Mobile games and mobile services in general have long been one of the major mobile content tropes that drive the business. In this particular historical moment, like all content, they have become not only an increased revenue driver, but increasingly a test bed for carrier billing in the mainstream market for companies working on the fruition of web contents.

In 2017 mobile games generated $44.2bn profit, a survey revealed. Over the next two years, this figure jumped to $49bn globally. The statistics indicate that the entire mobile gaming market is forecast to show an annual growth rate of 2.1% in the next four years.

Recent years have witnessed a massive growth in the number of mobile gamers all around the world. In 2017, 1.1bn people were playing mobile games globally. The figure continued growing by more than 100 million per year, reaching 1.3bn in 2019. By 2024, more tha 1.7 billion people worldwide will be playing mobile games and even more will be part of the mobile web services world overall.

From playing games to watching tv shows and video editing software for TikTok, there are mobile apps for practically everything. But how exactly do these make money? 

Mobile entertainment monetization Cookies Digital can provide us with an answer.

Founded in 2013, Cookies Digital specializes in helping companies with mobile web services build out long-term cooperation and successful business models, which is done through mobile advertising and Cookies Digital’s products.

One of the challenges Cookies Digital faced before reaching out to Databox, was running multiple Google Ad accounts and using Google Data Studio to manage everything in one place.

We recently sat down with Cookies Digital’s COO and Co-Founder, Valentina Tranquilli, to learn how Databox was able to help streamline their processes into one centralized dashboard system.

The Challenge

Today’s consumers expect quality service 24/7 (yes, even at 3 am). As such, it’s near impossible to accommodate everyone for every part of your business without some technical assistance. 

The more a company grows, the more software platforms and websites it uses to help it scale.

For Cookies Digital, it was running multiple Google Ad accounts and using Google Data Studio to manage everything in one place. However, the company ran into a few issues that caused them to look for another solution. 

Here are the challenges Cookies Digital faced:

• Complex Dashboard: Prior to Databox, Cookies Digital was using Google Data Studio which proved to be convoluted and difficult to use. 

• Accessibility: Google Data Studio only gave Cookies Digital a limited number of people who could use it and a restricted amount of accounts.

• Multiple Account Data Extraction: Cookies Digital sometimes has multiple products and services on the same Google Ad account but couldn’t pull data from each one. This resulted in more work for Tranquilli’s team with regards to time spent doing deeper data analysis.

The Solution

After much research and dashboard product testing, Tranquilli selected Databox for Cookies Digital’s Google Ad accounts and clients. Within the past year, the company developed an API to connect its own platform which sends data straight to Databox through MySQL. 

Cookies Digital uses Databox’s Metric Builder for MySQL and its Google Ad conversions. Tranquilli found the Data Calculations particularly useful for calculating costs and conversions across all accounts’ revenue. 

With regards to Databox dashboards, Cookies Digital builds out different ones for their clients as well as for different countries. All of the company’s Databoards are looped together for one seamless management process.

Cookies Digital’s Top Integrations

Here’s how Databox solved Cookies Digital’s challenges: 

• Complex Dashboard: Even though Tranquilli isn’t super tech-savvy, setting up all the connections, dashboards, and custom metrics for Cookies Digital’s Google Ad accounts was seamless.

• Accessibility: Multiple members of the Cookies Digital team have access to the Databox account. Its ease of use via an online portal and mobile app makes it simple for all preferred points of team access. Tranquilli’s team also provides a shareable URL to all looped dashboards so anyone can see their data at any time.

• Multiple Account Data Extraction: To help combat Cookies Digital’s issue of not being able to split products and services on the same Google Ad account, Tranquilli assigned two different labels inside Databox.

The Results

Performance marketing can be one of the most intricate and lucrative parts of pushing online advertising forward. It should come as no surprise that Cookies Digital uses it to help its mobile ad monetization efforts.

In 2019, 70% (~$74 billion) of digital advertising budgets went to mobile and it’s expected to rise to 80% (~$118 billion) by 2021. With all of this money being spent on sending out these ads, it’s important to track everything to ensure there’s a solid ROI. However, 46% of mobile ad professionals say their analytics are ineffective or neutral.

To ensure impactful mobile ads are successful, performance marketing is key. In this area, media is only paid for when it drives a measurable action that includes everything from click-through rates to a fully processed purchase. 

“All of Cookies Digital’s campaigns are performance campaigns, so we need to be able to act immediately. If we don’t, we lose money,” said Tranquilli. 

With Databox, Tranquilli’s Cookies Digital team was able to elevate its services through consolidating its Google Ad accounts and measure internal client results.

Here are the results from Cookies Digital’s use of Databox:

• Complex Dashboard: Unlike using Google Data Studio, with Databox, the company managed to set up all the connections, dashboards, and custom metrics for their Google Ad accounts with ease.

• Accessibility: Databox solved Cookies Digital’s problem regarding having a restricted amount of accounts in a system. Now, multiple team members have access to the Databox account via an online portal and mobile app. Tranquilli’s team also provides a shareable URL to all looped dashboards so anyone can see their data at any time.

“The company now has this ability to instantly see the results,” said Tranquilli. “So, if they see something strange in the numbers, they can adjust the campaigns. It’s important to share with the whole company the performance results. It’s a way to have more than two eyes on the campaign so Databox can help us to check if there is an issue on our Google Ad accounts or on our own platform.” 

• Multiple Account Data Extraction: With the two separate labels on one of its Google Ad accounts, Tranquilli was able to extract all data per label. This capability resulted in Cookies Digital being able to create a query for a deeper dive into data in a more simplistic format.

“Databox saved us from creating a long query to access and extract data,” said Tranquilli. “Now, our developers are able to gather that data in just a few minutes.”