In July 2018, Playtika partnered with Aarki for a user acquisition campaign to broaden the audience reach of its legacy title, World Series of Poker (WSOP). The campaign goal was to get an increased user base with high engagement and lifetime value, generated at a low cost per install (CPI).

The campaign ran programmatically, delivering access to high-quality media inventory from the major ad exchanges across the US through real-time bidding. A combination of custom bidding models and dynamic creative optimization was key to the success of the campaign.

Aarki used Platika’s first-party data to train models to predict user quality and lifetime value. The use of both (CPI) and cost per engagement (CPE) optimization enabled Aarki to keep the CPI low while maximizing install and engagement rate.

To get the most relevant ad creatives for the WSOP app, Aarki ran A/B tests using its multivariate technology, which allowed it to create different versions of each ad. The multivariate testing helped determine which variant worked best. Aarki looked into metrics including install rate and click-through rate to determine the best performing creative.

As the testing continued, the campaign was optimized towards the best performing ad creative, and scaled. Once the top performing “champion” creative had been identified, a “challenger” creative ad in the same display/video ad format was added, but with a slight difference in the ad elements. After testing and comparing the performance of these two creatives, Aarki identified the champion and increased its media and budget allocation to reach the audience with the highest engagement.

The campaign KPIs surpassed expectations. The CPI dropped dramatically, while return on investment was 22 per cent over target. Clickthrough rate increased by 60 per cent over the course of the campaign, while the install rate saw an increase of 45 per cent.

Judges’ View:
“Clever use of technology, and the results, for a gambling app, are really strong, and would have been very valuable for the client.”