Plarium is one of most recognized names in mid-core mobile gaming. Unlike many hypercasual-focused publishers, Plarium operates in genres where long-term retention, deep progression systems, LiveOps, and player experience play a critical role in monetization strategy.
Crackle recently had a conversation with David, who looks after Ad Monetization at Plarium, sharing insights from his journey and experience managing monetization across large-scale gaming titles.
David: I come from a technical background.Over the years, I’ve worked on a number of different projects, including a startup in the B2B space.
I’ve always considered myself a gamer since childhood, mostly playing games on PC. I’ve been working in ad monetization for around 10 years now. Before joining Plarium, I worked at an electronic music streaming company, where I mostly worked with audio ads, banners and interstitials.
I joined Plarium around five years ago as the first person fully dedicated to ad monetization, as previously it was handled part-time across different teams.
David: A typical day is the lack of a typical day. Every day is a bit different.
I usually start by looking at data from the past 72 hours, especially weekends where there’s a spike in activity. I go through internal dashboards and external dashboards from mediation platforms and networks.
A big part of my role is collaboration with user acquisition, business performance, marketing analysts, and studios. Some of us are in the same physical location, while others are quite far away, so there are a lot of Zoom calls throughout the day.
I also spend time staying on top of what’s happening in the industry, reading and writing on LinkedIn, and speaking with other publishers. We regularly do one-on-one, share knowledge, and learn from each other.
It’s actually quite a tight-knit community. Many of us have known each other for years, meet at conferences, and continue those discussions outside of events as well.
David: Holistically, I think monetization is fundamentally tied to design, player behavior, and long-term engagement, more than it’s traditionally discussed as a purely business-driven function.
From that perspective different monetization systems need to complement each other and support the overall experience, rather than compete for player attention. When they work together in a hybrid approach, that’s when you really get the best of both worlds from IAPs and ads.
There’s no single rule that fits every game. Some games work better with more IAP-heavy models, while others are better suited for a hybrid approach. In our genres, IAPs are often the main revenue driver, with ads providing a much more steady and predictable income stream.
David: I would say the question is a bit outdated.
When ads are strategically placed in a game, in a way where it feels natural for users to engage with them, they can actually help IAPs. In many cases, higher engagement with ads also leads to higher overall engagement with the game and even better conversions.
The key here is testing. You compare cohorts with and without ads, and then look at metrics like retention, engagement, session length, conversions, and LTV. In the end, the data speaks for itself.
Also, in our case, we only work with rewarded ads. These are user-initiated formats where users actively choose to watch an ad in exchange for some kind of in-game benefit, which is very different from more interruptive ad formats.
David: I usually don’t chase short-term wins, even though sometimes it does make sense.
For me, the most important thing is not to damage the user experience. If a change increases revenue but negatively impacts the player experience, then it’s usually not worth it in the long run.
I always try to think about it from the user’s perspective. Will the player feel frustrated, or will they understand why this exists and feel that it makes sense? Players today understand that games need to make money.
A good analogy is a cinema. You don’t expect five people to pay while the other 95 watch for free. If someone doesn’t want to pay, there should be another way to support the experience, like ads, so both sides still benefit.
David: I don’t really look at one specific metric.
I think it’s very important to look at engagement rate with ads and the usage rate per placement. Those metrics tell me whether the placements are actually working and whether users are naturally engaging with them.
I also treat placements individually. You can have very similar placements across similar games, but I don’t think monetization works as a simple copy-paste approach from one game to another. In the end, assumptions around placement performance always need to be validated by actual user data.
We usually start seeing this from the soft launch stage itself, where we evaluate the initial user experience with ads. Then, once the game moves into a global rollout, we continue validating whether the placements still make sense, whether users are engaging with them, and whether they’re actually adding value to the experience.
And if users are not engaging with certain placements, then the question becomes whether we can improve them, or whether it simply makes more sense to remove them if they’re just creating noise.
Of course, we also look at LTV, ARPDAU, eCPM and other metrics on a daily basis.
David: I don’t think there’s one specific strategy or approach.
For me, it’s more about being data-driven and understanding the trade-offs behind every decision. For example, if a placement is performing well, the natural instinct might be to increase the frequency. But then you also have to think about the bigger picture. Will it hurt IAPs? Will it impact session length? Will it affect eCPM over time?
A lot of it comes down to finding the sweet spot and working closely with different teams to validate assumptions through testing.
At the end of the day, you can’t test everything, so you have to prioritize and let the data guide your decisions.
David: One of the biggest learnings for me has been not to rush into decisions and to always validate your gut feeling. You might feel 200% confident about a certain decision, but then real-world data comes in and shows you something completely different.
I’ve also learned that short A/B tests can sometimes be very misleading. You may see great results in the first two weeks, but then by day 30 or day 60, the picture can completely change.
That’s why it’s important to run longer tests, sometimes even multi-month tests, and really focus on long-term metrics instead of short-term spikes.
It’s also important to make sure your data is clean. For example, whale activity can distort the results quite heavily.
Even A/A testing can be very useful sometimes, just to validate whether your testing setup is actually working correctly.
David: I think many studios are still hesitant to try ad monetization, often because of past negative experiences or assumptions around how ads might impact the player experience.
I would say, be open-minded, but at the same time, don’t rush into things. Start small, test different approaches, and learn from people who already have experience in the space.
Also, I wouldn’t rely only on networks or mediation platforms for guidance, because naturally they have their own incentives as well. It’s important to speak with other publishers, understand what’s working for them, and gather different perspectives before making decisions.
David: Ad quality is becoming a much more central part of the role now.
A lot of the time that was previously spent purely on optimization is now also being spent on making sure ad quality is maintained properly. There are different ways to approach it, whether that’s third-party tools, mediation tools, or internal monitoring systems.
I also pay close attention to user feedback from reviews and social channels, and play the game myself, using VPNs to test ads across different geographies and user experiences.
And if a network is causing issues, then user experience comes first. I would rather pause or completely shut down the network temporarily, investigate the root cause, and look for alternatives if needed.
David: One common mistake is trying to chase too many networks.
There’s always a cost that comes with adding more SDKs, whether it’s technical debt, latency, crashes, or simply longer debugging and maintenance cycles. Sometimes the additional gains can actually be negated by the complexity that comes with it.
I think it’s more important to focus on a strong mix of top-performing networks that make sense for your audience and your geographies, instead of trying to integrate everything possible.
Also, just because something worked well for another publisher, it doesn’t automatically mean it will work the same way for your game or your audience.
David: We’re definitely not shy about using AI.
We’re using it both through external tools and through internal development as well. It helps with things like ad quality, optimization setups, and generally speeding up different workflows and processes.
Rather than replacing people, itaugments the work. It allows me and the team to do much more in a much shorter period of time.
David: It’s absolutely critical.
We have regular meetings with UA, research, and business teams to stay aligned. In many companies, teams tend to operate in silos, but that really limits visibility and makes it harder to see the full picture.
For example, if the UA team is running campaigns in a specific geo, I can look at the ad monetization performance in that region and provide additional insights from the monetization side as well. Together, that gives us a much more complete picture for decision-making.
Without that kind of collaboration, it’s almost like driving with one eye closed.
David: I expect to see much better tooling and a lot more transparency across the ecosystem.
I also believe we need more players in the mediation space. Right now, it’s still a very concentrated market, and more competition would naturally push the existing players to innovate and improve much faster.
I’m also looking forward to seeing more innovation coming not just from existing companies, but also from new entrants and adjacent players entering the space.
David: I would probably try to build my own mediation platform.
One thing I’d really like to see is a truly cross-platform mediation solution, something that works seamlessly across mobile, PC, and web without needing completely separate setups and workflows for each platform.
As mobile gaming continues evolving toward hybrid monetization, deeper personalization, and AI-driven optimization, conversations like these offer valuable insight into how leading publishers are approaching monetization at scale.
A big thanks to David and the Plarium team for sharing their perspective and experience with Crackle.
