Big-budget Super Bowl ads from iOS games Clash of Clans, Game of War and Heroes Charge pay off
Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday entered the record books as the most watched program in American television history with an estimated 112 million viewers. A 30-second TV commercial cost advertisers a cold hard $4.5 million.
Three iOS games – Clash of Clans, Game of War, and Heroes Charge – ran spots during the big game. And not surprisingly, a new report from appFigures says all three titles registered a nice increase in downloads.
Of the three, the pictured Game of War registered the biggest increase in downloads, even overtaking juggernaut Clash of Clans. Relative newcomer Heroes Charge was able to garner a bit of success, climbing from unranked to No. 86 in the Games category.
Game of War’s commercial starred “Sports Illustrated” model Kate Upton while the Clash of Clans used a memorable cameo from Liam Neeson. Thanks to Upton, and the larger ad campaign that included a first quarter spot, the number of downloads even increased days before the game.
Yes, all three of those games are the much-dreaded freemium pricing structure that offer the app for free but make revenue from a slew of in-app purchases.
While pretty much everyone seemingly dislikes those type titles, the games continue to bring in wads of cash for their developers. And I don’t see that trend stopping anytime soon. If everyone who dislikes freemium games would actually go pay to download something, say like Monument Valley, the App Store would be a much better place.
Did you download any of those games after seeing the Super Bowl ads?
For other app news and reviews today, see: You have to be fast to find the right path in Hyper Maze Arcade, Create and become your own superhero in Playworld Superheroes, available now, and Dragon’s Lair 2: Time Warp gets HD version for iPad, out now on the App Store.