Extra Dimension Games

The Objective

Expanding user base and boosting in-app purchases on TikTok

Extra Dimension Games, a forward-thinking gaming publisher based in Canada, developed the popular title Starbrew Café, a relaxing merge game where players restore a café and serve coffee to customers.

The game’s in-app purchase model encourages players to buy gems to speed up progress and expand their café’s offerings.Seeking to boost user acquisition and increase in-app purchases for Starbrew Café, Extra Dimension Games turned to TikTok with clear goals: to drive higher purchase rates, lower cost per install (CPI), and enhance the overall quality of installs.

By expanding their user base, they aimed to foster greater engagement and retention, ultimately building a more sustainable and loyal player community.

The Solution

Implementing Smart+ for enhanced performance

Extra Dimension Games began their TikTok journey with Mobile App Install (MAI) campaigns, later enhanced by App Event Optimization (AEO), achieving strong and consistent results. To diversify their creative mix, they incorporated TikTok’s Creative Challenge (TTCC, now available in TikTok One), leveraging a combination of TTCC-produced assets and their own gameplay creatives.

To enhance performance, Extra Dimension Games opted to try TikTok’s Smart+ solution. TikTok Smart+ is AI-powered performance solution designed to maximize returns by automating campaign management. Smart+ campaigns deliver high performance, operational efficiency, and reduce creative fatigue and costs by automating how creatives are shown to the audience.

To further optimize performance, the team followed best practices by enabling auto-placement, allowing the TikTok system to explore and scale rather than selecting specific placements, and by setting a cost cap based on historical CPI benchmarks.

Extra Dimension Games tested Smart+ on Android across the UK, Australia, and Canada, strategically targeting these Tier 1 markets to attract quality users alongside their strong US base.

Results

Key performance gains with Smart+ - lower CPI, higher Engagement, and increased conversions

The campaign yielded impressive results within a 10-day test period, leading Extra Dimension Games to adopt Smart+ as an ongoing strategy.

Key metrics included a 24% decrease in cost per install (CPI); an 11% increase in click-through rate (CTR), reflecting enhanced ad engagement; and a 25% increase in conversion rate (CVR), significantly boosting purchase rates and meeting the publisher's key objectives.

These outcomes highlighted Smart+’s exceptional performance, solidifying Extra Dimension Games’ decision to integrate it as a core component of their strategy.