Triumph Arcade
Driving 85% higher ROAS using TikTok Playables and Smart+ VBO campaigns
The objective
Improving ROAS through interactive ad formats
Triumph Arcade is a reward-based gaming platform where players challenge each other in skill-based mini-games for the chance to win real cash prizes. Operating on iOS in the North American market, the brand focuses on delivering engaging gameplay experiences that combine entertainment with tangible rewards.
As Triumph Arcade continued to scale its app, the team aimed to drive installs more efficiently while improving return on ad spend (ROAS). Their objective was to attract high-quality users who would actively engage with gameplay and convert into long-term players, while maintaining strict performance benchmarks.
The solution
Leveraging TikTok Playables and Smart+ automation to improve ROAS
To achieve its performance goals, Triumph Arcade launched a Smart+ app promotion campaign for iOS using TikTok's latest interactive ad format, TikTok Playables. Playables allow users to experience a short preview of the game directly within the ad placement, helping them better understand the gameplay before installing the app.
The campaign ran consistently over a seven-day period, following TikTok best practices for daily budget pacing and creative minimums. This ensured stable delivery and sufficient data for optimization while maximizing the benefits of the new Playables format.
Triumph Arcade paired Playables with Highest Value, a bidding strategy for Value-Based Optimization, enabling TikTok's AI-powered Smart+ system to prioritize users most likely to generate higher value after install. By combining interactive creatives with automated optimization, the campaign balanced both engagement and efficiency.
The creative strategy focused on showcasing real gameplay from Triumph Arcade's skill-based mini-games and emphasizing the opportunity to compete for real cash prizes. The Playables format allowed users to directly interact with the game environment, creating a more immersive and authentic introduction to the product than passive video viewing alone.
Rather than relying on complex manual targeting, Triumph Arcade leveraged Smart+ automation to identify and scale the most responsive audiences within the North American iOS gaming market. This streamlined execution allowed the brand to focus on creative testing and performance learnings instead of manual bid and audience adjustments.
This combination of Playables, Smart+ automation, and value-based optimization created a new, scalable framework for Triumph Arcade's user acquisition strategy.
The results
Higher ROAS through interactive and immersive ad experiences
According to Triumph Arcade's internal performance data from November 2025, the brand achieved significantly stronger performance with TikTok Playables compared to traditional video-only formats. The campaign delivered 85% higher Day-0 ROAS and 80% higher Day-7 ROAS, demonstrating the effectiveness of interactive ads in driving higher-quality installs and stronger early monetization.
Beyond the performance uplift, the campaign introduced a new creative avenue for Triumph Arcade, allowing the brand to engage users with its product directly in-market. The success of Playables enabled Triumph Arcade to scale winning creatives into evergreen campaigns and establish a more efficient and repeatable growth strategy using Smart+ automation.
Encouraged by these results, Triumph Arcade plans to continue investing in TikTok Playables and Smart+ campaigns as a core part of its ongoing app promotion strategy.
Getting Playables deployed on TikTok was a major unlock as a new avenue of creative, allowing us to continue scaling our brand and engage users with our product in market. TikTok made it easy to upload, deploy, and scale winners through testing into our evergreen campaigns.