Audience modeling pushed one game developer 36% past its retention goal and 18% past its ROAS target

The challenge

A major mobile game developer was scaling fast but install volume alone wasn't going to get them there. More than 90% of the game's revenue came from ads, which made retention the real performance metric. 

The developer had set ambitious targets: ROAS goals nearly three times higher than typical gaming benchmarks, and a specific Day 7 retention goal that required finding players genuinely likely to stick around.

The solution

Fluent launched a broad rewarded Offerwall campaign to establish performance signals before narrowing targeting. Rather than over-optimizing upfront, the team used early data to identify which traffic sources, audience segments, and behavioral patterns were producing the strongest downstream results.

The client shared demographic data about their existing player base. Fluent combined that with its own first-party consumer insights and a custom survey to understand which users preferred which types of games. From there, Fluent built a Most Valuable Customer profile, a custom audience model designed to prioritize players more likely to stay engaged, keep playing, and support monetization past the install.
As the model sharpened, Fluent moved from broad testing into focused optimization, right-pricing audiences based on quality and efficiency. Performance improved. The partnership grew.

Why it worked

Audience modeling made the difference between install volume and install quality. Rewarded Offerwall users were already open to discovering apps (making them a natural fit for mobile gaming). A direct client relationship gave both teams room to share data and scale what was working into six concurrent campaigns across new markets and titles.

The result

The campaign acquired more than 260,000 new users, delivered 136% of the Day 7 retention goal, and hit 118% of the Day 0 ROAS target. What started as a single campaign grew into six concurrent campaigns, each built around custom audience segments tailored to specific titles and markets.