Written by ANBU Team
Game & app marketing: optimizing CPI and ROAS at launch
A campaign can deliver an attractive CPI and still fail to create real growth. The difference lies in what users do after installing: whether they play, return, spend and become part of the community.
Launching a game or app across multiple markets at once is both a creative and a numbers challenge. You may have a great product, but if cost-per-install (CPI) exceeds the value users bring, the campaign loses money.
1. Understand your metrics before scaling spend
Three core metrics: CPI (cost per install), ROAS (return on ad spend) and LTV (user lifetime value). Only scale budget when ROAS and the LTV/CPI ratio are healthy at small scale.
2. Localize per market
Each market has different behavior, platforms and influencers. Videos, messaging and KOL choices must be adapted for Southeast Asia, Taiwan or Brazil instead of a one-size-fits-all approach.
3. Combine performance and community
- Run multi-channel UA, optimize creatives continuously by data
- Use KOL/KOC to build trust and organic reach
- Launch events and OOH to create buzz
A successful launch isn't about spending the most — it's about spending the smartest in each market.
4. Design the campaign around three launch rhythms
Pre-launch should collect signals: which concepts stop attention, which creators attract meaningful comments and which messages resonate by market. Launch day turns demand into installs. Post-launch shifts toward retention, education and amplification of the moments the community genuinely cares about.
5. Manage creative like an investment portfolio
- Keep proven concepts to protect baseline performance
- Reserve budget for new hooks, visuals and formats
- Judge cohorts and user quality, not cheap CPI alone
- Capture market-level learning so the next test starts smarter
A low CPI only matters when users stay long enough to create value.
