Google highlights Brazilian publisher's AdMob success story

After advertising to all and sundry the benefits many of the 50,000 publishers on board are deriving from its AdMob service, Google has highlighted one particular case to complete the sales pitch.

Brazilian startup Best Cool & Fun Games is by its own reckoning “the #1 mobile gaming company in Latin America”, its 30 releases played by 10 million gamers worldwide.

Since Best Cool & Fun Games switched up its strategy – moving from the 99c price point to the freemium model – in summer 2010, the results have been overwhelming.

A free version of its iPhone game Ant Smasher marked the publisher’s first foray into the AdMob network, becoming in the process its most popular title by far.

Both the iOS and Android versions have featured in their respective app stores’ Top 100 listings for a concerted period, with the ant squishing antics on-track to generate $2 million in annual revenue.

Because 80 percent of that return will have been raised purely from the AdMob ads, Best Cool & Fun Games has adopted the free, ad-supported policy across its catalogue, utilising cross-promotion to notable effect.

One in three users who saw the Ant Smasher ad on the AdMob platform downloaded the free version, a clear validation of Best Cool & Fun Games’s strategic shift last year.

As for the future, the Brazilian publisher will begin rolling out virtual goods in its games soon, while it seeks investment from venture funding.

[source: VentureBeat]