Using Facebook Ads to reach Android Game players

Some time ago I decided to spend $100 on advertizing my Drone Invaders game on Facebook. Facebook ads have some really nice features, like picking only people from certain countries who like certain things. So I selected people from English speaking countries, who have an Android phone and like Space Invaders or Galaga.

The campaign ran for 18 days and got 839 clicks, which is around 46 clicks per day. On the other hand, I was monitoring players that played the game. Unlike Google Play which monitors installs, I'm monitoring how many people play the game and get to the Game Over screen. During the campaign I had about 40-45 new players coming in each day. Since the campaign has ended, I have about 10 new players coming in each day. So, the campaign effect was about 30 new players per day or 540 total. That's 540 players for $100, or $0.185 per player. It's nice to know this figure before doing some ads, but spending $100 to learn this is also not a big deal. During this campaign the game earned about $25, so it's a net loss, but the game is not about making much money anyway. It's free to play with completely optional in-game purchases.

To conclude: I find Facebook ads useful and would use it in the future if I create some game that I feel can bring in some real money. Especially if I make a non-free game, this seems like a good way to attract more players. It's great that you can target people who like similar games and have a device it runs on.