Maximise Q5 Performance: Unlocking the Value of Q5 Marketing for Mobile Game Developers

It’s well known that the holiday season is an important time for marketers and businesses of all sizes, but what people may not know is that the opportunity doesn’t end when the holidays do. The period from late December to mid-January, known as the fifth quarter or Q5, provides a cost-effective marketing opportunity for mobile game developers.

In this article, we’ll take you through some of the key gaming trends that we have seen during this period in previous years, alongside guidance on the ways in which Meta can support your business to maximise performance during this period.

Why Q5?

There are a number of factors that combine to create the Q5 opportunity, which enables advertisers to accelerate performance into the new year.

First, during Q5, there is typically less competition in the auction as larger brands have left and shipping deadlines have passed.

Based on our internal data, CPAs were below pre-Cyber 5 levels, making it a strong environment to capture last-minute conversions heading into the new year. CPMs fell to their lowest levels of the season, creating an opportunity for advertisers to drive increased performance. Cyber 5 refers to the five-day stretch from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, including Black Friday, when major holiday shopping and online sales occur.

Gaming businesses are not bound by shipping cutoff/restrictions approaching the holidays, so when CPMs stabilize, it creates opportunities for a final end-of-year push.

Second, purchase intent remains high across this period, with many people eager to spend gift cards or cash gifts received during the holidays.

Third, time spent across Meta’s platforms tends to increase during Q5, meaning there are greater opportunities for your business to engage with your audience.

Finally, mobile usage typically peaks as people spend more time at home, making it an ideal moment to reach users where they are most active.

What Trends Are We Seeing In Gaming?

To explore the potential for gaming advertisers during the Q5 period, Meta partnered with AppsFlyer, the global leader in marketing measurement, attribution, and data analytics, to better understand the potential for gaming advertisers across the Q5 period.

There are 4 key takeaways that emerged from our analysis:

1. Q5 Surge in Ad Spend: Gaming Clients Capitalise on Seasonal Trends

Western markets are experiencing a significant increase in investments during Q5, with clients ramping up spend to capitalize on robust market dynamics and the expanding player base.

2. Q5 in APAC Is Driven by Cultural and Seasonal Celebrations

In Western markets, the Christmas and New Year holidays are the most impactful. In APAC, however, developers should pay attention to and take advantage of local holidays. For example, Shōgatsu (New Year) in Japan and Lunar New Year in Greater China, as well as other countries where it is widely celebrated. While paid installs during Q5 remain quite strong in APAC, peak periods are different compared to markets like the US, UK, or DE.

3. Seasonal Revenue Trends: IAA vs IAP

Analysis of revenue trends across the top 100 games last year revealed distinct timing patterns for IAA and IAP revenue during the holiday season. IAA revenue demonstrates a clear pattern of starting to increase in early November, hitting peaks around Black Friday, then experiencing another opportunity during Q5 (December 25 - January 1). Meanwhile IAP follows the expected Q5 dynamics and picks up closer to mid-December.

The timing differences between IAA and IAP revenue during Q5 create significant strategic opportunities for mobile game developers. Understanding these patterns enables more effective resource allocation and campaign planning.

4. The Retargeting Opportunity

We also analyzed retargeting conversions to understand how top gaming apps approached this strategy last year. We observed an upward trend starting in early October across both iOS (Casual and Casino games) and Android (Casual and Midcore genres). Consider including retargeting as part of your Q5 business-as-usual activities. If retargeting is new for you, experiment and gather insights to inform future campaigns.

How Meta Can Help You Maximise The Q5 Opportunity

There are four key areas that advertisers need to keep in mind as they look to capitalise on the Q5 period and accelerate momentum into the new year.

1. Taking advantage of seasonal efficiencies

Plan your campaigns early: It's important to start planning your holiday campaigns well in advance of the season. This will give you time to develop a strategy, create content, and set up your campaigns effectively.
Be flexible with your budget: While it's important to have a budget in place for your campaigns, it's also important to be flexible with that budget as the season progresses. Be prepared to adjust your spending in response to performance and changing market conditions.
Let auction trends guide your planning: As mentioned above, the period from late December to mid-January, known as the fifth quarter (Q5), offers a cost-effective marketing opportunity for businesses. By planning for Q5 campaigns, you can take advantage of lower media costs and continued demand to close the current year strong and start the new year on a high note.

2. Drive and Meet Demand With Automation

Be sure Advantage+ is turned on, to apply our most advanced AI optimisations for the best performance this holiday season. Utilise Advantage+ app campaigns, which offer a powerful way to reach potential customers and drive conversions. By using machine learning algorithms, these campaigns can optimize your ad targeting and bidding in real time, helping you reach the right people at the right time.
Use automation features: Automation features like budget scheduling and ad scheduling can help you streamline your campaign management and ensure that your ads are delivered at the most effective times. By automating these tasks, you can free up more time to focus on other aspects of your campaign.
Include 50 differentiated creative ads: Having a diverse range of creative ads can help you reach different segments of your target audience and drive better results. By including 50 differentiated creative ads in your campaign, you can test different approaches and see which ones perform best, ultimately driving the best incremental return on ad spend (ROAS).

3. Build seasonally relevant creative

Utilise a Mix of Concepts/Formats: It's important to have a diverse range of messaging and creative formats in your holiday campaigns to appeal to different segments of your target audience. By using a mix of concepts and formats that speak to the season and diverse motivations of players, you can create a more engaging and effective campaign.
Consider Using Generative AI: Generative AI can be a powerful tool for creating diverse and engaging creative assets at scale. By using generative AI to create multiple variations of your holiday creative, you can test different approaches and see which ones perform best, ultimately driving better results.
Use Partnership Ads: When partnering with creators, it's important to use Partnership Ads to ensure that your campaigns are compliant with platform policies. Additionally, incorporating native gaming sounds into your Reels videos can help create a more immersive and engaging experience for viewers, ultimately driving better results.

4. Find high-value users

Leverage Our Value Tools: Maximise your campaign performance by leveraging new value tools that help guide AI to identify what matters most to your business. Value Rules empower you to assign different values to specific audiences, ensuring your budget is focused on what drives the greatest impact for your goals. Alongside this, Value Optimisation allows you to choose whether to optimize for the value of in-app purchases or in-app ad impressions - depending on your priorities.
Utilise Custom Product Pages (CPPs) and Custom Store Listings to deliver a personalised, consistent experience by aligning your top seasonal creatives with your most relevant audiences. Creating seasonally tailored store pages for your best-performing creatives helps build more engaging and effective campaigns that speaks to the holiday season.
Test web-to-app strategies for app campaigns, using interactive landing pages to increase conversion rates and support enhanced measurement and reporting.

For more information and additional insights on how you can capitalise on the Q5 Opportunity, check out our Q5 guide here or our webinar session here.

Best Practice

13th October 2025