Rising to the top: Bravestars’ emerging market strategy

What types of games do you make and who plays them?

We create Mid-core, Casual, Hybrid Casual, and Hyper Casual games that appeal to a wide audience. We’ve got 6 million daily active users (DAU) playing our games on Android and iOS.

Our players are from all over the globe. We believe games can bring people together across different languages and cultures. Our goal is to make sure everyone can enjoy playing our games.

Why did you decide to focus on emerging markets?

Emerging markets are growing fast. By jumping in early, we can become market leaders and reach a larger audience.
It also helps us strengthen our position on the world stage and achieve our goal of becoming a top global game developer.

Currently, 15% of our traffic comes from tier-2 countries, including Russia.

How did you start monetizing in emerging markets like Russia? What challenges did you face?

First of all, we made sure our games were fun and engaging. Once we were confident, we focused on monetization strategy.

This helped us increase ad impressions and boost our revenue.

The biggest challenge was lower eCPMs compared to developed regions. To address it, we implemented a multi-part strategy focusing on ad format optimization. We tried different ad formats like interstitial ads, rewarded ads, and banner ads to see which worked best.

Why did you choose the Yandex Advertising Network?

We saw a lot of potential in emerging markets and especially impressive numbers in Russia. After researching, we found that Yandex is a top network in Russia, known for strong support and easy integration. So, we decided to try game monetization in Russia.

We have used the Yandex Advertising Network for a long time now, and it’s proved to be a success. Yandex connected us with ad sources targeting Russian players, helping us understand the local gaming culture better. This allowed us to adapt our games and improve user engagement and revenue.

What results have you achieved so far?

We’re proud to be in the top 10 companies globally for game downloads. However, we are still working towards our goal of being among the top 100 companies in the global game industry. There's still a lot of work to be done.

What advice do you have for targeting the Russian market?

Focus on creating high-quality, innovative games. Great games attract players everywhere, including Russia.