Brief:

• The Major League Baseball Players Association, the collective bargaining representative for professional baseball players, is adding playable ads insides its own Infield Chatter app through an expanded partnership with instant win app Lucktastic , according to a press release provided to Mobile Marketer. 
• The MLBPA is the first partner to take advantage of Luckstatics' new  Play and Win Ad Suite for Consumer Branded Content, a playable ad platform, enbabling users of the Infield Chatter app to win autographed merchandise from some of their favorite players. 
• "With the new Lucktastic ad suite targeted at consumer branded content, we get to keep users in-app and engaged with our content while offering awesome promotions and giveaways that our users are looking for," said Scott Booth, president of Honeycomb, the developers of Infield Chatter, in a statement. 

Insight:

App monetization has been an ongoing struggle for app developers, and rewards-based apps and playable ads may a solution. One problem highlighted by Honeycomb's president is that in-app purchases are no longer enough to cover the cost of user acquisition in a competitive landscape where developers have to invest heavily to convince consumers to download an app. Existing ad solutions often take users out of app, but the Luckstatistic playable ad is appealing because users stay in the app and engaged with content while being able to access promotions and giveaways. 

Marketers have been increasingly looking at gamification as a way to encourage engagement with their promotions. Apparel brand Hollister uses mobile game-based ads with skateboarding and surfing themes that are holding players’ attention for almost a minute. Players can sign up for the brand’s loyalty program or receive a discount code through the ad and get directed right to the brand’s website. Chipotle Mexican Grill and Avocados from Mexico teamed up around the 2017 Super Bowl to offer a mobile game, called “Cado Crusher,” where players collected ingredients to make guacamole and received coupons for free chips and guacamole with an entrée purchase.

An AdColony survey found that marketers are starting to realize the benefits of playable ads, with 71% admitting to their effectiveness, VentureBeat reported. Google has also released a playable ads tool for developers to encourage their use as a revenue driver.

Along with the Major League Baseball Players Association, Lucktastic also recently licensed Hasbro’s MONOPOLY for contests with weekly giveaways of up to $250,000.