Is Your UA Channel Strategy Stuck in 2019? Here’s What’s Changed
- Fátima Castro Franco
- Sep 11
- 3 min read
Back in 2019, a user acquisition (UA) strategy was easy to sketch out. Paid social dominated the mix, ASO sat in the background, influencer campaigns were experimental, and rewarded ads were dismissed as “low-quality traffic.”
Fast forward to 2025, and that playbook is dangerously outdated. CPIs have skyrocketed, privacy regulations have reshaped targeting, and players interact with games across more fragmented ecosystems than ever.
The problem? Too many teams are still running UA channel strategies that look like it’s 2019.
Here’s what’s changed — and what the smartest growth teams are doing differently.
Paid Social Is No Longer the Center of Gravity
In 2019, Facebook and Instagram were the default UA engines. Today, CPIs on these platforms are among the highest in mobile marketing. ATT and Google Privacy Sandbox have made precise targeting unreliable, while creative fatigue drives down conversion rates.
Paid social still has reach, but it’s no longer the centerpiece of a UA strategy. Growth teams now treat it as one channel among many, not the entire foundation.
Rewarded UA Has Graduated From “Low Quality” to Retention Driver
Once dismissed as a cheap volume play, rewarded UA platforms now prove their worth in retention and LTV. Players acquired through rewarded offers often engage longer because the value exchange is transparent: they opted in, they got something meaningful, and they enter the game on a positive note.
Smart studios in 2025 are building rewarded directly into their UA channel mix — not as filler, but as a core driver of profitable cohorts.
Influencers Are No Longer “Experimental”
Influencer marketing was once considered risky and hard to measure. In 2025, it’s mainstream. TikTok creators, YouTube streamers, and micro-influencers drive trust-based discovery that traditional ads can’t match.
What’s changed is the infrastructure: attribution tools now make influencer ROI measurable, and platforms allow scalable campaigns across hundreds of creators.
Influencers aren’t an add-on anymore — they’re a channel in their own right.
Communities Have Become Channels
Back in 2019, Discord, Reddit, and WhatsApp groups were considered “organic.” In 2025, they’re critical owned channels that function like high-intent UA ecosystems.
Discord servers act as mini live-ops hubs.
Reddit threads amplify word-of-mouth.
Even closed WhatsApp groups drive viral loops in emerging markets.
Studios that treat communities as real channels — not just afterthoughts — are unlocking compounding retention and advocacy.
AI Targeting Has Redefined Optimization
Manual bid tweaking used to be a UA manager’s daily grind. Today, AI targeting has taken over campaign optimization. The key shift? AI isn’t just driving cheaper CPIs — it’s forecasting retention and LTV.
The best UA platforms now act as predictive engines, allocating spend to audiences and creatives that deliver profitable players months down the line.
Cross-Genre Discovery Is Unlocking New Audiences
In 2019, campaigns targeted players who already played your genre. Puzzle games targeted puzzle fans, RPGs targeted RPG lovers. But rewarded UA platforms and creative experimentation have changed that.
Now, campaigns bring players across genres — puzzle players discover RPGs, midcore players try casual titles — unlocking audiences you couldn’t have reached through classic targeting.
Cross-genre discovery is one of the biggest growth levers in 2025.
What a 2025 UA Channel Strategy Looks Like
A modern UA mix is broader, smarter, and retention-focused:
Rewarded UA platforms at the core, driving quality and retention.
Influencer marketing for authentic, trust-driven installs.
Community platforms treated as formal UA channels.
AI targeting powering predictive optimization across all spend.
Cross-genre campaigns opening new audiences.
Paid social — still important, but no longer the centerpiece.
The result is a strategy that isn’t chasing volume at any cost — it’s curating the right players for long-term growth.
Key Takeaway
If your UA channel strategy still looks like it did in 2019, you’re scaling spend, not value. The winners in 2025 are those who embrace rewarded UA, influencers, communities, AI targeting, and cross-genre discovery as core growth engines.
The funnel hasn’t just changed — the whole map has been redrawn.
Looking to boost your game's user acquisition?
Utilize a self-serve dashboard to easily and effectively enhance your UA efforts. These user-friendly dashboards give you complete control over your budget and offer extensive targeting options, making it a smart choice for elevating your game's reach.
Gamelight’s advertising platform is a leading mobile marketing solution equipped with an intuitive self-serve dashboard. Operating on a CPI basis, it drives direct traffic from a self-published mobile game recommendation platform. Moreover, you can set up your account and launch your first campaign in just 5 minutes!
If you need help, fill in THIS FORM and one of our team members will get back to you within 24 hours.