Making a Play for Game Developers, Guohe Launches New Mobile Gaming Ad Platform
One of China’s leading mobile advertising companies, Guohe Ads, has a new product out this week that’s aimed squarely at enabling the cross-promotion of mobile games. Called Mix, it’s the startup’s big play for the gaming ads market in the country. Speaking to TiA from Guohe’s Beijing office, CEO and co-founder Neo Zhang explains that the “gaming category is growing very fast in China” and that it wanted a product especially for such cross-promotions because “developers care about their games so much” – and so Guohe felt it deserved a dedicated service.
中国の主要なモバイル広告企業の1つであるGuohe Adsは、モバイルゲームのクロスプロモーションを可能にすることを直接的に狙った新製品を今週、リリースした。同スタートアップはこのMixという名前のプロダクトにより、中国内のゲーム広告市場において大きな役割を果たそうとしている。Guoheの北京オフィスからTechinAsiaに対して、同社のCEOおよび共同創業者のNeo Zhang氏は「ゲームカテゴリが中国で非常に速いペースで伸びている」と説明する。そこでは、このようなクロスプロモーション用のプロダクトが特に求められている。なぜなら「ディベロッパーは本当に自分たちのゲームのことを気にかける」からであり、それでGuoheは専用のサービスを作るべきだと考えたのだった。
中国のモバイル広告業界で主導的な地位にあるGuohe Ads社はモバイルゲームのクロス・プロモーションの有効化を狙って、今週新製品を発表した。製品はMixと呼ばれ、国内のゲーム広告市場のためのスタートアップのビッグプレイだ。Guoheの北京支店からのTiA といえば、CEOと共同設立者のNeo Zhang は、「ゲーム部門は中国で急速な成長を遂げており」「開発者は自分達のゲームに非常に気をつかっているので」「業界は特にこのようなクロスポロモーションのための製品を欲していた」ので、Guohe はこのような専用サービスは当然だと感じていた、と説明している。
Guohe Mix was launched at the start of this week after a month in beta testing. Devoted to iOS game developers (for now), it already has some major local studios making use of it, such as Red Atoms, makers of the cartoony Three Kingdoms-era game you see being promo’d in the above image. What this new promotional platform does is display a large, almost fullscreen frame which is standardized in size. It’s large and bright, and Neo claims that it can seriously convert a lot of users.
For gaming studios who decide to utilize Guohe Mix, Neo says that the aim is to make it more than just a product. Refering to Guohe’s base package, the Ad Manager, he says: “We’ve built a community on top of Ad Manager […] for developers to cross-promote, exchange users.” And so the idea is that the gaming-only platform is more tuned-in than its rivals which cross-promote many kinds of apps.
To back up his claim that the large gaming ads convert better than ones from local competitors, Neo explains it in three keywords: “Audience, context, and experience.” That means, in terms of Guohe Mix: you know your audience is into gaming; the ads you show them are relevant; and the large display area gives a good experience and enough details to lure someone into a new game.
Previously, Guohe had been focusing on serving mainly as an aggregator, allowing app developers to “make money from 20+ ad networks at the same time, such as from Madhouse or Admob.” Then it launched its Ad Manager for mobile devs to host, target, and schedule their own ads.
以前、Guoheは主に、アプリケーション開発者が「MadhouseあるいはAdmobのような広告ネットワークを20以上利用して同時に利益を得る」ことを許可し、アグリゲータの役を務めることに力を注いでいた。それからモバイルアプリディベロッパーに対して、広告のホスト機能を提供し、広告の目標を定め、スケジュールを立てるためのAd Managerをスタートさせた。
Guohe is facing off against other cross-promotion platforms in China, such as Innovation Works-backed Umeng. Whilst acknowledging that Umeng has been around a while longer, Neo says that the differentiation from Guohe Mix is its giving developers more scope to choose in which other apps to cross-promote (there are blacklists available), and that also, “In Guohe Mix there’s a community – and trust in the community.” Plus, of course, it focuses totally on games.
Guohe’s SDK and platform is iOS only for now, but Neo reveals that they have made an Android version but have held it back for the time being – until, he says, the Android ecosystem in China is a bit more ripe for monetization.
See the details (in Chinese) on the new Guohe Mix product page.
