Chartboost

Last updated
Chartboost
Company type Private
Industry Mobile apps, Mobile games, Mobile advertising
Founded2011;13 years ago (2011)
FounderMaria Alegre, Sean Fannan [1] [2]
Headquarters
United States  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Number of locations
4
Key people
  • Sean Fannan (CTO)
  • Rich Izzo (CEO)
  • Pepe Agell (Chief Strategy Officer)
Number of employees
100+ (2019) [ failed verification ]
Website chartboost.com

Chartboost is a San Francisco-based mobile game in-app programmatic advertising and monetization platform. Chartboost SDK enables developers to monetize on their mobile apps and connect advertisers to global in-app inventory. Chartboost's platform allows video game developers to create customized interstitial and video ads to promote new games. Developers have direct access to game data derived from Chartboost-enabled games. [1] [3] As of 2016, Chartboost had been integrated into more than 300,000 games [1] with 40 billion game sessions [1] per month. [1]

Contents

In 2019, Chartboost has been ranked on a return on investment index and it scored 6th position on Android and 14th on iOS, on both platforms appearing behind mobile ad networks by Google, Facebook, Unity Technologies, Aarki and Vungle. [4] In 2020 and 2021, Chartboost on Android is not on the list of the top 20 ad networks. [5] [6] On the iOS side, there is uncertainty as well due to new platform restrictions about advertising ID collection which "may render Audience Network so ineffective on iOS 14 that it may not make sense to offer it" [7] - Audience Network and Chartboost being integrated and advertising ID collection being the backbone of both (96% of US users opt-out of app tracking in iOS 14.5 [8] ).

In May 2021, Zynga acquired Chartboost for $250 million. [9] [10] [11] [12]

Use and features

Game developers use the Chartboost mobile platform to design custom interstitial and video advertisements, build user bases, generate revenue, negotiate business deals with other developers, as well as track and analyze sales and promotion data. [2] [13] [14] [15] [16]

Game ad network

Chartboost only shows promotions to active gamers. [17]

Video

Featuring high-definition videos, Chartboost Video enables developers to customize the design and execution of their video ad campaigns. [3] The service is offered in conjunction with Reward Video, which awards players with virtual currency when they opt to view an offered video. [1] [3]

InPlay

Chartboost InPlay is a customizable, interactive advertisement layer that allows developers to create promotions which display directly in a player's gameplay environment. [18] [3] [19] InPlay is intended to create promotions that integrate with the look and feel of a particular game. [18] [3] The native advertising solution[ buzzword ] supports standard Chartboost features such as tracking and reporting, player targeting, and cost per impression maximization. [18] [3]

Insights

Every month, Chartboost releases a global heat map that details the average cost per install on iOS and Android devices. [20] Data for the map is taken from the network of 12 billion Chartboost-enabled monthly game sessions. [20]

History

Chartboost was launched in 2011 by Maria Alegre (co-founder) and Sean Fannan (CTO). [21] After departing from Tapulous, the co-founders set out to create an own self-developed platform that allowed game developers to have complete transparency and control over the promotion, sale, revenue, and management of their mobile games. [2] [3] [21]

In January 2013 Chartboost announced a $19 million Series B funding round led by Sequoia Capital. [22]

In April 2013 Chartboost opened its first international office in Amsterdam. [23] Led by Pepe Agell, the office manages growth throughout Europe. [23]

In February 2016 Chartboost acquired Roostr to connect mobile games with YouTube influencers. [24] Roostr was rebranded to Chartboost Influence and then both were shut down (that is, Chartboost exited the influencer market). [9] [10] [11] [12]

Recognition

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Takahashi, Dean (February 11, 2016). "Chartboost acquires Roostr to connect mobile games with YouTube influencers". VentureBeat . Retrieved June 2, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Ewalt, David M. "30 Under 30: The Brightest Young Stars In Video Games". Forbes. Archived from the original on January 9, 2014. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Diener, Matthew. "Chartboost aims to transform game discovery with launch of Video and InPlay". Pocket Gamer. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  4. ↑ Anthony Ha. "Facebook and Google still offer the best value for mobile advertisers (Singular report)". Techcrunch. Retrieved Mar 6, 2019.
  5. ↑ "TikTok, Apple Search Ads, Facebook, Google: Top Ad Networks In Singular's 2020 ROI Index". Singular(the embed on the page is directly from them). Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  6. ↑ "Singular ROI Index 2021 highlights 10 new players". Singular. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
  7. ↑ "Preparing Audience Network for iOS 14". Facebook. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  8. ↑ "96% of US users opt out of app tracking in iOS 14.5, analytics find - Some of the first data on user behavior exceeds advertisers' worst fears". Ars Technica. 7 May 2021. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
  9. 1 2 "Zynga Stock Remains Attractive Even At The Current $11 Levels". www.nasdaq.com. Retrieved 2021-07-19.
  10. 1 2 "Zynga agrees to buy mobile ad and monetization firm Chartboost for $250 million". VentureBeat. 2021-05-05. Retrieved 2021-07-19.
  11. 1 2 Ebiefung, Will (2021-07-17). "2 Top Growth Stocks That Could Skyrocket". The Motley Fool. Retrieved 2021-07-19.
  12. 1 2 "Zynga Acquire Chartboost; UK FMCG Brands to Increase Digital Ad Spend | ExchangeWire.com". www.exchangewire.com. Retrieved 2021-07-19.
  13. ↑ Grubb, Jeffrey (11 February 2014). "The great Flappy Bird clone rush: Here comes Ironpants, FlappyDoge, and more". VentureBeat. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  14. ↑ Atkins, Doug. "How Kik, Overkill 2, and other App Store winners broke the million-download mark". Boston.com. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  15. ↑ Johnson, Eric. "Chartboost Expands Platform Offerings to Include Real-Time In-App Commerce Updates". All Things D. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  16. ↑ Cutler, Kim-Mai (11 July 2013). "Chartboost Launches New Way For Mobile Game Devs To Power In-App Purchases". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  17. ↑ Empson, Rip (8 February 2012). "Nine Months From Launch, Chartboost's Mobile Ad Marketplace Reaches 1 Billion Impressions". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  18. 1 2 3 Takahashi, Dean (10 March 2014). "Chartboost launches video and in-game ads to boost mobile game monetization". VentureBeat. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  19. ↑ Johnson, Eric. "Chartboost Adds Video and "Product Placement"-Style Game Ads". Re Code. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  20. 1 2 Jordan, Jon. "Chartboost releases global CPI heat map for iOS and Android installs". Pocket Gamer. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  21. 1 2 "About Us - Leadership, Careers, Press, News". Chartboost. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
  22. ↑ Perez, Sarah (8 January 2013). "Chartboost Raises $19 million from Sequoia Capital and Others to Help Developers Promote Mobile Games". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  23. 1 2 Takahashi, Dean (23 April 2013). "Chartboost expands mobile game developer cross-promotion business into Europe". VentureBeat. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  24. ↑ Takahashi, Dean (11 February 2016). "Chartboost acquires Roostr to connect mobile games with YouTube influencers=VentureBeat" . Retrieved Feb 11, 2016.
  25. ↑ "30 Under 30 Marketing & Advertising". Forbes. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  26. ↑ Elola, Joseba (27 December 2013). "El Pais' Top 100 Most Relevant People in 2013". El País. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  27. ↑ Koetsier, John (21 January 2014). "Top 10 mobile advertising companies: The VB Index report". VentureBeat. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  28. ↑ "Best Places to Work 2014". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
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