Mini-games become major league advertisers on WeChat

Advertising for mini-games on WeChat is booming, having grown by 113% year on year, as per figures from the latest China WeChat Mini Games Advertising and User Acquisition Report. Mini-games refer to games that can be played on the fly within a platform like WeChat and which do not require a lengthy installation process. The growth comes on the back of an increasing number of developers launching ad campaigns on the platform to woo users to play their games.

Figures from the China’s Game Working Committee peg the revenue from the mini-game market at RMB 38.9 billion ($5.4 billion) in 2024, a YOY increase of 99.1%.

Created by marketing and analytics platform SolarEngine in collaboration with mobile marketing strategy analysis specialist Insightrackr, the report further states that in 2024, there were 19,937 WeChat mini-game ad campaigns launched; a significant increase from 10,300 in 2023. The number of creatives powering these campaigns has seen a staggering 107% increase YOY. From January to October last year,  a total of 3.7 million creatives were launched compared to merely 1.8 million the previous year.

Some of the key trends that have been observed around WeChat mini-game ads include:

• The WeChat mini game ads are predominantly image based (55.9%) while 44.1% use video. This marks a shift away from the norms in standard games where video accounts for 59.4%.
• The dominant format of advertising is vertical ads (61%), followed by horizontal (35.3%) and square (3.7%).
• Only 5.3% of mini-game ads incorporate real-person elements, compared to 10.6% in broader mobile game advertising.

While the focus so far has been cost efficiency and quick turnaround time for the ad campaigns, the report suggests that the next competitive edge will come from higher-quality creative optimisation, and data-driven strategies to maximise user engagement and conversion. Rita Ju, head of SolarEngine, said, "It’s critical for developers to not only focus on creative innovation. Tools that enable high-quality user behaviour analysis, precise targeting, and efficient data integration are becoming crucial for success."

The metrics tracking ROI have moved from mere installs to a more granular measure to track engagement, retention and monetisation. These include the predicted revenue generated by a user over their engagement with the game, average revenue per user, and conversion rate—the number of users who make a purchase within the game or subscribe to a premium tier. This is critical as the WeChat mini-game ecosystem evolves and more Chinese mini-game developers go global making mini-games a key focus for major platforms.

Some of the recommendations from Solar Engine include:

• More high impact storytelling and premium creatives for advertising to drive better engagement.
• Using data to scale up, including real-time performance metrics and insights to adjust targeting and budget distribution.
• A multichannel strategy that leverages Tencent Ads, Ocean Engine, and other platforms to maximise reach.

A good example of this approach in action can be seen in the adoption of Whiteout: Survival developed by China-based Century Games on WeChat after a strong international launch.

The developer increased ad creatives 30x from September to mid-October with ads running across multiple platforms including Tencent Ads, complemented by Ocean Engine (Douyin), Kuaishou (Magnetic Engine), Weibo Ads, and Bilibili.

Besides games, other categories that are seeing an uptick in advertising on WeChat include life services and shopping. While considering the overall mobile app market in China, the short drama sub-genre has witnessed the most growth and fierce competition, rising from 100,000 ad creatives a month at the start of 2024, to four times that number by the end of the year.