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How will COVID-19 affect the hyper-casual industry in 2020: A virtual panel

Ebony Nicole Simone

June 28, 2020

Mobile gaming is seeing a surge due to the current stay-at-home measures around the global pandemic. Late last year, the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is found in China and quickly spreads worldwide. And here we are today.This current pandemic affects the economies of major countries, the expansion of all industries. In mobile gaming, hyper-casual is no different. While the effects may be different than those of other industries, it is worth noting the nuances of a fast-paced genre such as hyper-casual.Jon Hook, VP of Publishing at Boombit, sits down (we use this loosely now that we’re all virtual) with some industry veterans. The panel discusses COVID-19, stay-at-home measures, and what this means for mobile gaming. Tenjin Head of Data Science and Analytics, Carole Wai Hai, joins the group along with Fumb Games CEO Paul West and AdColony Director of User Acquisition and Intelligence, Pawel Pawlak.Mobile gaming has seen a surge in users due to the aforementioned stay-at-home measures. What has this done to essential marketing metrics like CPI and eCPM of hyper-casual games? The panel chooses China, as it is the first country to enter lockdown, and the U.S., which is one of the last to enter lockdown, for this analysis.

Screenshot-at-Jun-02-17-43-38

China- iOS- Installs & Ad Revenue 2020The Chinese lockdown happens right during the Chinese New Year. Typically, during this time, you have a surge during the holiday then a ‘return to normal’ where the data will start to resemble pre-surge numbers. This didn’t happen, due to the lockdown. “Before the Chinese NY, the seasonality of the weekend was very noticeable, but since the lockdown and up through April, the weekend basically disappears,” explains Carole.

Screenshot-2020-06-05-at-12.25.41

Analysis of Day 7 retention for both China and the U.S. show that it is the most impacted metric after the lockdown has ended. Showing a slow decline, with high retention for Saturday all but disappearing. Is it due to people having more time to play and explore more games?

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