📈​🤌 Why studios now spend 40% on Rewarded UA?

Rewarded user acquisition and offer walls are suddenly becoming a major part of mobile game UA strategy.In this episode of Two and a Half Gamers, Matej and Felix talk with Max from MAF about how rewarded UA evolved from a questionable growth hack into a legitimate acquisition channel.Studios are now allocating 30–40% of their UA budgets to rewarded channels, and some games are scaling them even more aggressively.The conversation covers ROI timelines, retention dynamics, monetization setups, genre fit, and how rewarded playtime models are changing the economics of offer walls.If you’re running UA in 2026, ignoring rewarded UA might be a very expensive mistake. 🧠 Key Takeaways• Rewarded UA budgets now reach 30–40% of total spend• Playtime rewards outperform install rewards• Rewarded channels can reach break-even 2–3x faster than traditional UA• Strategy, merge and social casino games scale best• Offer walls can add 5–15% monetization uplift inside games• Playtime rewards help build player habits over 60–90 days• Offer walls are shifting from monetization tools to loyalty and engagement systems---------------------------------------This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric⁠Special guest: Massimo Carolihttps://www.linkedin.com/in/massimocaroli/https://maf.ad/Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-2um8eguhf-c~H9idcxM271mnPzdWbipgChapters00:00 Rewarded UA Strategy Question01:18 Podcast Intro01:50 Max From MAF Introduction03:20 What Rewarded UA Actually Is04:00 Why Studios Are Investing In It05:20 Privacy Changes And UA Diversification06:40 Economic Trends In Rewarded Apps07:46 Why Offer Walls Had A Bad Reputation09:05 The Shift To Playtime Rewards10:00 Monetization And Game Economy Challenges11:00 Airline Loyalty Case Study13:00 Rewarded Playtime On iOS15:00 Why Playtime Rewards Work Better16:00 ROI Comparison vs Traditional UA18:00 Building Player Habits19:30 Monetization Setup For Rewarded UA21:00 Best Genres For Offer Walls23:00 Games That Should Avoid Offer Walls24:30 Offer Wall Monetization Benchmarks26:00 When Studios Should Implement Offer Walls28:00 Case Study: TapNation ROI Results30:00 How To Launch Rewarded UA32:00 Scaling Across Multiple Offer Wall Networks34:00 LiveOps Events & Super Bowl Tournament36:30 Future Of Offer Walls & Loyalty Systems39:30 DSPs And Offer Wall Aggregation---------------------------------------Matej LancaricUser Acquisition & Creatives Consultant⁠https://lancaric.meFelix BrabergAd monetization consultant⁠https://www.felixbraberg.comJakub RemiarGame design consultant⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar---------------------------------------Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple!Please share feedback and comments - [email protected] you are interested in getting UA tips every week on Monday, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lancaric.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & sign up for the Brutally Honest newsletter by Matej LancaricDo you have UA questions nobody can answer? Ask ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matej AI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - the First UA AI in the gaming industry! https://lancaric.me/matej-ai