The Seven Deadly Sins app icon

The Seven Deadly Sins

Gamers enter fantasy world.
Seven Deadly Sins drives revenue.

The Seven Deadly Sins ad on the App Store
Based on a popular manga series, The Seven Deadly Sins transports fans to a fantasy world where they become beloved characters. Netmarble, the app’s developer, invested in their own brand terms with Apple Search Ads to drive acquisition and grow revenue. 

The Results

3x higher day 7 return on ad spend (ROAS) than other ad platforms.
24% higher day 7 retention rate than other ad platforms.
13% higher revenue per install than other ad platforms.
22% higher conversion rate than other ad platforms.

The Challenge

For the launch of The Seven Deadly Sins, it was equally important for the Netmarble team to engage fans of role-playing games as well as loyal fans of the manga series that their game brings to life. Across critical markets in the U.S., Europe, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, they wanted to increase app discovery to drive new downloads and maximize return on ad spend (ROAS). Defending their brand against competitive challenges from similar apps in a crowded category was also key.

For our apps, Apple Search Ads became a must-have platform to grow revenue with quality acquisition of players who show much higher retention rates and ROAS.

The Solution

Invest in brand terms to capture intent.

With Apple Search Ads, the Netmarble team was able to capture strong intent from people searching on the App Store. A brand campaign helped them capture potential players searching specifically for their brand terms. “By running an evergreen campaign focused on our brand terms, we found we could protect our brand from the competition and drive high-value acquisition,” says Netmarble’s Growth Marketing Team Lead Taehun Kim. 

 

In fact, brand keyword campaigns attract the game’s most valuable audiences. Players acquired through Apple Search Ads brand campaigns have higher in-app purchases, driving 13 percent higher revenue per install than other ad platforms. These players are also more loyal: They have a 24 percent higher retention rate compared with other ad platforms. 

Optimize bidding to drive performance.

To improve performance efficiency, the Netmarble team closely monitored campaign performance at the keyword level in each country. With weekly Impression Share and Recommendations reports, they were able to see the current impression share on each keyword, which is useful in evaluating the opportunity. They also actively made bidding adjustments based on these reports to keep their brand ranking within the top three for key terms. They modified cost-per-tap (CPT) bids on brand terms whenever they saw fluctuations in impressions, maximizing reach at a lower cost-per-acquisition (CPA) compared with other platforms. 

 

“In every market, we found brand campaigns were the key to increasing overall revenue while building our brand,” says Kim. “With Apple Search Ads, we are able to consistently drive a strong volume of impressions at a very affordable cost due to high relevancy.”

Gain insights to drive incremental growth.

Apple Search Ads also provided the Netmarble team with valuable keyword insights from not only brand but also competitive category campaigns. By combining these learnings with their own internal data, the team developed a powerful and effective strategy across their many gaming apps, driving incremental growth across brands.  

 

“Apple Search Ads helps us understand our core users better—specifically how they search and how they behave. That’s why we plan to continue growing our investment in Apple Search Ads,” says Kim.

Company Snapshot

  • Netmarble
  • Games category
  • Launched in 2000
  • Based in Seoul, South Korea
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