Top 10 Mobile Games with Largest Influencer Marketing Budgets

If you have a question about influencer marketing, it should be “How much do I need to spend on influencers?” and not “Does it work?” Yes, it does, and marketers all over the world acknowledge and confirm it: the influencer marketing industry has doubled since 2020, and even more. In 2020, it was estimated at a record 6 billion dollars. In 2021 the number has reached 13.8 billion dollars. It only tends to grow, and game developers and publishers are among those who understand the value of influencer marketing very well.

Look at the top 10 game apps advertised with influencers in 2021. Analytics from BuzzGuru influencer marketing intelligence reported the mobile games’ budgets of their influencer marketing campaigns to show you the scale and efficiency.

10. State of Survival

According to BuzzGuru, State of Survival spent almost 4.5 million dollars on influencer marketing only on YouTube in 2021. State of Survival is a mobile game for those who like to think strategically and/or want to play within a classical apocalyptic landscape. The game offers you a zombie apocalypse of quality and suggests building a new world as one of a few survivors. State of Survival got almost a thousand mentions on YouTube in 2021, and 916 of them were ad mentions. More than 280 YouTube influencers advertised the game on their channels.

9. Rise of Kingdoms

This is another strategic mobile game that is generous about influencer marketing. Rise of Kingdoms spent more than 5 million dollars on it. The game suggests 12 historical civilizations for you to choose and play for. Real-time battles are included for those who want to compete directly with other players. Rise of Kingdoms was mentioned for advertising almost 1900 times on YouTube by 221 influencers.

8. Basketball Arena

A sports game for mobile devices that suggests using not only usual basketball skills but also some special superpowers. It also allows playing against other users. Basketball Arena is notable as it spent more than 7.5 million dollars on YouTube influencers’ services in 2021, but chose to work with only 38 channels. It’s a very small amount, especially considering the budget volume.

7. Genshin Impact

A Chinese gacha adventure RPG that’s on the rise, Genshin Impact invites you to a fantasy world, introduces you to a bunch of characters, and suggests using some of them in the game. YouTube influencers got more than 8.1 million dollars from it. There were almost 1600 mentions of the game in 2021, and only 570 of them were ad ones. It’s less than 1/3 which is quite a large gap compared to the games mentioned above.

6. Call of Duty: Mobile

An action game, a shooter, a mobile spin-off of the famous and widely loved Call of Duty computer game. It was launched in 2019 and made a great fuss among gamers. The launch was even called “the largest in history”. In 2021, Call of Duty: Mobile spent almost 8.2 million dollars to pay YouTube creators. The BuzzGuru analytics tool shows 1303 ad mentions (out of 2107 mentions) on 284 channels for the game.

5. Monster Legends

An RPG that also requires strategic thinking. Monster Legends makes its players Monster Masters, wizarding tamers who can collect and build magical creatures for fighting and participating in different in-game events. The game’s budget volume for influencer marketing on YouTube was more than 9.1 million dollars in 2021. 159 YouTube channels posted 815 videos with Monster Legends advertising.

4. PUBG Mobile

A widely known and loved Battle Royale game. In 2021, PUBG Mobile overcame the milestone of 1 billion downloads worldwide (excluding downloads from China). On YouTube, it got more than 4 thousand ad mentions (and more than 4.8 thousand mentions in all) on 499 channels. It cost the game more than 11.3 million dollars according to the BuzzGuru analytics tool, and due to that PUBG Mobile almost got to the top 3 on our list.

3. Dragon City

A surprisingly harmless and nonviolent game compared to other ones on the list, although it also has a PvP mode. Dragon City is a simulation that suggests building a city and making it convenient for the dragons you can summon, collect, and level up. The game’s budget for influencer marketing on YouTube over the 2021 year was over 12.2 million dollars, which brought Dragon City 291 ad mentions (1186 mentions in all) on 287 channels and the third place on our list.

2. Free Fire

This is another Battle Royale game that surpassed PUBG Mobile in the US in terms of revenues in the first quarter of 2021. Free Fire generated 100 million dollars while PUBG Mobile generated 68 million. Also Free Fire got ahead of its main competitor on our list; it spent more than 13 million dollars on influencer marketing. 494 YouTubers made 2662 ad videos for the game (the overall number of mentions overcame 6.2 thousand).

1. RAID: Shadow Legends

Our unrivaled champion! Let’s talk about numbers first. RAID’s budget for YouTube influencers in 2021 was 18.7 million dollars. 7475 mentions (6364 of which were advertisements) were made on 2130 YouTube channels. It’s an absolute record according to BuzzGuru. RAID: Shadow Legends combines role-play and gacha. Its setting is a fantasy one – seems that gamers were especially fascinated with fantasy worlds in 2021.

This report was brought to you by analytics from BuzzGuru platform. The marketing intelligence allows to research influencer budgets and content creators of any company, as well as plan influencer campaigns wisely.