Krafton acquired high-value users for Battlegrounds Mobile India through Moloco’s retention campaign

About Krafton

Krafton is a leading South Korean gaming company pioneering innovative game development and global publishing. By leveraging intellectual properties like PUBG: Battlegrounds, Krafton achieved international success in various genres. Among its achievements, BGMI (Battlegrounds Mobile India) stands out. This mobile app, crafted for the battle royale genre and tailored to the Indian market, has secured its position as a prominent game in India.

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Challenge 

Krafton faced a unique dual challenge in expanding BGMI's user base in the Indian market. The challenge was not just about acquiring New Registered Users (NRUs) at a cost-effective rate but also about ensuring the quality of the traffic. The Indian market, generally known for low user acquisition costs, also presented the hurdle of attracting low-quality traffic, making it difficult to target users who are more likely to take action after installing the app.

The challenge was compounded by BGMI's genre – hardcore and shooting games, targeting a niche of dedicated and skilled players, in contrast to the broader audience of casual games. Due to this, securing high-value users through paid marketing was more challenging than through organic traffic. The scarcity of dedicated players (highly engaged users) made it difficult for Krafton to find paid channels capable of consistently delivering high-value users.

Consequently, Krafton had to run short-term spot campaigns instead of long-term paid marketing strategies for sustained growth. The company recognized the need for a revised user acquisition strategy to acquire and engage high-value users who would contribute to long-term metrics like retention and revenue, all while balancing acquisition costs.

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Solution

To address its user acquisition challenge, Krafton partnered with Moloco for its BGMI campaign, focusing on high-value user engagement to increase ROAS. Leveraging their long-standing relationship and Moloco’s advanced machine learning solution, Krafton aimed for enhanced campaign performance. The strategy involved:

1. Strategic design of UA campaign to acquire high-value users

Collaborating with Moloco, Krafton developed campaigns mainly focusing on user retention and in-app events. This approach targeted acquiring actively engaged users, gradually optimizing the overall campaign performance.

Expanding its advertising reach into the open internet outside of walled gardens — where two-thirds of users spend their time — Krafton innovatively utilized Moloco's machine learning capabilities. This strategic move allowed Krafton to target and acquire users who demonstrate a high probability of engagement after installing the app. This approach enabled Krafton to tap into a broader and more diverse user base, optimizing user acquisition in a more expansive digital universe.

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2. Targeting and creative optimization

As BGMI operates exclusively in India, Krafton leveraged Moloco’s geo-targeting feature. Krafton segmented ad groups based on various states within India when running the campaigns, enabling them to tailor the campaigns to the unique characteristics of users in different regions of India while securing regional audience insights.

Furthermore, Krafton efficiently managed campaign resources using the 'Auto-generated creative' feature. This feature automatically generated suitable creatives for each inventory using app information and existing assets. This allowed Krafton to access all ad inventories without manually creating individual creatives based on each size and format requirement, demonstrating a smart approach to resource management.

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Results 

Leveraging the strong campaign design and Moloco's ML-powered capabilities, Krafton effectively acquired high-value users on the open internet, with retention campaigns consistently outperforming organic efforts, a notable feat in the hardcore gaming genre. Moloco's campaigns demonstrated cost stability, enabling long-term execution and gradual budget scaling, contrary to rising acquisition costs in extended campaigns.

• Increased install volume by 600% (current vs. initial campaign stage)
• Increased Install to NRU conversion rate (CVR) by 6%p
• Secured retention rate of ~5%p higher than organic users
• Increased budget by 9X after campaign launch 

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“By collaborating with Moloco, we experienced customized support throughout the entire process from initial campaign planning to execution and analysis, resulting in differentiated marketing performance. Thanks to Moloco's sophisticated campaign optimization and professional support, we effectively achieved advanced campaign goals and confirmed the potential for efficient budget expansion. We consider this as one of Moloco's key differentiators compared to other global channels and look forward to a long-term partnership.”

— Kim Sangbum, IN Performance Marketing Team Lead, Krafton

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