Making sense of mobile gaming data

According to comScore data, mobile apps - which include social networking and gaming apps - account for more than half of the digital media time spent. With mobile usage being heavily centred on entertainment, there is a huge opportunity waiting to be tapped. The rising player base and connected nature of mobile gaming allows for the application of advanced analytics tools that are not easily applied to dedicated gaming devices such as XBox and PlayStation. But have Indian marketers woken up to the opportunities mobile gaming as a platform offers or do they continue to underestimate its potential?

Use analytical learnings to increase consumer engagement: Vikram Duvvoori

Mobile games are getting increasingly popular with the release of new generation smartphones powered by powerful processors and efficient batteries. While mobile gaming is initially targeted at consumers, enterprise have many revenue opportunities here, such as direct marketing and selling, increased customer engagement, provision of innovative services and offerings.

The significantly increased player base and connected nature of mobile gaming allow for the application of advanced analytic tools. The monetisation models use big data tools to not only encourage in-game purchases through analytical models, but also allow for other sources of revenue by developing behavioural models of gamers.

Analytical tools look at numerous dimensions of gaming behaviour and analyse by age, gender, location, self selected population sub groups, technical proficiency, correlated social and economic profiles and so on. These tools, for example, can model how players react to incentives, simulated threats, handle risk etc.

The tools analysing gamer behaviour have an additional advantage. The platforms can be used by consumers for personal communication including email and messaging, social and professional networking, reading, consuming entertainment, conducting commerce and so on. This enrichment of analytics of gaming behaviour combined with non-gaming behaviour allows development of much more personalised but still anonymous profiles that are extremely valuable for not just marketers but also for service providers and product research companies.

There are significant opportunities beyond profile based selling and marketing - it can be used to develop safety training in industrial setting or in a public health situation. Similarly, analytical learnings from mobile gaming can be used to increase the quality of consumer engagements with enterprises. The obvious ones are redesign of customer facing systems; the not-so-obvious opportunities are in using machine learning and semantic modeling to apply gaming behaviour in engaging customers for such things as medical compliance post hospital discharge.

Vikram Duvvoori
Chief Technologist & Corporate VP, Enterprise Transformation Services, HCL Technologies

Attention and understanding: Key to the consumer wallet: Ray Newal

The smartphone along with 3G and 4G wireless data services has changed our lives. We spend time "watching" television while using a smartphone, ready to pounce on to Facebook, or Candy Crush, as soon as our attention begins to dissipate. A by-product of this fragmentation of our attention is an explosion in data that tracks our movements within every conceivable context. Imagine billions of data points all being collected and analysed in real time and in real conditions. That's the power of big data. In unison, the ability to capture the user's attention, along with the deep insight that big data provides, can help marketers develop brands and sell products.

Winning the battle for consumers' attention are mobile games like Candy Crush, Words with Friends, and Angry Birds, causing marketers to increasingly look to the science of gamification - the use of game thinking and game mechanics in non-game contexts; to win consumer attention.

But attention alone, doesn't always convert into a lasting revenue stream. Understanding the user is just as important as capturing her attention. At Playit, we see consumer attention and understanding as key ingredients in the next generation of ad platforms. We started with a mystery that originated in the North American market: what makes fantasy sports so appealing to sports fans? We stumbled upon an important insight: There are certain moments in sports that have personal meaning to each of us, often driven by our geography, life experiences, social influences and aspirations. To understand which moments have meaning to a specific person is to understand what drives them, and what keeps them up at night. To offer them the ability to participate in these moments, via the type of gamification techniques that fantasy games employ, presents us with the unique opportunity to hold their attention in a way that few other channels can.

However, with such access and ability to influence minds and wallets, comes an ethical responsibility to ensure that we respect consumer privacy and free will. Facebook raised the ire of consumer advocacy groups and users when its researchers intervened with the news feeds of people for one week in February 2012. In doing so it failed to respect the ethical implications of tampering with user's emotions.

Attention and understanding are two of the most valuable resources of this era. At a time when marketers can no longer rely on consumers sitting in front of a television captivated by 30 second commercials, tools such as gamification and consumer intelligence will be essential to building brands that matter.

Ray Newal
Managing Director, Playit Interactive

Mobile gaming is a powerful tool for creative problem-solving: Sudharsan R

Gaming and, more specifically, mobile gaming is common among all age groups. It forms a powerful tool for engaging users, increasing motivation, self-expression and creative problem-solving. Deriving analytical insights from mobile gaming has today become possible. At the same time, this is challenging as the divide between personal and professional avatars blur. BYOD and the democratisation of IT in enterprises have further made mobile gaming ubiquitous, as the audience is not dependent on getting home to a console attached to a TV screen to play their favourite game.

Analytical learnings from mobile gaming can be useful in understanding external audience and end-user behaviour - what is it that drives them to achieve something, what are their affinities and preferences, when are they more likely to be energised, what are the personas or avatars with which they relate to or aspire to be and so on. This data when synthesised serves as a ready reckoner for market research and in-depth profiling. This can subsequently direct the tonality, style and mode of communication with the end audience.

Not just this, it can also be useful in gauging the motivations of internal stakeholders like employees of an organisation. It can be used to understand what drives employee motivation, what makes them productive, at what times they are more productive, aspirations, role models etc. At a managerial level this is useful in forming teams, designating roles and responsibilities.

To sum up, revenue optimisation is only a by-product of intelligent use of big data and should not be the sole purpose of analytics. Creative problem-solving should be the fundamental motive for any organisation to exploit data.

Sudharsan R
Commercial Marketing Head, Dell India

Leverage in-app consumer data: Alan D'Souza

Since apps account for the majority of mobile device usage, they also offer bulk of the behavioural data . The key sources for these mobile data are the tags in these applications. These tiny embedded codes can record information on the whereabouts of consumers. For instance, how often do you play Candy Crush; do you click on the ads that pop up in your games, and so on

Marketers must realise that mobile apps can actually deliver data like the standard web analytics. Researchers continue to analyse the perceptions, demographics and behaviour with regard to mobile by sourcing mobile data. This analysis helps significantly in arriving at insights on a macro level that not only helps in educating the industry but also in innovation and in helping marketers craft great strategy.

With game developers vying for the throne of the best app, the stakes are getting higher. The complexity of user acquisition, in fact, even reaching the user is constantly increasing. An average mobile gamer has become more demanding and does not intend to pay money for installation. Rather, she constantly analyses the additional value that the game offers. The freemium model continues to gain maximum traction and the upsell and subscription service stays with a small number of users.

So the question here is how can marketers leverage this platform and, simultaneously, how can the mobile gaming app developers earn money while offering the games for free? The answer is simple and right there on your mobile screens. You must have noticed how in-app advertising and pop-ups have increased. They are not only displaying images or videos for promotional purposes, they are also rewarding users for viewing their ads. Marketers can either use their own apps to better comprehend the behaviour of their target audiences or engage with the best of gaming apps to reach a captive audience base.

Alan D'Souza
Founder & CEO, Vavia Technologies