Designing for the Rewarded Pathway: Why Product Teams are Critical to Ad Strategy

In Part 2 of our deep dive into the world of rewarded ads, we move beyond the basics to explore how studios can master long-term campaign success through advanced technology and integrated design. Industry experts Zino Rost van Tonningen, CEO at TyrAds and Arseny Lebedev, Co-Founder & CEO at Original Games return to discuss why the "final boss" of monetization is the seamless merger of live ops and rewarded environments.This episode covers the transition from simple metrics like early ROAS to a holistic view of user engagement and retention. Learn how AI-driven hyper-segmentation is becoming the only way to scale personalization, why monetization must be a core pillar of game design from day one, and how to avoid the pitfalls of over-optimizing too early. We conclude with a rapid-fire round of expert advice on what studios should start, stop, and watch in the coming year.Chapters:00:00 - Integrating Monetization into Game Design03:41 - Measuring Beyond ROAS: The Importance of Early Engagement07:48 - Growing the Baseline: Strategies for High-Value and Middle Segments11:06 - The Dangers of Over-Optimization and Breaking Player Trust14:01 - Troubleshooting Campaign Exhaustion and Event Setup15:51 - AI and Hyper-Segmentation: The Future of Rewarded Ads19:37 - The "Final Boss": Merging Live Ops with Rewarded Environments21:31 - Rapid Fire: Expert Tips for Studios in 202624:20 - Personal Favorites: Runescape, Doom, and Subnautica 2Let's Connect👉🏻 X - https://x.com/pgbiz 👉🏻 LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/pocketgamer-biz/?originalSubdomain=uk 👉🏻 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PGbiz👉🏻 Website - https://www.pocketgamer.biz Check out more world-class speakers sharing their insights and expertise at one of our events. You can find details of our next event here - https://www.pgconnects.com/next-event