For game companies, it’s important to enthrall users with eye catching designs, but it’s also essential to rationally measure the game’s performance through various analytic tools. The Seoul-based company 5Rocks enables mobile game developers to maximize the life-time value (LTV) of their users through analytics and a marketing automation platform.
Upon opening a closed beta service in June 2013, 5Rocks’ world’s mobile analysis technology was swiftly recognized by Japan’s Global Brain and gained 2.55 billion won (US$2.33 million) of investment early on. After that, following a year of open service, 5Rocks expanded its market share, gaining customers in 700 major mobile game companies in Korea and Japan. Silicon Valley company Tapjoy, a leading mobile ad-tech and monetization platform, then reported it had acquired 5Rocks last August.
5Rocks’ secret weapons to increase user LTV
“It is getting harder for gaming companies to be picked up by users as the consolidation in gaming market continues globally. Big companies can attract more users through their bigger marketing budgets. This is where 5Rocks comes in, to help gaming companies who are busy building the game and don’t have time to spare on the business side,” 5Rocks CEO Changsu Lee said. He elucidated the reasons why 5Rocks is welcomed by their customers.
Known for its data science expertise, deep reporting, predictive analytics and mobile Customer Relationship Management (mCRM) platform, 5Rocks analytics features are optimized for gaming companies. The company offers actionable insights into the real-time behaviors of mobile app users, enabling developers to customize their in-app experience and manage different player segments according to real-time metrics.
The 5Rocks platform uses robust data to offer detailed analytics. “The analytics market is divided into two, either looking into the totals or deep diving into the numbers. While other analytic tools give an overall analysis, 5Rocks zooms into segmented users to give deeper insights. This lets developers know what is actually happening in the game and successfully monetize from it,” Lee said.
5Rocks’ platform has a comprehensive feature set to maximize developer monetization. These include a User Segmentation engine, defining groups by users’ purchase history, geographical region, device type or other criteria, and Cohort Analysis, enabling publishers to group users by in-app behavior, purchase patterns, social activity, referral channel and more.
5Rocks is well known for its world-class team. CEO Lee led the tech team at GameON, the Japanese developer and publisher of video games and also worked as a product manager at SK Telecom, Korea’s largest teleco. It’s also interesting to note the book Lean Startup by Eric Ries was translated into Korean by Lee. “The Lean Startup methodology helped me a lot in building and running the business. The process – setting what I need to learn, then build, measure, and take action- are all reflected in 5Rocks’ procedures.”
Tapjoy and 5Rocks
Now that Tapjoy has acquired 5Rocks, and has combined their services with its nGen ad monetization platform, Tapjoy will gain enhanced customer engagement, superior in-app purchase performance, and market leading ad-based monetization offerings for mobile app publishers.
By integrating with 5Rocks, Tapjoy will allow publishers using its nGen monetization platform to identify high-value, highly engaged or at-risk user groups, and to deliver appropriate messages and offers that drive maximum value from them. For example, publishers will be able to create automated campaigns to serve specific advertising offers to custom user groups based on recent behaviors, such as whether they’ve made an in-app purchase, the number of sessions they’ve completed in the last month, or any other custom criteria a given publisher deems important. As a result of Tapjoy’s acquisition of 5Rocks, the company unveiled a combined platform, “App Tech” at last November’s Gstar. It will be released globally this March to offer businesses a way to maximize their advertising revenue.
Last August, 5Rocks was selected in the Top 100 Asian promising technical venture enterprises at ‘Red Herring Asia 2014’ in Hong Kong. Currently 5Rocks is available in a Chinese version.
Image Credit: 5Rocks
Editing by Mike Cormack (@bucketoftongues)
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