How HIGAME boosted ROAS by 15% with AppsFlyer’s creative optimization solution

Overview

HIGAME, one of Vietnam’s fastest-growing mobile gaming companies, faced challenges in measuring and optimizing ad creatives at scale. With thousands of creatives across multiple ad networks, they lacked visibility into what worked, why, and how to scale success efficiently.

Without centralized performance measurement and AI-driven insights, they struggled with creative fatigue, inefficient budget allocation, and misalignment between UA and creative teams, leading to wasted ad spend and missed growth opportunities.

By adopting AppsFlyer’s Creative Optimization Solution, HIGAME transformed its creative strategy, achieving:

• 15% increase in ROAS by scaling high-performing creatives faster.
• 10% decrease in CPI by eliminating underperforming ads sooner.
• 2x faster creative iteration cycles through AI-driven creative insights.
• 10-20% higher conversion rates by identifying winning creative elements that resonated with their audience.

Background: HIGAME and its growth ambitions

Founded in 2022, HIGAME is committed to creating innovative and accessible gaming experiences that bring people together. The company’s mission is to transform everyday moments into extraordinary gaming experiences, providing high-quality, engaging games to a global audience.

From the start, HIGAME prioritized scaling user acquisition (UA) while optimizing retention and monetization strategies. To achieve this, they needed a data-driven approach that would help them understand campaign effectiveness, measure creative impact, and allocate budgets more efficiently.

With hundreds of games and thousands of creatives running across multiple channels, we found it extremely difficult to measure what worked and why. Without a clear understanding of creative performance, our budget allocation was based more on assumptions than actual data.

Cuong Vu Tan, CEO, HIGAME

Creative from Cat Prank: Pet Chaos, one of HIGAME’s top-performing campaigns.

Challenge: The complexities of creative optimization at scale

1. The struggle to measure creative performance across channels

With thousands of creatives running across more than 70 ad networks, HIGAME needed a unified view to measure performance effectively. Each platform reported metrics differently, making it hard to compare results and optimize campaigns efficiently.

• The UA team had no centralized dashboard to compare creative performance across networks.
• They couldn’t identify creative fatigue in real-time, leading to wasted ad spend on underperforming creatives.
• There was no clear method to analyze which creative elements (e.g., colors, characters, messaging) resonated most with players.

We were flying blind when it came to creative optimization. Some creatives performed well, but without clear data, improving and scaling them efficiently was tough. We wanted a way to make every creative count.

Hung Lee, CMO, HIGAME

2. Inefficient decision-making on creative production

HIGAME faced the challenge of scaling its creative success globally in an increasingly competitive landscape. With hundreds of creatives running across multiple channels, the team needed deeper insights into which elements—characters, colors, messaging, or ad formats—drove engagement and conversions.

For example, while some video ads outperformed static banners, it wasn’t always clear why. Was it the storytelling, pacing, or a specific visual cue? Without granular creative performance insights, identifying and replicating successful elements across different regions was a challenge.

Before integrating data-driven insights into our creative process, developing new assets was largely a matter of intuition, leading to prolonged testing phases and increased costs.

Ly Ly, Growth Manager, HIGAME

3. Misalignment between UA and creative teams

HIGAME’s UA and creative teams needed better alignment to maximize campaign performance. The UA team focused on installs and conversions, while the creative team designed visually appealing assets—but without shared insights, it was unclear which creatives truly drove engagement.

For example, some ads looked great but didn’t convert, while others performed well in one region but struggled elsewhere. Without a unified view, underperforming creatives stayed live too long, and top-performing ones weren’t scaled fast enough.

We used to run campaigns and create assets without understanding the performance impact. If a creative worked well, we had no clear process to iterate on it effectively. If a creative failed, we didn’t know what needed to be changed.

Hung Lee, CMO, HIGAME

Solution: AppsFlyer creative optimization solution brings AI-driven insights

To solve these challenges, HIGAME adopted AppsFlyer Creative Optimization Solution, which provided:

A centralized creative performance dashboard

• Unified all creative measurement data across different ad networks into a single dashboard.
• Allowed the team to compare creative performance side-by-side and make informed decisions faster.

AI-powered creative analysis for faster iteration

• Automatically analyzed creative elements, such as colors, themes, characters, and messaging, to identify what drove engagement and conversions.
• Quickly replaced underperforming creatives and scale winning assets reducing wasted ad spend with AI-driven insights.

Improved collaboration between UA & creative teams

• Seamless collaboration and iteration on high-performing creatives powered by  shared insights and real-time data.
• Focus on data-backed design to ensure every new creative was optimized for performance.

Before, we relied on intuition. Now, with AppsFlyer Creative Optimization Solution, we have real data showing what exactly works in our creatives. This has completely changed how we approach creative strategy.

Hung Lee, CMO, HIGAME

Results: Higher ROAS, faster creative cycles, and optimized ad spend

​Implementing AppsFlyer’s Creative Optimization Solution led to significant improvements for HIGAME:​

• 15% Increase in return on ad spend (ROAS): By leveraging AI-powered insights, HIGAME identified and scaled high-performing creatives, enhancing user engagement and boosting monetization.​
  
• 10% Reduction in cost per install (CPI): The platform’s ability to swiftly pinpoint underperforming creatives allowed HIGAME to reallocate budgets efficiently, minimizing wasted ad spend.​
  
• 2x Faster creative iteration cycles: With consolidated performance data and AI-driven analysis, HIGAME doubled the speed of testing and launching new creatives, enabling rapid adaptation to market trends.​
  
• 10-20% Increase in conversion rates: Tailoring creatives based on granular performance metrics led to more relevant content for specific audience segments, resulting in higher engagement and increased installs.

Integrating AppsFlyer’s Creative Optimization Solution is like switching to autopilot. We now test and scale winning creatives at twice the speed, boosting our ROAS by 15% and reducing our CPI by 10%—significant improvements for us.

Cuong Vu Tan, CEO, HIGAME

Acknowledgement: Special thanks to Ly Ly, Growth Manager at HIGAME, for her invaluable support and contribution to bringing this success story to life.

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