Evaluating brand lift in gaming campaigns

A gaming brand-lift result compares a defined brand response among people exposed to a campaign with a suitable group eligible for exposure but not shown the ads. Before using the difference to guide spend, check the question, group design, inventory covered and uncertainty. A positive number alone is not a complete finding.

Key Elements to Evaluate in a Gaming Brand-Lift Study

Choose the brand question first

Brand lift may concern ad recall, awareness, consideration or another stated attitude. Choose a measure that follows the campaign's message and keep the primary question fixed when reviewing results.

A brand-lift study may use an ad or brand-effectiveness survey, but availability depends on the provider and study setup. Before booking, ask whether the proposed games, devices, placements and Australian audience can be included. A platform offering Brand Lift generally does not establish eligibility for a particular game placement or product category.

Assess the comparison

A useful study draws exposed and control respondents from comparable eligible populations and asks the same question in the same way. Random assignment where feasible helps reduce the risk that existing differences explain the result. If one group holds only players who chose a rewarded ad and the other holds unrelated players, prior differences may affect the comparison.

Ask the provider to document eligibility, exposure identification, survey timing, response counts, group balance and any weighting. Check whether respondents could have seen the brand through other campaign channels and whether one person could enter both groups. A vendor may not resolve every identity or exposure gap; the study should state what it can observe.

Read the lift precisely

Absolute lift is the difference between positive response rates, expressed in percentage points. If an illustrative control group has a 30% positive rate and an exposed group 35%, the absolute difference is 5 percentage points. Relative lift divides that difference by the control rate; here it is about 16.7%.

These figures are arithmetic examples, not campaign findings. State which measure a report uses.

Review response counts and the uncertainty interval or other reliability measure the study provides. A positive point estimate with wide uncertainty may be too weak for a large spending change.

Insufficient data, or no lift detected under a platform's method, does not prove that the campaign had zero effect. An Australian, game-level or placement-level slice can contain far fewer respondents than the full study.

Tie the result to the media studied

Match the study period to the delivery report. Check which inventory and creative versions were included, how exposure was identified and what share of delivered media lay outside measurement. If one result pools intrinsic, rewarded and interstitial ads, it describes the measured mix; it does not isolate a winning format.

Report lift alongside reach and viewable delivery where available, while keeping their meanings separate. Viewability is an opportunity to see. Survey lift is a difference in stated response under the study design.

Neither alone establishes a purchase. Record material coverage and group-design limits next to the figure used for the decision.

Steps to Validate a Gaming Campaign’s Brand-Lift Result