Dec 13, 2024
At AppLovin, we focus on empowering our partners with tools that drive growth and scale. In this edition of #Shipped, we’re highlighting an impactful update for AppDiscovery advertisers: Day 28 ROAS campaigns. With three key types—IAP, Ad, and Blended ROAS—these campaigns are helping mobile apps achieve long-term success.
Day 28 campaigns are tailored to deliver stronger retention and attract users who monetize over a longer period of time. Unlike Day 0 or Day 7 campaigns, which focus on users who generate revenue within a relatively shorter period of time after installing the app, Day 28 campaigns identify high-value users who reveal their true lifetime value (LTV) over time.
Here’s why these campaigns stand out:
- Improved Retention: Day 28 campaigns capture users who engage and spend over weeks. By extending the payback window, these campaigns identify “whales”—valuable users whose contributions tend to grow after the first week.
- Faster Optimization: While focused on 28-day performance, AppDiscovery’s advanced AI ensures campaigns ramp up quickly. You don’t need to wait 28 days to see results—these campaigns start delivering value early on.
- Complementary Growth: Day 28 campaigns don’t replace Day 0 or Day 7 campaigns. They complement your user acquisition strategy by targeting distinct user subsets with unique growth curves, maximizing overall returns.
Day 28 ROAS Campaigns Drive Results for Bus Out
These campaigns are already driving results for our partners. App developer iKame launched a Day 28 Ad ROAS campaign followed by a Day 28 Blended ROAS campaign for their puzzle game, Bus Out. They monitored two key metrics to assess early performance: retention rate and ROAS growth rate, using their Day 7 ROAS campaigns as a benchmark. The Day 28 campaigns achieved 45% higher Day 7 retention and 26% stronger ROAS growth from Day 0 to Day 7.
Encouraged by these early results, iKame increased its Day 28 campaign budgets while continuing to invest in Day 7 campaigns. By the second month of this strategy, Bus Out’s overall scale had grown by 44%.
On top of these results:
- Users acquired through the Day 28 campaigns show strong longer-term performance
- iKame sees a 60% higher Day 14 retention for these users
- They also see a 36% greater ROAS growth from Day 0 to Day 14 compared to Day 7 campaigns
Capturing Whales for Triumph Arcade
In the casino app category, Triumph Arcade leverages Day 28 IAP ROAS campaigns to capture long-term value from “whales,” the highest-spending users. Colm Hayden, Head of Growth, shares:
“With the casino category in general, what we see is a lot of users who have really long-term retention. So we’re hoping that with Day 28 [campaigns], we’re able to really capture those users and just find more whales. I think if you’re a whale-based app, the longer you can push out your payback period and the more you can optimize for a user that’s going to stay for 28 days versus seven days, the better results you’re going to get.”
Zynga Scales with Day 28 Campaigns
For Zynga, Day 28 campaigns have been instrumental in scaling and driving incremental growth. Kim Bhatha, Director of UA at Zynga, notes:
“Our Day 28 campaign has been a crucial part of our strategy. We launched a couple of weeks ago, and so far it’s been working extremely well for us because it was able to find the scale that we were looking for.”
Day 28 campaigns make a powerful addition to a well-rounded growth strategy. By running these alongside Day 0 and Day 7 ROAS campaigns, you’ll:
- Unlock new user segments that deliver incremental value.
- Improve long-term retention while balancing short-term returns.
- Maximize ROI with a diversified campaign mix that scales effectively.
Talk to your account manager about getting started with Day 28 campaigns.
