Customers /
Starberry
Results are in!
We’ve been quietly validating the impact of Metica’s hybrid monetization strategies for a while now…and we’re beyond excited to finally share these groundbreaking results. Huge thanks to Starberry for trusting us and allowing us to share their story. This is exactly the kind of impact we aim to deliver for all our clients. That’s what we are seeing… And it’s just the beginning.
The Impact at a Glance
“By intelligently balancing Rewarded Video Ads and IAP offers, Metica helped Starberry achieve a massive +36% increase in IAP revenue and an overall +18% revenue uplift (with 95% confidence interval) in their flagship hybrid-monetized title, Merge Mayor.”
The Challenge: Cracking Blended ROAS
Starberry wanted to scale Merge Mayor’s blended ROAS campaigns on AppLovin—but first, they needed stronger early IAP signals. The challenge? Increasing the share of revenue coming from IAPs within players' first 7 days, crucial for feeding AppLovin’s algorithms and driving long-term profitable growth.
Starberry identified two key opportunities:
Unlocking AppLovin’s full potential by making blended ROAS campaigns more efficient through higher early IAP signal density.
Capitalizing on Merge Mayor’s long-term LTV potential, since players who primarily monetized via IAP showed significantly stronger mid- and long-term value compared to those balancing IAPs and Ads.
Our Thesis To Solve This Was Clear
By personalizing in real-time which Rewarded Video placements were available during each game session, they could boost early IAP conversion rates while minimizing any potential losses in ad monetization revenue.
How We Made it Happen
To validate this strategy, Starberry leveraged Metica’s platform to run a contextual multi-armed bandit experiment. Our personalization engine dynamically optimized the availability of Rewarded Video ad placements for every individual player, balancing ad revenue against early IAP monetization signals. Using Metica’s hybrid, weighted metric optimization model, Starberry dynamically adjusted these ad placements based on real-time, player-level behavioral data—allowing them to intelligently trade-off ad monetization to drive meaningful uplift in IAP revenue.
The results!
The numbers speak for themselves +36% increase in IAP revenue and an overall +18% revenue uplift. But it’s not just about the numbers, it’s the consistency.
Personalized groups show clear and sustained uplift in early IAP revenue and conversions, significantly outpacing control groups—even after factoring in reduced ad revenue. Crucially, this revenue uplift persists over time, validating Metica’s approach to hybrid monetization optimization.
Hear It From Straight From Starberry
“Working with the Metica team has been a smooth and focused collaboration. Despite the inherent complexity of hybrid monetization in today’s market, Metica's approach has been structured, thoughtful, and highly impactful. It’s still early days, but we’re already seeing impressive improvements in both IAP and overall revenue, prompting us to quickly expand our partnership into additional use cases. Metica truly understands our challenges and adapts rapidly, making them a key partner in our growth.”
— Antti, Co-Founder, Starberry
“Metica has been a thoughtful and proactive partner from the outset. They deeply understand the nuances of our game economy and use a data-driven approach to optimize our hybrid monetization strategy. The initial results have been extremely promising—we’re seeing clear uplifts in IAP and overall monetization metrics. Metica’s commitment to deeply engaging with our team and quickly iterating based on data-driven insights has made a real difference.”
— Krishna, Game Lead, Starberry
Thank you, Starberry!
We're incredibly grateful to Starberry for trusting Metica to help unlock the full potential of Merge Mayor’s monetization. These results reinforce why we built Metica—to empower game studios to leverage their data in real-time, personalizing player experiences and significantly enhancing monetization outcomes.
The Starberry collaboration clearly demonstrates that the right combination of strategic monetization and machine learning-driven personalization can dramatically boost revenue. It’s not about choosing between IAP and ads; it's about intelligently balancing both to maximize player value and profitability.
We’re just scratching the surface. The powerful results from this case study highlight what’s possible with Metica’s hybrid monetization optimization model. We're excited to continue evolving our platform, partnering with innovative studios like Starberry, and sharing more impactful stories soon. Stay tuned for what's next!
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