appeals to every age range, ethnicity, and gender across the globe.

Moves Mainstream

Esports

Computer/ video games

Apps

48%

50%

18%

Gen Z (16-23 years-old)

Baby boomers (57-64 years-old)

Millennials (24-37 years-old)

Gen X (38-56 years-old)

With consumers spending increased time on mobile, hyper-casual games are having a moment. It’s no longer just about hard-core gamers.

Casual Gaming Takes Off

86% of internet users play games on at least one device.

80% of those who do not list gaming among their interests will habitually enjoy games on their smartphone.

The game industry is still on track to surpass $200 billion by 2023.

Growth is expected to continue

Mobile takes off

Healthy CAGR

5 key macro trends indicate that Holiday 2021 could be the strongest year yet for gaming sales

Consumer Sentiment is at Historic Levels

As we head into the Holiday buying season, consumer sentiment has never been more positive.

Mobile gaming poised to bring in ~$120Bn in 2021, a 20% increase vs. 2020.

+17 percentage points

Consumer sentiment

The highest recorded levels of optimism since the survey began in 2015.

The Holiday season has been a historically strong time for the gaming industry.

Mobile game downloads have peaked from Oct-Jan in each of the past 5 years. Ongoing shipping delays, bigger than usual gap between last shipping date and Christmas is expected this year.

HOLIDAY

COVID-19

HOLIDAY

CPM By Global Market

Select one or more countries

Indexed CPMs for Gaming advertisers in selected key markets on Facebook platforms across the holiday period

new year’s eve

christmas day

black friday

10/1/20 10/16/20 10/31/20 11/15/20 11/30/20 12/15/20 12/30/20 1/14/21 1/29/21

Last year’s trends in Western markets followed predictions in that spikes were less pronounced but rather were continuous increases. There was a similar drop starting well before Christmas Day and leading well into January. In selected key Asian markets like Taiwan, Korea, and Japan, CPM fluctuations are way less pronounced due to higher importance of other, region-specific holidays. However, we still see similar dips around New Year’s Eve, specifically in Japan.

FACEBOOK INSIGHT

CPM By Genre

Select one or more genre

SLOTS

MATCH THREE

STRATEGY

SIMULATION

RPG

ACTION

10/1/20 10/16/20 10/31/20 11/15/20 11/30/20 12/15/20 12/30/20 1/14/21 1/29/21

Indexed CPMs for Gaming advertisers in selected key genres on Facebook platforms across the holiday period

With the exception of Match Three games, which saw a specifically sharp increase last year, other genres typically follow a very similar trend.

FACEBOOK INSIGHT

new year’s eve

CPM By App Store

GOOGLE PLAY

APP STORE

10/1/20 10/16/20 10/31/20 11/15/20 11/30/20 12/15/20 12/30/20 1/14/21 1/29/21

Indexed CPMs for Gaming advertisers in the US on Facebook platforms across the holiday period

new year’s eve

Unlike other years when CPM behaviors were different on Google Play than on the App Store, 2020 saw CPM trends in line across the two operating systems.

FACEBOOK INSIGHT

Global ‘Market Moments’ (Japan vs. US)

Select one or more markets

US APP STORE

US GOOGLE PLAY

JP APP STORE

JP GOOGLE PLAY

christmas day

black friday

christmas day

black friday

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

10/1/20

mobile game in-app revenues in millions

11/1/20

12/1/20

1/1/21

new year’s day

For the Japanese market, in-game revenues typically peak dramatically on the first day of each month, when a lot of in-game events are set to happen. These are the days of each month where Japan sees in-game revenues from games outperform the US market. This effect is even stronger on January 1st with the start of “Shogatsu” (first several days of a calendar year) where in-game revenues typically quadruple due to holidays, special in-game events, business being closed, and money (Otoshidama) gifts being made.

FACEBOOK INSIGHT

2021 was not business as usual...

Slightly shrinking market

Global Promotional Timeframes to Keep in Mind

There are 2 more shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas than the year prior.

Loss of signal

Removal of IDFA has brought new challenges to the mobile games market, resulting in one, or more, of the below:

Tips to Help You Plan Ahead and Be Nimble

Advance campaign planning

Decreased user acquisition

Loss of in-app behavioral and engagement signals used for retargetting and optimizations

More expensive advertising CPMs

Ready to get started?

Global pandemic

COVID-19 remains, causing a number of business and functional challenges.

Unavoidable disruptions in operations and manufacturing

Creative and development challenges arose from working from home

Reduced opportunity for access to funding

Helpful links and resources to launch your holiday campaign today.

Create Your Ad Campaign

Use Automation to Scale Ads Easily

Advertising Policies and Approvals

2019

2020

2021

Slightly shrinking market

For the first time in many years, the global video game industry is forecast to shrink slightly in 2021.

$144.4

$177.8

$175.8

global games market forecast

in billions

Loss of signal

Slightly shrinking market

Global pandemic

Set up advertising campaigns several weeks in advance to turn on as soon as prices drop to avoid any unforeseen ad creation bugs.

Advance campaign planning

Reaching new buyers can be as simple as going international.

Expand to new markets

In-game events and promotions help to improve player retention and drive in-app purchases.

Explore seasonal in-game events and partnerships

Adjust your game advertising creative to reflect the holiday season and the spirit of gifting.

Prioritize “holiday-themed” ad creatives

Stay active and adopt strategies to maximize profitable UA.

Drive sales by scaling up low-cost ad inventory

new year's eve

31th December Global Cultuiral

Boxing day

26th December EU, Canada, Australia Shopping

Christmas

25th December Global Cultural & Shopping

Super Saturday

18th December USA Shopping

12/12

12th December APAC Shopping

St nicolas' eve

5th December Netherlands Cultural & Shopping

Giving Tuesday

30th November USA Cultural

Cyber monday

29th November Global Shopping

Hanukkah starts

28th November US, Israel Cultural

Black Friday

26th November Global Shopping

11/11

11th November Global Shopping

Diwali

4th November Selected Regions Cultural & Shopping

Thanksgiving

25th November North America Culural & Shopping

Gen Z

Baby boomers

Millennials

Gen X

Computer/ video games

37%

Esports

15%

39%

Apps

Computer/ video games

28%

Esports

28%

Apps

Computer/ video games

19%

14%

Apps

Esports

Mobile takes off

Market growing with CAGR (2019 to 2024) of +8.7%.

Healthy CAGR

+29 percentage points

Consumer sentiment

Consumers are feeling more financially secure than they were in Q4 2020.

Total increase from Q4 2020 to Q1 2021.

Financial Optimism is Way Up

2/5

1/5

-7 percentage points

Q4 2020

Consumer confidence flipped year over year, leading to more plans to spend.

Consumer Spending Intent is on the Upswing

3/5

+6 percentage points

Q4 2021

net spending intention in the next 12 months

Eating out

Consumers are Ready to Treat Themselves

4/5

Global Insights to Inform Holiday Games Advertising

Holidays

Going out

Fashion

Improving home

Groceries

Health and wellbeing

dec 2019

dec 2020

dec 2021

Gaming Sales

COVID-19

HOLIDAY

COVID-19

HOLIDAY

Download spikes on iPads and iPhones have been following a relatively similar trend for the last year.

COVID-19

HOLIDAY

There are even more pronounced spikes on the App Store.

In-App Revenues

Gaming Sales

Download by iOS Device

SEP 2016 MAR 2017 SEP 2017 MAR 2018 SEP 2018 MAR 2019 SEP 2019 MAR 2020 SEP 2020 MAR 2021

GOOGLE PLAY DOWNLOADS

APP STORE DOWNLOADS

In-App Revenues

Download by iOS Device

1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0

mobile games in-app revenues in millions

19%

16%

250 200 150 100 50 0

mobile games downloads on iphones in millions

32%

27%

25%

16%

13%

14%

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

mobile games downloads on ipads in millions

Gaming Sales

1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0

mobile games downloads in millions

1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0

mobile games downloads in millions

Diwali

4th November Selected Regions Cultural & Shopping

5/5

Demand for Mobile Gaming Remains Incredibly Strong

Rise in consumer mobile game weekly spend in H1 2021 over pre-pandemic levels.

40%

Consumer weekly spend on mobile games.

$1.7 Bn

Weekly downloads first hit in March 2020 and sustained since.

1 Bn

Hours spent per week on mobile games globally.

5 Bn

ACTION

PUZZLE

RPG

SIMULATION

STRATEGY

MATCH THREE

SLOTS

JP GOOGLE PLAY

JP APP STORE

US GOOGLE PLAY

US APP STORE

Set up advertising campaigns several weeks in advance to turn on as soon as prices drop to avoid any unforeseen ad creation bugs.

For games advertisers, 2021 was not business as usual. The ongoing global pandemic brought unforeseen challenges that disrupted operations, but also resulted in a boom of new players—an estimated 2.96B people now gaming globally.¹ The growth in 2020, though, was unprecedented, and for the first time in years, the industry is forecast to shrink slightly in 2021.² That said, the games industry is still on track to surpass $200 billion by 2023, with mobile gaming expected to be the fastest growing segment in the coming years.³

Mobile game downloads have peaked from Oct-Jan in each of the past 5 years. Ongoing shipping delays, bigger than usual gap between last shipping date and Christmas is expected this year.

View Sources

Newzoo, 2021 Global Games Market Report, July 2021 GlobalWebIndex (GWI), Coronavirus Research Wave V. Survey of 15,271 internet users aged 16-64 in AU, BB, BR, CN, FR, DE, IN, IT, JP, NZ, PH, PL, RO, SG, ZA, ES, UK, US. June 29–July 2, 2020. GlobalWebIndex, Q3 2018 Base: 113,932. Internet Users Aged 16-64 Newzoo, 2021 Global Games Market Report, April 2021 (The game industry is still on track to surpass $200 billion by 2023.) Newzoo, 2021 Global Games Market Report App Annie, State of Mobile Gaming 2021 Global Consumer Confidence, The Conference Board, Member Driven ThinkTank, April 2021; From Q4, 2020 to Q1, 2021 PWC Consumer Sentiment Survey, PwC’s latest consumer sentiment survey was conducted between 12-15 March 2021 and includes responses from a nationally representative sample of 2,067 adults. PwC has asked the same question every few months since April 2008: “Thinking about your disposable income (money remaining after household bills, credit cards, etc.), in the next 12 months do you expect that your household will be better off or worse off?”. The index is calculated by subtracting the percentage of people who think they will be worse off from those who think they will be better off. Historically this index has provided an insight into the pulse of the nation, and has been a good indicator of future consumer spending patterns. App Annie, Mobile Gaming Tear Down, August 2021 SensorTower, Mobile Game Downloads from App Store and Google Play, 90 countries, Sep 2016 to Sep 2021. Facebook Analysts

1-5

7-8

12-14

17-19, 23

20-22

2019

2020

2021

$144.4

$177.8

$175.8

For the first time in many years, the global video game industry is forecast to shrink slightly in 2021.

Slightly shrinking market

Loss of signal

Slightly shrinking market

Global pandemic

For the first time in many years, the global video game industry is forecast to shrink slightly in 2021.

2019

2020

2021

$144.4

$177.8

$175.8

global games market forecast

in billions

Slightly shrinking market

Loss of signal

Global pandemic

Healthy CAGR

Mobile takes off

Eating out

19%

16%

32%

27%

Holidays

16%

13%

25%

Going out

14%

16%

Fashion

Improving home

Health and wellbeing

Groceries

SEP 2016

COVID-19

HOLIDAY

COVID-19

HOLIDAY

Gaming Sales

Download by iOS Device

In-App Revenues

10/1/20

Mobile game downloads have peaked from Oct-Jan in each of the past 5 years. Ongoing shipping delays, bigger than usual gap between last shipping date and Christmas is expected this year.

Gaming Sales

COVID-19

HOLIDAY

1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0

mobile games downloads in millions

1/29/21

1/14/21

12/30/20

12/15/20

11/30/20

11/15/20

10/31/20

10/16/20

10/1/20

1/29/21

1/14/21

12/30/20

12/15/20

11/30/20

11/15/20

10/31/20

10/16/20

10/1/20