GOSU
GamingIntroduction
About GOSU
Founded in 2012, GOSU is Vietnam's leading game publisher and developer. GOSU delivers high-quality gaming experiences for both local and international audiences, exporting its games to over 50 countries and engaging more than 45 million users worldwide.
GOSU's flagship title, Silkroad Origin Mobile (Con đường tơ lụa Mobile), successfully ports the massive hit game Silkroad Online to mobile, delivering a fresh experience while retaining the core gameplay of the original. Within a month of launching their game, Silkroad Origin Mobile achieved 2 million downloads. Shortly after, it reached #1 on the App Store and Top 6 on GameHub.
Overview
GOSU had faced challenges with their previous MMP due to data discrepancies and limited granularity. For the launch of Silkroad Origin Mobile, they sought an MMP that could consolidate attribution data, offer deeper player insights, and combat ad fraud effectively.
After switching to Airbridge, GOSU leveraged Airbridge's Funnel Report and fraud detection features to achieve a 25% revenue increase while saving 35% on ad spend. By using Airbridge's Unified Dashboard, which consolidates all attribution data into one view, GOSU also boosted traffic by 45% for high-value, engaged users.
Challenges
GOSU faced three significant challenges during the Silkroad Origin Mobile launch campaign:
- **UA (User acquisition) channel attribution: **GOSU struggled to accurately attribute UA efforts and measure performance against cost across multiple channels.
- Understanding post-install, in-app activities: GOSU had difficulty understanding player behavior and in-game metrics after installation.
- **Protecting budget and performance against ad fraud: **GOSU needed to protect their budget and performance from the impact of ad fraud.
Solutions
Attribution data in one view with Airbridge's Unified Dashboard
GOSU saw a 45% increase in high-quality, engaged traffic by leveraging Airbridge's Unified Dashboard to manage UA across channels like Facebook, Google, TikTok, and more, seamlessly tracking key metrics like installs, sign-ups, and trials.
With Airbridge's cost integration, GOSU also imported cost data directly into the dashboard, providing a unified view of both cost and attribution metrics across all platforms in a single interface. This significantly reduced the time and effort invested by GOSU's marketing team compared to their previous MMPs, which often require frequent dashboard switching.
GOSU further enhanced their insights by integrating IAP (in-app purchase) data from Xsolla, their payment gateway, into the dashboard via Airbridge In-app Event API, adding another layer of data to their marketing analytics.
Moreover, GOSU used Airbridge's GroupBy options to identify top-performing regions by country and OS, refining their global expansion strategy. By analyzing data down to the ad creative and keyword level, they tailored their approach to local markets, refining their international strategy and localizing ad creatives for better market reception.
"Airbridge's Dashboard has been a game-changer. We get a clear view of our costs and performance in one interface, which saves us a lot of time. We can now pinpoint channels that bring in high-value players, and it's led to a 45% increase in engaged traffic." — Dương Hà, Marketing Director of Silkroad Origin Mobile
Boosting Revenue by 25% with Airbridge’s Funnel Report
GOSU used Airbridge to gain a deeper understanding of their players' journey beyond attribution. By leveraging Airbridge's detailed Funnel Report, they mapped the path from app install to level achieved and in-game purchases, refining the player experience across the entire journey. In terms of cost integration, Airbridge provided GOSU with high-level metrics like CPI, CPM, CPC, and installs, as well as granular in-app event data. All of them give Gosu a clearer and cost-based picture of in-app users’ behaviors
By analyzing conversion rates and level transition times, GOSU could easily evaluate player engagement to optimize game design for better retention and monetization.
With Airbridge's Funnel Report, GOSU effectively gained insights into player metrics like churn likelihood and time-to-convert. This enabled GOSU to refine user experience, enhance gameplay, and boost engagement by optimizing ad budgets for high-performing campaigns.
Saving Ad Spend by 35% with Airbridge’s Fraud Detection
During the large-scale launch of Silkroad Origin Mobile, GOSU faced a significant challenge with ad fraud, which substantially inflated their ad costs. Fraudulent activities such as click fraud, install fraud, and fake users posed serious threats. To combat this issue, GOSU utilized Airbridge's Actuals Report and Fraud Detection features.
For example, using Airbridge's Actuals Report, GOSU noticed that the conversion rate from installs to NRU (new registered users) for a particular channel (Channel A) was only about 30%, significantly lower than other channels, which averaged around 50%.
To investigate the cause, GOSU referred to Airbridge's Abnormal Install Report, which analyzes both the volume and types of suspicious installs. This revealed a higher rate of fraudulent installs—especially from user IDs with no in-app events or excessive touchpoints (clicks).
GOSU then leveraged Airbridge's Fraud Validation Rules to customize fraud thresholds and adapt prevention strategies to their specific business needs using IP Blocklisting and Frequency Capping features.
By combining these tools with Abnormal Install and Lag Time Reports, GOSU quickly identified suspicious activity and successfully saved ad spend by 35% from ad fraud.
Results
By strategically switching to Airbridge as their MMP, GOSU optimized their performance, enhanced player retention, and reduced ad fraud waste. This led to a highly successful Silkroad Origin Mobile launch, marked by 2 million downloads in the first month, a 45% increase in high-value traffic, 25% revenue growth, and 35% savings on ad costs.
