| Claire
In March 2021, Xinghui Games launched the Three Kingdoms theme SLG game, on the first day of launch on the Japanese iOS free download list TOP5, of which TikTok is the first platform for omni-channel downloads on the first day; in June, Heartbeat Network launched the STG game "Sausage Party" in Southeast Asia, through the "double main line" brand challenge on the TikTok platform, the total number of topics played more than 3 billion times, the official enterprise number rose by more than 248,000 fans during the 3-day event period, and in July, "NBA2K21" of the veteran American game manufacturer 2K also released the #GiftOfGame topic challenge on TikTok, with more than 1.45 million related videos, more than 2.5 billion views, more than 20% player participation, and nearly 60,000 fans on the official account...
Last June, it was reported that there were more than 1,000 game advertisers using TikTok worldwide. This is enough to prove that TikTok has a strong driving role in the global game market player group and is becoming one of the indispensable and important channels for game manufacturers.
Although the weight of TikTok in the minds of game makers is increasing dramatically. But correspondingly, there is no authoritative guiding report on the market, which allows Chinese game manufacturers to more intuitively understand the TikTok platform in the middle and before going to sea. For example, as a new gathering place for gamers around the world, what are the gaming habits of users on TikTok? How can game manufacturers use the TikTok platform to create blockbuster games and take every step of the way to the sea...? The industry awaits a clearer answer.
Recently, TikTok For Business and Newzoo, a world-renowned game data analysis organization, produced a research report "TikTok: A New Position for Global Gamers - 2021 Global Mobile Gamer White Paper" (hereinafter referred to as the "White Paper"), which conducted the first survey of TikTok mobile players in 13 markets around the world, and clarified the preferences of players in different regions of the world for game content, the current overseas stock market and the growth point of the incremental market. A lot of information may provide a grip for Chinese game manufacturers to go to sea in 2022.
01 Chinese manufacturers seeking internationalization is still a trend
TikTok is a key channel for going to sea
In the past few years, a consensus in the game industry is that under the peak of domestic traffic, the tightening of version numbers and regulatory policies, the growth of the domestic game market has tended to be flat, and the industry has entered a bottleneck period, so manufacturers have set their sights on overseas markets.
So, at the moment when the situation of going to sea is urgent, is there still room for domestic games to go to sea?
From the perspective of market size, the "White Paper" expects that between 2019 and 2024, the global mobile game revenue will rise by 11.2%; from the perspective of domestic game overseas data, the "2021 China Game Industry Report" shows that in 2021, the domestic game market revenue will be 295.613 billion yuan, an increase of 6.4% year-on-year - the increase is much lower than the 20.71% in 2020. But at the same time, the report also pointed out that in 2021, the revenue of Chinese games in overseas markets reached 18.013 billion US dollars, an increase of 16.79% year-on-year; from the product level, the PRG game "Original God" exploded overseas in 2021, allowing us to see the possibility of two-dimensional track games and even more diverse game categories going out.
In addition, the super production and research capabilities and marketing capabilities of domestic manufacturers have become visible to the naked eye as their advantages in going to sea. It is not difficult to see that the search for new growth space for overseas game manufacturers has become a top priority.
At this time, in the field of overseas games, TikTok has grown into a very strong channel because of its wider player coverage and stronger player stickiness.
Combined with the content of the white paper, we can analyze TikTok as a key channel for games to go global, and there are three reasons behind it:
First, the TikTok platform is more dynamic, last year TikTok global monthly active has exceeded 1 billion, but also always firmly occupy the top position in the number of overseas mobile app downloads;
Second, TikTok's mobile game base is large, the White Paper pointed out that the global mobile game players reached 2.8 billion in 2021, and in a survey sample of 10,800 for 13 countries and regions, about 49% of mobile gamers in respondents used TikTok;
Image credit: TikTok: A New Frontier for Global Gamers – 2021 Global Mobile Gamer White Paper
Third, TikTok has a significant impact on the emerging mobile game market. The White Paper notes that "in Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia), Brazil and Turkey, the proportion of mobile players using TikTok is particularly high." In Vietnam, for example, where many domestic manufacturers "make their first stop at sea", as many as 71% of mobile gamers are active on the TikTok platform.
It is conceivable that such a strong channel for going to sea will inevitably be able to feed back some key insights into Chinese game manufacturers.
02 From following to sharing, from entertainment to conversion
TikTok players see games as a social approach
A global gathering place for mobile gamers, the player base on TikTok presents three main characteristics:
First, TikTok gamers are more enthusiastic about game content.
The White Paper states, "Almost all mobile gamers who use TikTok will watch game-related content. According to the survey, 90% of TikTok mobile players watch game-related content, compared with 76% of non-TikTok players who watch game-related content. This shows that as a short video entertainment platform, TikTok is like a "hot blood player filter", using a wealth of game trials, strategies, tips & hints and other content to maximize the gathering of active game user groups.
In addition, the White Paper also pointed out that in Q1 2021, the browsing time of the top 100 game topics on the TikTok platform increased by 533% year-on-year. This shows that players have formed a habit of watching game content on the TikTok platform. They'd love to get more game information on TikTok and look forward to seeing the new gameplay. For example, TikTok's survey of gamers in 10 regions showed that in the SLG game category, "new content levels or missions are the number one reasons why players in other markets except France return to the game." "
This also prompts manufacturers that in view of the characteristics of TikTok users' dependence and sensitivity to game content, manufacturers can focus on improving the richness of game content on the TikTok platform, thereby increasing game exposure and expanding new users, in addition, they can also output or guide users to output corresponding game content based on different promotion node goals of the game, forming a positive cycle of optimized content - absorption - content.
Second, TikTok players are more willing to pay for games.
The White Paper states, "Mobile gamers who use TikTok have a longer playing time, more variety of games, and a stronger willingness to pay." ”
At the same time, compared with the more mature markets of the game industry, in Southeast Asia, Turkey, Brazil and other Chinese manufacturers believe that the incremental space is relatively large, the willingness of players to pay is stronger: the willingness of players on the TikTok platform in Thailand is 84%, and the willingness to pay for game add-on content is even as high as 92%.
That said, TikTok happens to provide the game manufacturers with the part of the high-net-worth player base they want to find, which means that manufacturers have the opportunity to recover benefits and achieve growth more quickly.
Third, TikTok mobile gamers are more receptive and engaged in game marketing campaigns.
According to the White Paper's survey on "Actively Sharing and Talking About Games," 71 percent of TikTok platform players are willing to do so, compared to just 43 percent of non-TikTok players.
Morketing believes that this is essentially because when players discuss games, they are more able to integrate into their own identity circle and gain more social opportunities. And this positive psychological cue has also become a glue between TikTok with "strong social attributes" and gamers. Players on the TikTok platform will be more active and proactive in receiving game-related advertising information and sharing it.
This also accumulates powerful energy for mobile game manufacturers to cultivate loyal users and fission-style communication.
In summary, TikTok is active with highly sticky, more receptive game content players. When segmented by game category and market type, overseas manufacturers can clearly understand the motivation behind the player's journey from product preference, payment reason, loss reason, return reason, etc., and find the correct marketing solution.
03 TikTok covers both the stock market and the incremental market
Manufacturers need to seize new growth opportunities
Macroscopically, in 2022, in different overseas markets, what actions can Chinese game manufacturers make?
First of all, manufacturers can explore the overseas incremental markets with the greatest potential in terms of players' game category preferences.
"By 2024, emerging markets will be the main drivers of growth," the White Paper notes, adding that the Market growth rate in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America will be 1.6 times the global average, making it the two largest markets with the greatest growth potential.
The results of the White Paper's survey of players in the Brazilian market show that the Growth Potential of the Brazilian Market is huge. Although in the past, Brazil was seen as a low-end market, and many people thought that medium- and heavy-gaming games would be difficult to do here, the survey results were not. The white paper shows that Brazilian players on TikTok are very partial to SLG (67%) and puzzle games (60%).
An interesting phenomenon is that when players around the world play SLG games more for the sake of "relaxation", the first choice of Brazilian players is to pursue "excitement"; in the puzzle game segment, Brazil is the only region that prefers "logic puzzle" and "detective games".
This also inspired game manufacturers to promote SLG game products in the Brazilian market, they should highlight a certain stimulus in the game, and focus on this promotion. When logic puzzle games are promoted overseas, Brazil can be used as a key overseas market.
In short, unlike overseas markets that domestic manufacturers are already familiar with, from the beginning of product preferences, incremental market players have shown strong uniqueness, which means huge business opportunities for developers.
Secondly, in the mature stock market (the United States, Japan, South Korea, Britain, Germany, France), specific categories have deep mining value.
In this type of market, Chinese game manufacturers have always occupied a good market share. But in fact, from the performance of 2021, the market growth rate of domestic games in Japan and South Korea has declined, and "the US market growth rate in 2021 is good, but there has not yet been a more successful new product" (CNG data).
How do I find incremental space in this case? Because player habits tend to solidify, manufacturers should maximize the depth of specific subdivisions or themes, for example, the two-dimensional theme of "Original God" is rarely involved in the past by American players, so it will lead to an outbreak.
We take the casual/arcade mini-games as an example to explore how to "dig deep" into the category (although Chinese manufacturers are known for heavy mobile games in the mature stock market, such games are actually the most popular among local players).
The "White Paper" pointed out that the favorite type of casual game for Japanese players is "placement games", and the domestic placement game "Placement Girl" has received high revenue in the past two years, which also confirms this view. This inspired manufacturers to do casual games in the Japanese market, and they can go deeper in the subdivision of "placement class", and they should be more inclined to the "Asian cute" style in terms of art style.
The favorite type of casual game for American players is the "elimination class", which has been ranked first in the flow of elimination games in the US market for the past few years. According to the research results of the "White Paper", if the overseas manufacturers want to seize the leisure and entertainment time of American players, they can choose to dig deep into the "cartoon style" of "elimination" games.
Third, in The Stock Markets of Southeast Asia such as Vietnam and Thailand, the RPG category still has a lot of room for growth.
Southeast Asian regions such as Vietnam and Thailand are often the "first stops" for some game manufacturers. Although the industry regards it as a stock market, because the past growth method is more reckless, we have found some past cognitive biases under more accurate insights, and there is still a large incremental space in such markets.
For example, we generally believe that fantasy and fairy tale MMORPGs are well spread in the Southeast Asian market, and the explosion of games such as "Sword Man Love Mobile Game Edition" in the past few years also confirms this. But in fact, the proportion of players in Southeast Asia who are enthusiastic about RPG games on the TikTok platform is 41%, ranking the lowest in the four major game categories; on the contrary, the proportion of SLG players is 75%, ranking first in the world.
Therefore, the above data inspires us that the RPG market space in Southeast Asia may be far from saturated. Manufacturers can make efforts in the promotion of RPG products and conquer the minds of Southeast Asian players by increasing content highlights and increasing the sharing activity of players' social platforms.
04 Mobile gaming ads
The game is dry and the innovative form is eye-catching
As mentioned above, TikTok users have a higher degree of active acceptance of game-related content, providing soil for game manufacturers to market, specifically, what kind of advertising content and advertising forms are more attractive to the audience on TikTok?
"Advertisers should prioritize the game's story background, gameplay, character and game goals," the White Paper mentions. Moreover, these points are applicable to mobile gamers around the world and are the core information that players are most concerned about.
Of course, different markets should also be analyzed on a case-by-case basis, for example, Vietnamese players are first concerned about the characters, gameplay, and stories, and are also interested in art styles. Advertisers can use this to develop their own advertising content and design advertising creative.
Moreover, compared to non-TikTok gamers, TikTok gamers are very receptive to "all forms" of online advertising (2.3 times that of non-platform users). Among them, interactive advertising, brand stories and AR activities have attracted the most attention, and overseas game manufacturers may wish to focus on trying. For example, launching a "brand challenge" on TikTok is an interactive way to advertise and market the brand story.
This also prompts advertisers that because TikTok users are willing to accept more diverse and fresh advertising information, they may be able to integrate multiple advertising forms to improve the conversion efficiency of advertising content.
The key to the success of the domestic game "Place Girl", which continues to be popular in Japan, lies in constantly activating existing users and attracting new users. By 2021, "Place girl" has been online for 5 years, and a number of brand challenges have been launched on TikTok, such as the #夏日瘦脸挑战赛 during the Tokyo Olympics last July, which has obtained a good drainage effect: the number of video views exceeded the average of the same region by 111%, and the number of contributors and contributors exceeded the average by more than 50%. In essence, the long-term marketing of "Place Girl" has achieved two points of close attention to the game content and customized diversified in-depth gameplay, in order to achieve good marketing results.
To sum up, TikTok platform users themselves have the characteristics of being younger and more willing to browse content, so between TikTok platform players and non-TikTok platform players, there will be such a significant differentiation in the acceptance of game advertising content. For game publishers, selecting and delivering advertising content and form for the local market can improve the efficiency of advertising delivery more targeted.
05 Conclusion
The strong growth of the mobile gaming market has always relied on the deep connection of users to the mobile internet.
TikTok has gathered the most active users on the current mobile Internet. The TikTok gamer traits of "love game content", "strong willingness to pay" and "willing to actively share" are also one of the manifestations of this deep connection, and the game preferences and marketing opportunities in many markets around the world in the report can also provide marketing reference for overseas game manufacturers.
In the future, with the changes in the global mobile game industry and the further development of TikTok advertising business, more mobile games, including China's overseas games, will reach the global game market in a more direct, more diversified and more popular marketing way, and we have reason to believe that TikTok will be the pioneer and guide of this new era of game marketing.
Follow the TikTok For Business WeChat public account to unlock more information
END