The news: Ad quality has a big impact on whether gamers will keep playing or walk away from a session.

• Over half (52%) of gamers in the US, the UK, Germany, Vietnam, and Japan would quit playing if they encountered multiple disruptive ad features, per Deloitte’s Quality Drives Value: A Look into Mobile Gaming Ads survey.
• 20% would play a title more frequently if in-game ads were high quality. The same number would abandon a game entirely after seeing disruptive ads.

Low-quality ads can include forced redirects to app stores or web pages, deceptive content, or ads with hard-to-find close buttons.

Why it matters: Quality ad experiences are important for retaining loyal mobile gamers, a valuable segment.

• 20% of heavy gamers (over 10 hours per week) regularly click on ads.
• More than one-third (37%) of heavy gamers that spend a significant amount of money would play a title more frequently after having a positive ad experience.

Poor ad experiences can also damage brand safety.

• 15% of heavy gamers discuss ads with their friends and family, meaning a bad ad structure could hurt brand sentiment.
• 14% would write a negative review after encountering distracting or low-quality ads.

What do users want? The most popular ways to advertise in mobile games include avoiding forced interaction and offering rewards.

• 50% of gamers enjoy options to skip ads and said they make longer ad experiences more tolerable.
• 45% don’t mind in-game ads if they get rewards, such as an extra life, for watching, per Comscore.

Our take: Prioritizing features like rewards and skip options can help players feel in control and properly compensated for their time, helping mobile gamers to stay engaged, click through, and return. Poorly timed or deceptive ads, on the other hand, risk alienating gamers and increasing churn.

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