SOCIAL GAMES AS AN INSTRUMENT OF MARKETING
ON FACEBOOK. GENERAL PICTURE AND ANALYSIS.
Course of study, joint faculty:
Comunicazione, Innovazione, Multimedialità
Mentor:
Dear Professor Costa
Co-Mentor:
Dear Professor Muzzio
Dissertation by Katharina Damm
ACADEMIC YEAR 2011/2012
Comunicazione,
Innovazione,
Multimedialità
Executive Summary
 Target - Social Games:
• people that are different from the ones who play console-games
• people that have not been gamers
 Social Games on Facebook: 2 decisive advantages
• Social Graph
• Viral Spread
 Social Games are effective for Brand Recall
 Relation BRAND-GAME-FIT
=> to have success it has to be the right game, the right audience
and the right platform
Dissertation by Katharina Damm
Comunicazione,
Innovazione,
Multimedialità
General Information
 Definition Social Game
Social Game is the term used to indicate
the games on Facebook and other social
networks.
Dissertation by Katharina Damm
Comunicazione,
Innovazione,
Multimedialità
General Information
 Revenue:
8,6 billion dollars (2014) – whole Social Game market
3 billion dollars (2014) – Social Games on Facebook
 Audience:
How many gamers:
Facebook: 61% of the users
Italia: 65% of the gamers
Gender:
70% of the gamers are women
Average age:
39 years
Dissertation by Katharina Damm
Comunicazione,
Innovazione,
Multimedialità
General Information
 applications developed by third-party:
Game
developer
MAU
(monthly
active user)
1
°
284 001 554
2
°
Tot N° of
app on
FB
3 best games (in milioni di MAU)
89 The Ville
(58,8)
Texas
HoldEM Poker
(36,2)
CityVille
(20,6)
55 114 330
51 The
Sim Social
(16,1)
SimCity Social
(15)
Bejeweled Blitz
(8,5)
3
°
50 093 494
12 Bubble
Witch Saga
(18,4)
Candy
Crush Saga
(13,9)
Pyramid
Solitaire Saga
(6,1)
4
°
38 664 866
5
°
23 905 627
7 Diamond Dash Bubble Island
(19,1)
(7,6)
20 DragonCity
(10,8)
Social Empires
(6,1)
Monster World
(7)
Social Wars
(4,2)
Dissertation by Katharina Damm
Comunicazione,
Innovazione,
Multimedialità
Facebook – game categories
Total number of users per game category
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
251,61 million
273,72 million
2,69 million
Dissertation by Katharina Damm
Comunicazione,
Innovazione,
Multimedialità
Social Games – business model
 modality free-to-play
3 pillars:
1. Third-party advertising revenue
2. Players’ micro-transactions
3. Users’ data collection
Dissertation by Katharina Damm
Comunicazione,
Innovazione,
Multimedialità
Third-party advertising revenue
 Around Game Advertising:
Integration of banners around the game.
 Product Placement/ In-Game Advertising:
Integration of the product/brand in the game
environment
=> the product/brand is part of the game experience itself.
• There are various types of Product Placement
Dissertation by Katharina Damm
Example of the modality Around Game Advertising:
SunExpress in The Ville (Zynga)
Dissertation by Katharina Damm
Example of the modality Product Placement:
Toyota in CarTown (Cie Games)
Dissertation by Katharina Damm
Comunicazione,
Innovazione,
Multimedialità
Players’ micro-transactions
 Purchase of virtual elements with real money in the
game.
• There are various mechanics that create the desire for
purchasing in the games.
Dissertation by Katharina Damm
Example of a mechanism that creates the desire for purchasing:
Degradation of quests – FarmVille (Zynga)
Dissertation by Katharina Damm
Comunicazione,
Innovazione,
Multimedialità
Users’ data collection
 The system measures and analyses automatically how
users interact with the game.
 Revenue comes from the sale
60% of the revenue from Social Games comes from
the second pillar – the micro-transaction!
Dissertation by Katharina Damm
Comunicazione,
Innovazione,
Multimedialità
Analysis of the 20-top Social Games
Automotive
5%
Typologies
of advertiser
BestBuy,
Bing,
Gamestop
Donation
13%
Music
9%
Telecomunication
17%
Film, TV &
Cinema
10%
Education
1% Travel
3%
Insurance &
Finance
13%
Fashion & Beauty
5%
Food & Beverage
20%
McDonald,
Frito Lay,
Dunkin’ Donut’s
Garden & Nature
3%
House & Furniture
1%
Dissertation by Katharina Damm
Comunicazione,
Innovazione,
Multimedialità
Analysis of the 20-top Social Games
 Same brands are in more than one game from the same game
developer
Example: Amex Serve => in FarmVille, CityVille, CastleVille
 Display time: from 1 week to more than one month
 The advertising campaigns are often accessible only by gamers
who arrived at certain game levels.
 The types of Product Placement that are used the most:
Branded Mission and Branded Reward
Dissertation by Katharina Damm
Example of Branded Mission and Branded Reward:
Samsung in The Sims Social (EA)
 Often the Mission is
to click I like on the
firms’ fan page
Dissertation by Katharina Damm
Comunicazione,
Innovazione,
Multimedialità
Analysis of the 20-top Social Games
Quantity of advertising campaigns for each game:
25
20
15
10
5
0
 The most presence of publicity is in the category Simulation.
=> The type of category is decisive for the implementation of advertising campaigns.
Dissertation by Katharina Damm
Thank you for your attention!
Course of study
Comunicazione, Innovazione, Multimedialità
Katharina Damm