Posted by the Firebase team
The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 brought changes and challenges for many businesses. During this time, we saw developers use resilience and ingenuity to adapt their apps and business models to these new circumstances. For GameNexa Studios, an app developer and consultancy based in India, one of the biggest challenges they faced this year was to figure out how to evolve their monetization strategy in the face of declining ad revenue. The GameNexa team needed a data-driven approach to diversify their revenue stream across their portfolio so they turned to Firebase.
With 40 apps and games under their belt serving 5 million monthly users, GameNexa Studios had a well-established monetization strategy, but like many of their peers, it was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously, the company earned most of its income from ads in their free-to-download titles. However, when many of their advertisers slashed their budgets, GameNexa’s ad revenue dropped too.
To offset their losses, GameNexa needed to pivot from a one-size-fits-all strategy to a diversified revenue model. But diversifying revenue doesn’t mean bombarding users with more offers and in-app promotions - that could drive people away. The most effective monetization strategies are tailored to user preferences and behavior. So, GameNexa first used Google Analytics and Firebase Predictions to better understand their users and then grouped them into segments based on common characteristics like language, and predicted future behavior, like their propensity to make an in-app purchase.
After gaining insight into their users, GameNexa used Firebase Remote Config and Firebase A/B Testing to test new ad placement, formats, and different in-app promotions on each segment to find which offer resonated with each group. They also worked on improving their user experience with Firebase Crashlytics and Firebase Performance Monitoring.
As a result of these efforts, GameNexa saw a 2.5x increase in revenue from in-app purchases and they were able to bring their ad revenue back up to pre-COVID levels by doubling ad impressions. In addition, by creating customized in-app purchase packs for different audiences, GameNexa increased conversions by 6x. Inspired by their own success, GameNexa now plans on sharing what they’ve learned about the power of data-driven monetization and personalization with other developers through their app consultancy. Read their full story and get more details on how they used Firebase to grow and diversify their revenue in our new case study.
