Mobvista buys behavioral analytics platform GameAnalytics

Mobvista will use GameAnalytics technology to sell better in-game advertisements

In-game advertising can be tricky, given how easily can come off as obtrusive and disrupt the flow of the game. There are ways to do it that don't annoy the players, of course, and the best way to do that is to know users are intereacting with it. 

That's why Chinese mobile ad tech company Mobvista announced on Thursday that it has acquired Denmark-based GameAnalytics, a behavioral analytics platform for game developers.

No financial terms of the deal were disclosed, but it was revealed that, following the acquisition, GameAnalytics will continue to operate as an independent platform, and will still be providing its core service to customers.

Founded in 2012, GameAnalytics is a free analytics service platform for game developers, giving them insights into their player’s behaviour. That includes seeing how often players return and engage with the game, and understanding which virtual items and in-game content motivate those players to make purchases.

Developers can also use it to compare their game to the industry with app store rank data, and use benchmarks to see how their game stacks up against others that use the service.

The company currently has over 25,000 registered developers and more than 1 billion unique players tracked since launch. Currently, the platform maintains over 350 million monthly active users and 22,000 active games.

For Mobvista, which specializes in global mobile game publishing, the acquisition expands its reach internationally, giving it a stronger foothold in Europe. In addition, the company also expects to be able to use GameAnalytics' technology to increase mobile developers’ ability to automate the understanding, retention, and monetization of users to maximize effective cost per thousand impressions (eCPM).

Basically, it wants to take the insights gleamed from GameAnalytics and use them to sell better ads on th games. 

This acquisition comes only a few months after Mobvista acquired NativeX, a provider of ad technology for mobile games. Both purchases are meant to help the company build out its mobile capabilities.

“Acquiring GameAnalytics in Europe, like NativeX in the U.S., is helping us to rapidly develop a multi-dimensional, global ecosystem of mobile traffic," Robin Duan, founder and CEO of Mobvista, said in a statement

"We’re confident that GameAnalytics’ best-in-class technology and 20,000-strong developer community will increase our mobile marketing solution’s effectiveness to the benefit of both the supply and demand sides.” 

Mobvista serves over 10 billion impressions each day from users in more than 240 countries and regions worldwide. The company’s user database covers over 2 billion devices and over 3,000 user-targeting labels. Its clients include Baidu, Tencent, Alibaba, Uber, Electronic Arts, SGN and Machinezone.

The two companies " shared similar visions for the mobile content and advertising industries," Luke Aviet, CEO of GameAnalytics, said.

"Since our businesses were global by design and had rapidly risen to market leading positions, the synergies were obvious. The combined services of each company will significantly increase the appeal to developers, publishers, and advertisers across the world.".

GameAnalytics had raised over $8 million in venturesfunding from investors including Sunstone Capital as well high-profile individuals such as AOL Content & Consumer Brands President Jimmy Maymann, Maker Studios President Rene Rechtman, GoViral Founder Claus Moseholm, TechCrunch Founder Michael Arrington, Podio Founder Tommy Ahlers and Paypal Head of Corporate Development Anil Hansjee.