Discover how Lihuhu leveraged diverse Unity products to acquire high-quality users at scale, ramp up revenue, and fuel a powerful growth loop.
In a competitive mobile genre like match-three, how can a studio rise to the top? By identifying the right type of user acquisition (UA) campaign optimization, providing rewarded ads to help player progression, and leaning into in-app bidding, Lihuhu created a continuous cycle of game growth in order to reach the top of the match-three genre.
The challenge:
Acquiring high quality users at scale and finding solutions to better optimize their monetization strategy
Location:
Singapore
Platforms:
Google Play, App Store
Project staff:
50+
Unity Ads and LevelPlay help Lihuhu’s titles scale to success
Lihuhu went from startup to a leader in their genre by prioritizing growth. Their partnership with Unity helped them reach high-value users globally, and monetize their game efficiently without compromising user experience, ultimately benefiting their bottom line.
The results:
- Boosted average install CVR on both Android and iOS by 15% year over year
- Increased ARPDAU by 10% by using the Unity Ads bidder
- Reduced time spent on ad operations by 50% by using LevelPlay
Putting the pieces together
Founded in 2017, Singapore-based Lihuhu has created numerous successful match-three games using the Unity Engine, including Match Triple 3D, Zen Blossom: Flower Tile Match, and Triple Tile 3D. Starting as a four-person team led by CEO and programmer Huy Le, Lihuhu learned from early challenges and turned to Unity Ads for user acquisition and LevelPlay as their preferred mediation tool to manage their monetization operations.
Amping up CVR, decreasing CPI
Lihuhu scaled their ad spend by 74% year over year, focusing on acquiring users at scale globally. Over the course of a year, they saw their average conversion rate (CVR) on Unity Ads across their entire portfolio increase 15% on both iOS and Android, with cost per install (CPI), dropping 20% on Android. The increase in CVR was primarily due to the different video formats the team used, along with using a diverse mix of content with eye-catching graphics.
Testing various UA campaigns and optimizations for scale
After initially leveraging CPI campaigns to help assess a game’s marketability and scale, the Unity team suggested trying ROAS campaigns to help find high-value users.
Lihuhu tested three different ROAS optimization types; In-app purchases (IAP), Ad Revenue, and both (Hybrid). The studio quickly found that due to the nature of their games, which feature in-app advertising, D7 Ad Revenue ROAS campaigns performed best in terms of finding high-value players and proved efficient for the teams.
Huy explains, “The Ad Revenue ROAS campaign has excellent advantages for us. The typical profile of the audience of this campaign has a higher value than those of others. And since the Ad Revenue ROAS campaign optimizes automatically, it saves our UA team a significant amount of time to allow them to focus in other areas.”
The Lihuhu titles that saw the biggest D7 Ad Revenue ROAS lift year over year on iOS were Mahjong Triple 3D (+29%), Match Triple Ball (+42%), and Match Pair 3D (+35%).
Engaging users through ads
As Lihuhu's player base grew, the studio leveraged Unity LevelPlay to implement a diverse mix of ad formats in their strategy to increase revenue and improve lifetime value (LTV). In order to drive a positive user experience, Lihuhu uses opt-in rewarded ads to help users progress through their games while also generating revenue, showing a balanced mix of both brand and game ads.
This ad strategy, paired with their Ad Revenue ROAS optimizations on the user acquisition side, enabled Lihuhu to create a flywheel of game growth.
Leveraging in-app bidding to achieve heightened levels of revenue
Previously, managing traditional waterfalls consumed considerable time and resources for the Lihuhu team. To improve efficiency and drive revenue growth, the Unity team recommended testing the Unity Ads bidder in LevelPlay. Huy notes, "We've applied Unity Ads bidding tests to almost all of our portfolio and the results are very promising, with a lot of resource savings in addition to a 10% lift in ARPDAU."
Leaning into data to inform optimizations
To gain actionable insights into ad performance, Lihuhu has long used Unity LevelPlay for impression-level ad revenue data. LevelPlay's A/B testing enabled them to make decisions quickly, resulting in a 50% increase in resource and time efficiency.
Partnering for success
Working with the Unity team to test new user acquisition optimizations, ad formats, bidding strategies, and manage everything through one mediation platform has allowed Lihuhu to find the right pieces to maintain sustained growth in the ever evolving match-three and puzzle genre.
“Our experience with the Unity support team has been great. They have been enthusiastic in their responses and prompt in addressing any questions we have had. Furthermore, they keep us updated on new information and products, which we appreciate. Overall, we have had a great experience with the team.”
- Huy Le, CEO, Lihuhu
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