Why playables?
Your creative dies in under a week.Here's where the budget goes next.
Not opinion — the data UA and creative teams are already buying into. Sourced stats first, then the reasoning, then the questions we get asked on every call.
The data
The numbers behind the shift
<5 days
Effective creative lifespan
in mature markets, before performance decays
Game Growth Advisor, May 2026
84,000+
Mobile advertisers
competing in the same auction every month
SocialPeta, 2026
~13.3%
of all impressions
are now playable ads
Sett.ai, Q4 2025
~56%
of top-performing creatives
are playable, not static or video
Sett.ai, Q4 2025
8×–16×
impression-to-install lift
vs. non-playable formats (8× for top-spending game advertisers, 16× for everyone else)
Liftoff, 2025 Mobile Ad Creative Index
These are industry figures, not our own results — we're honest about that distinction everywhere on this site. See our live demos for what we can actually show you.
The reasoning
Why playables outperform passive formats
The ad is the product, not a pitch for it
A playable hands someone the same core loop they’ll meet in the tutorial. Whoever installs after that has already decided they like the game — that’s a self-selected user, not a cold click off a video they scrolled past.
Interaction beats interruption
A video is something to scroll past. A playable asks for one tap, and that tap is a moment of real attention a passive unit can’t buy at any price.
No bait-and-switch, no policy risk
Apple, Google, Meta and TikTok have all tightened enforcement against ads showing gameplay the app doesn’t contain. Building from the real game isn’t just honest — it’s the only version of this that stays compliant as enforcement gets stricter.
Speak the language
What a good IPM actually looks like
IPM — installs per thousand impressions — is what the industry actually screens on. Unlike CTR, it can't be gamed by an accidental tap or a fake close button.
| < 4 | Weak |
| 6 – 9 | Average |
| > 12 | Strong |
playablemaker.com, Apr 2026. Ask any vendor for their IPM broken out by genre — a blended average across everything they've ever built tells you nothing about your game.
FAQ
Questions we get on every call
What is a playable ad? + –
A short, interactive ad unit that lets someone play a slice of a game — usually one mechanic or a tutorial-style loop — inside the ad itself, before they install. It’s the interactive alternative to a static image or a passive video creative.
How much better do playable ads convert than video or static creative? + –
Per Liftoff’s 2025 Mobile Ad Creative Index, playables convert impressions to installs at 8× the rate of non-playable formats for top-spending game advertisers, and 16× for everyone else. That’s an industry figure, not a guarantee for any specific game — genre, hook design and network all move the number.
Why is my creative burning out so fast? + –
Effective creative lifespan in mature markets has fallen to under ~5 days (Game Growth Advisor, May 2026), and more than 84,000 mobile advertisers compete in the same auction every month. Passive formats fatigue fast because the audience has seen the same hook a hundred times — that’s the whole case for a format that gives them something to do instead of something to watch.
What’s a good IPM for a playable ad? + –
Under 4 installs per mille reads as weak, 6–9 is average, and above 12 is strong (playablemaker.com, Apr 2026). Ask any vendor for their IPM by genre, not just a blended average across everything they’ve built.
Should I judge a playable by its CTR? + –
No. CTR is trivially inflated by accidental taps and fake close-button tricks, and the industry treats a CTR-first pitch as a red flag, not a selling point. Judge on IPM, CPI and post-install retention together.
Are playable ads worth it for every game genre? + –
The format is genre-agnostic in principle, but the proof isn’t — a puzzle mechanic doesn’t tell you how a merge game’s playable will perform. That’s why genre-relevant demos, not a generic showreel, are what’s worth screening a vendor on before you brief them.
Convinced? The next question is whether we can build it for your genre.
See genre-relevant, tappable demos before you brief anyone.