Review Cracking the Indian iGaming Market: SmartCPM Campaign Drives High-Value FTDs

[Clickadu Denis]

This case study showcases how Clickadu enabled a successful iGaming campaign targeting India, delivering strong user acquisition performance and surpassing key advertiser KPIs. Leveraging smart ad formats, strategic targeting, and continuous optimization, the campaign achieved remarkable efficiency and established a replicable framework for future GEO expansion.

Campaign Goals

• GEO: India
  
• KPIs:
  
  
  • Registration: $1
    
  • FTD (First-Time Deposit): $40.00

Campaign Setup
Ad Format: Onclick (Popunder)
Pricing Model: smartCPM
Initial Bid: $0.13 → Increased to $0.19 over time due to competition
Device Targeting: Android only
Exclusions: Older OS versions blacklisted
Frequency Cap: 1/24 (1 impression per user per 24 hours)

Optimization Strategy
From the start, the campaign was designed with precision targeting and efficiency in mind:

• Unique Audience Targeting:
  A key feature utilized was targeting users who hadn’t been exposed to ads previously during this session. This allowed the campaign to focus on "fresh" users — those less saturated with competitor messaging and therefore statistically more likely to engage and convert.
  
• Source-Level Optimization:
  Weekly postback reviews enabled data-driven refinement. Underperforming sources were excluded, while high-converting zones were scaled through smart bid increases.
  
• Geographic Optimization Within India:
  Despite running under one GEO, user behavior in India varies significantly by region. Certain states — based on language, mobile usage habits, and digital payment adoption — showed better FTD rates. Campaign delivery was gradually biased toward top-performing regions, helping to reduce average CPA without cutting volume.
• Scalable Daily Spend:

With these settings, the campaign maintained a healthy daily spend volume in the range of $1,000–$1,500/day, providing a reliable baseline for testing, scaling, and long-term forecasting.

• Incremental Bid Scaling:
  As the campaign gained traction, competitive bids were increased in high-potential segments to maintain delivery volume and stay ahead of seasonal traffic spikes.
  

Creatives & Content

• Mobile-first landing pages, localized for Indian audiences
  
• Visuals featured culturally relevant elements (e.g. cricket themes, rupee icons)
  
• Messaging emphasized ease of registration, instant play, and generous welcome bonuses
  
• Copy used a mix of English and Hindi to improve CTRs across different audience segments
  

Performance Metrics
Period: March 1 – March 31, 2025
Average FTD: $37.39

Avg. Cost per Registration: $0.82

Spend: $34,670

Results
The campaign exceeded expectations in a price-sensitive and competitive GEO. Strong postback integration enabled quick iteration and allowed the team to adapt to market signals in real-time. Despite rising bid rates, smart source curation and localized creatives maintained performance and scale.

The advertiser was highly satisfied with the quality of leads and conversion rates, leading to discussions around scaling spend and expanding to adjacent GEOs.

Key Takeaways

• SmartCPM Efficiency: Performance held steady even as rates increased, thanks to precise targeting and traffic controls.
  
• Fresh User Focus: Targeting untouched audiences yielded higher engagement and stronger conversion behavior.
  
• Localized Strategy: Region-specific creative and state-level traffic allocation improved FTD rates.
  
• Scalability: Campaign design is replicable across similar Tier-2 GEOs with cost-sensitive user behavior.
  

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