In October 2019, Fortnite surprised all of its players with a “shot-down”, re-emerging a couple days later from a black hole with a new look, a new map, and a new two-month season to earn Battle Pass rewards. Now, that season has been extended all the way until early February 2020, and the excitement for Fortnite was renewed. That’s why we present you the top 10 Fortnite content creators, right now on YouTube. Ranking criteria include like reach, engagement rate, and past influencer marketing campaign performances all of which is drawn from our GameInfluencer database.

10. I AM WILDCAT

Coming in at number 10, I AM WILDCAT, better known for his wheezing laugh and exploding rage, is definitely going to make you have a good time while showing you awesome victories.

9. mrfreshasian

“What´s up guys, yes”. This high-level Fortnite competitor with his positive and energetic persona has achieved an incredible growth and engagement rate in the last months.

8. Muselk

Coming in at number 8, Muselk with his gameplay! Funny moments and challenge videos created a dedicated and engaged fanbase for him.

7. Typical Gamer 

This YouTuber and competitive eSports gamer performs on a very high level. He could be higher on the list if he was focused solely on Fortnite, but he additionally plays a lot of GTA V and Call of Duty as well!

6. Tfue

He gained a lot of his popularity due to streaming on Twitch, where he has recorded several 30+ kill games. On his YouTube channel, you can find a mix of entertainment and high-level gameplay. He has more than 11 million subscribers.

5. LazarBeam

He grew from one million subscribers prior to the release of the game in September 2017 to 12 million subscribers in November 2019, becoming one of the most famous Fortnite players in the world. On his channel, you can find content ranging from Fortnite memes to ways to break the game.

4. Lachlan

Although he had previously been successful with Minecraft and Pokemon Go, it was on Fortnite where he gained so many subscribers (more than 12 million). Thanks to his huge reach and charismatic personality he has been able to play together with other Fortnite celebrities such as LazarBeam and Muselk

3. SSundee

If you are looking for high-class gameplays, as well as occasional entertainment videos, SSundee is the channel for you. Despite also being a famous Minecraft content creator, he has uploaded more Fortnite videos than he has ever done before, attracting more subscribers (almost 13 million!)

2. Ali-A

Second only to our top listed channel. Ali-A has one of the biggest reach and fastest growth rates of all with an outstanding 16.4 million subscribers

1. Ninja

At number one, Tyler Belvins a.k.a “Ninja”, is the most popular Fortnite streamer in the entire universe. The publishers of Fortnite have most recently attributed an in game cosmetic skin of Ninja himself. Before moving to Mixer, Ninja had over 16 million followers on Twitch, while also accumulating nearly over 23 million subscribers on YouTube. A legend of the gaming community!

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Advertising your game through influencer superstars will have an immense impact. But a lot of that impact can be very hard to measure, as it happens aloof of tracking links and promotion codes. However in this case study we will show how working with the biggest of the big has singlehandedly shot The Battle Cats to the top of the charts.

Campaign Setup

The Battle Cats is a free-to-play tower defense game filled with weirdly cute cats developed by PONOS Corporation for iOS and Android mobile devices.

With the help of our influencer database, the campaign team picked six YouTube superstars based on their past campaign performance, size of their channels and overall creative performance. In order to reach as many new players around the world as possible, we selected English, Spanish and French-speaking creators Preston, Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, DanAndPhilGAMES, Amixem and JuegaGerman.

Meet the Superstars

JuegaGerman

37M+ Subscribers

Preston

10M+ Subscribers

Markiplier

24M+ Subscribers

Jacksepticeye

23M+ Subscribers

Amixem

5.6M+ Subscribers

DanAndPhilGAMES

3.1M+ Subscribers

Influencer Superstars
Are the Celebrities of Our Age

For decades, celebrities have been endorsing products and influencing the purchase decisions of the masses. But the past few years, many brands have been switching to influencer marketing – for a good reason. Social media has given rise to new online personalities with similar reach, the Influencer Superstar. This upper echelon of influencers have social media followers in the millions and are revered by their fans, as well as up and coming content creators, who look up to them. Here are just a few comments of fans reacting to the content produced:

The goal of the campaign was to get the story of Battle Cats out there. To have influencer superstars position the tower defense game as a fun and quirky game that pulls you in through its crazy cat characters.

JuegaGerman

JuegaGerman YouTube channel is the second-most subscribed in the Spanish language. He did a full feature or ‘Let’s Play’, which is a video format dedicated solely to the game. With his humor and comedy, German highlighted the game mechanics and characters in an exciting way. Making the audience wanting to like and play the game. The video has amassed more than 2 million views to this day and is still bringing new players to the game every day. In the first 3 days following its release, average daily installs (vs similar periods before release) went up by 220%!

Preston

Through a creative concept, Preston integrated longer gameplay parts into his video while being on a treasure hunt with his friend.
During the entire hunt he had his friend play Battel Cats in order to show that the game is more fun than the actual treasure hunt. The video increased the 3 Day Retention by 2.7% for new Installs immediately following Preston video (vs similar periods before release).

DanAndPhilGAMES

For this video Dan and Phil fully played off the crazy cat characters in the game. The duo hosted an art contest in which their fans could design their very own creative, funny, and extravagant Battle Cat. The winner had their character implemented into the game. The community participation was overwhelming with over 3,000 submissions!

Markiplier

If Markiplier, one of the prime gaming YouTubers in the world, plays (and likes) your game that is a seal of approval. Mark did a full 20 minute Let’s Play in which he showed a variety of levels and mechanics in the game. He also encouraged his fans to use the hashtag #YourBattleCat to send in their fanart and win different prizes.

Jacksepticeye

The Battle Cats, with its iconic art style and wacky humor, was a perfect fit for Jacksepticeye! Jack did a very energetic Let’s Play’ video going through different levels and showing off all the cool, weird and thrilling cats in the game.

Amixem

French-speaking superstar influencer Amixem made a video playing the Battle Cats together with his friends and fellow influencer VodK. While arguing who’s better at the game, they reacted to the different cat units in the game. Resulting in a hilarious video every French speaker (or not) should watch.

Having Superstar influencers produce creative and engaging content, did certainly pay off for PONOS. Due to obvious reasons we are not able to disclose the number of tracked and organic installs. However PONOS confirmed that they saw a drastic, measurable impact for each influencer.

The videos generated six digits worth of tracked installs. However where influencer superstars shine and what made this campaign stand out, is the organic uplift. Installs that can clearly be attributed to the influencer campaign, but which didn’t go through the tracking link. PONOS confirmed they saw an increase in average daily installs over an extended period of time of up to 220% globally after a superstar video was released.

This increase in average daily installs resulted in seven digit installs for The Battle Cats that can be attributed to the campaign, resulting in an organic uplift of over 900%!

And that is the power of influencer superstars.

The post The Battle Cats Case Study appeared first on GameInfluencer.

Black Friday and its numerous extensions (Cyber Monday, Just Buy Our Damn Stuff Thursday) are a magical time in retail, when the veil between wallet and willpower is at its thinnest. Games, gadgets and gear are being sold off at ridiculously reduced rates. Games publishers and hardware retailers try to one-up each other to have the best deals out there. Amazon, Steam, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo will all try to present their users with deals they cannot refuse. It has become increasingly hard to stand out with your game during this Armageddon of retail.

Influencers’ followers look to them for the best deals and promotions, therefore, the best way to reach consumers this year and raise awareness of your game’s sale via Social Media Influencer activity.

Games Sales on Black Friday and Cyber Weekend?

For games and online sales, Cyber Weekend starts early with Thanksgiving. Everyone is at home with their families, having free time and using the presents from grandma to go online shopping. The online spending on Thanksgiving Day 2018 alone hit the $3.7 billion, compared to $6.2 billion on Black Friday. But the biggest winner is Cyber Monday, registering online revenues of $7.9 billion, becoming the biggest sales day of the year in the US.

Customers need to be aware of potential deals as early as on Thanksgiving and with it being a U.S holiday, the best way to reach them is via their favorite social media stars, whose content will generate lots of attention over the weekend.

Creating an Influencer Strategy for the Cyber Weekend

Brands can benefit hugely from planning ahead and utilising influencers this year to effectively target their target audience.  An influencer-led campaign will not only raise awareness of your game or product, but will also generate exposure of your brand itself right up to Christmas. Due to the incremental sales and online visits during this time of the year, influencer and user-generated content posts are twice as likely to be seen and shared. Thus, companies can expect to see up to a 25% increase in the engagement whenever an influencer posts something brand-related.

Why not use a gaming or tech influencer, who has a huge loyal audience who are invested in him or her and care deeply about what they think about a particular game and the attached price tag. YouTubers and Twitch streamers will be great this Black Friday/Cyber Monday to promote your best deals!

Influencers can promote a variety of products from technology, toys and games to family and baby products and everything lifestyle. Let us know if we can help to get you started.

The post Influencer Marketing for Black Friday Game Sales appeared first on GameInfluencer.

Campaign Setup

Games can be advertised on gaming and non-gaming channels  – the content does not matter if the audience is a fit.

Paradox’s mobile gaming hit Knights of Pen & Paper 2 has a very dedicated but niche target audience, that is hard to target with a broad gaming campaign. Instead GameInfluencer focused on smaller and mid-sized channels, that are watched mostly by Tabletop-Nerds and old-School gamers.

The influencers for this campaign were based on their audience’s affinity with the game, their demographics and the perceived overall profile performance.

Influencers were given full creative freedom to implement the game as naturally as possible in the style of their channels, only following a few simple talking points.

Talking Points

• Humor is a big part of the game, so make sure to keep a funny approach to it.
• The game contains a huge amount of pop culture inside jokes, feel free to share them and create your own.
• Mention that the game is available for free on the iOS and Android app store.

Meet the Influencers

Critical Role

JoCat

RuneSmith

Blitz

The post Knights of Pen & Paper 2 Case Study appeared first on GameInfluencer.

The developer was dedicated and engaged during the process, adding a new tournament feature to the game specifically for this event. Each influencer was represented by a team inside the game and on the official website. Players could choose to join one of the four influencer teams, collecting points by battling in the game’s PvP mode.

Each influencer did a Let’s Play video on YouTube and Twitch live stream to promote their team and gather as many players from their community as possible. In addition, they did quick shout-outs over the course of the tournament to remind their fans to continue battling for victory.

Players from the winning team were awarded cool prizes, including a paid trip to Gamescom 2017.

Campaign Video Content

ICH TÖTE MICH SELBER?! – PURE ACTION | Unsere ARMEE wächst! | Tiny Armies deutsch

1000€ PRICE JACKPOT – MEGA LIGA EVENT | Tiny Armies Let’s Play | Deutsch German

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After six months of the partnership, GameInfluencer built up a diverse roster of talents, playing games such as Fortnite, Minecraft, Call of Duty or Clash Royale. Contrary to the male-dominated Twitch gaming scene, the goal was to keep a good balance of male and female influencers.

All influencers created new accounts in Live.me and promoted them on their other social media accounts (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.). By now, they have built up a huge following collecting views, fans and hearts (a value with which viewers can show appreciation) on Live.me. Many of GameInfluencer’s talent that were once lost in the masses of YouTube and Twitch, became top streamers on Live.me, building a huge following on the new platform and rising to fame.

The campaign is ongoing and every month GameInfluencer signs more influencers to join the Live.me community.

The Stats

• Number of Influencers: 45
• Total Fans on Live.me: 80,000+
• Total Hearts on Live.me: 100,000,000+
• Streamed hours/month: 2,000+
• Total streamed hours: 5,750+

Campaign

Here are some samples from the 45 participating influencers:

Chatty Caddie: Ø views/stream: 35k | Fans: 7.8k | Hearts: 10M

Foxyzilla: Ø views/stream: 16k | Fans: 4.3k | Hearts: 5M

THE MURDERSHOW: Ø views/stream: 7k | Fans: 6.6k | Hearts: 536k

JayceeJuice: Ø views/stream: 7k | Fans: 500 | Hearts: 274k

Natepushweights_YT: Ø views/stream: 2.5k | Fans: 6.5k | Hearts: 110k

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– Low CPM – $30 average in Premium Markets like the US
– Good CPIs – $1.5 average for F2P games in Premium Markets like the US
– Clear and easy Call to Action – “Swipe Up”, used by up to 25% of viewers
– Easy to disclose legal duties – just by checking a box in the process of posting the story

Gameinfluencer has been using Instagram Stories to great success; find some examples below.

Instagram Stories for Big Farm

Instagram Stories for Legend of Solgard

Instagram Stories for My Gym

How They Work

Instagram Stories were introduced in August 2016 and have since become extremely popular. They are similar to Instagram posts, consisting of either pictures or videos – but disappear after 24-hours and can be enhanced with engaging hashtags, captions, filters, geotags, polls and more. Within the time they are live, they receive far better exposure than normal posts.

Not only do Instagram Stories appear at the top of every feed, but users are also prompted to watch stories as they scroll down. Moreover, users will regularly get push notifications for new Instagram Stories, which grab their attention and increase the likelihood of reaching users instantly due to their limited duration. There is also an auto-play feature that will take users through all available stories at once.

What are the Pros

Instagram Stories are extremely beneficial when doing brand integrations – for the influencer as well as the advertiser. Advertisers have access to the “swipe up” feature of Instagram Stories, that will take the user directly to a link of their liking – e.g. the App Store where they can directly download the promoted game.

Influencers don’t want too much of their content to be paid promotion, thus the 24-hour duration of Instagram Stories helps massively with keeping their followers from feeling as though all of their content is an ad. The brief lifespan increases the likelihood of influencers wanting to collaborate via Instagram Stories while also decreasing prices for advertisers.

The post Instagram Stories appeared first on GameInfluencer.

The campaign targets markets across Europe. It includes different kinds of videos, ranging from classic Let´s Plays to Integrations and Music Videos.

The goal of the partnership is to acquire long term users for the best possible price. Important measurements are the cost per acquisition (CPA), for each user that downloaded the game, as well as the CPE or cost per engagement. CPE is defined by the client as cost per user that played the first in-game battle.

Campaign

More than 100 influencers participated in the campaign. Here are a few of the many videos released:

Cookie M: 1.3 Million Views | 0.5 € CPA | 0.8 € aCPA

Aethelthryth: 33,000 Views | 0.2 € CPA | 0.3 € aCPA

VoodooHeadsTV: 15,000 Views | .9 € CPA | 1.6 € eCPA

Trex: 19,000 Views | 1.5 € CPA | 2.8 € eCPA

Roth Wellden: 36,000 Views | 10. € CPA | 1.5 € eCPA

Timeline

The post 100 Videos for Wargaming appeared first on GameInfluencer.

With Influencer Marketing being at the very core of GameInfluencer, we are diligent when it comes to remaining abreast of the Endorsement Guides and as such adhere to the following three principles: Be Transparent, Utilize the Available Tools and Recognize Platform Differences.

Be Transparent

First and foremost, transparency is crucial. These days, the average consumer is more discerning and critical of advertisements. Therefore, followers appreciate when influencers and brands are forthcoming regarding their partnerships. As Casey Neistat, a world-famous YouTube content creator put it, “The audience appreciates upfrontness and honesty. Their appetite for bullshit is short and no one likes feeling duped.”

Despite the required tagging, the partnership is not devalued. In fact, doing so helps strengthen the partnership. Advertisers who properly disclose see higher rates of positive engagement, especially when the advertiser is aligned with an influencer who genuinely supports and engages with the product.

Utilize the Available Tools

The days of witty or abbreviated hashtags like #collab, #sp or #spon are behind us. As the FTC explains, “if there is a material connection between an endorser and an advertiser, that connection must or should be clearly and conspicuously disclosed.”

Thankfully, all major social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, are making clear and conspicuous disclosure a bit easier through the development of branded content tagging tools. Instagram, for example, has developed the Branded Content feature which allows influencers to tag advertisers on posts or stories where advertisers can then approve the tag and subsequently track success post by post.

Ultimately, the burden of disclosure falls on the shoulders of the influencer and advertiser, so it’s in everyone’s best interest to be on the same page when it comes to using these tools. With that being said, don’t solely rely exclusively on these tools. Per the FTC, when used by themselves they’re not sufficient for proper disclosure. Consider using other means to communicate your partnership like using the caption for more detailed disclosure.

Recognize Platform Differences

No matter the partnership, whether it be an ambassadorship, celebrity endorsement or outright paid influencer post, the requirement is the same – disclosure must take place. Although the means through which this is done is different per channel and content type. The FTC recognizes these nuances and as such addresses each one individually.

In regard to video content, the FTC recommends including a clear verbal recognition of the partnership at the start of the video; best practice being within the first 30 seconds as well as including a written description beneath the video. Gaming influencers, Dan and Phil, who partnered with GameInfluencer for a recent “The Battle Cats” campaign, did this seamlessly within their video and description.

Disclosing on Twitter, where you’re limited to a specific character count, is a bit trickier as involved parties still need enough characters to effectively communicate their message. In spite of these limitations, we recommend getting straight to the point. Avoid ambiguous or abbreviated hashtags (#sp, #thanks, #collab) and use explicit ones like #ad or #sponsored.

Here at GameInfluencer, we take the FTC’s Endorsement Guides very seriously as we’re committed to building the most creative and law-abiding campaigns. We believe that by applying these principles to each campaign, the partnership is even stronger and more secure.

While we wholeheartedly recommend being transparent, utilizing the tools at your fingertips and learning about the disclosure differences per platform, we also advocate frequent visits to the Federal Trade Commission site to research and remain knowledgeable of the Endorsement Guides. After all, the Federal Trade Commission is the true expert and has a vast amount of resources readily available.

The post FTC Endorsement Guides and Their Impact on Influencer Marketing appeared first on GameInfluencer.

Influencer marketing, defined as the act of promoting a product or service through influencers so as to impact the image or sales of a brand, has been a part of a growing amount of campaigns since its’ inception. In a survey conducted by Liniqua, 86% of marketers surveyed had used influencer marketing and 94% of those had used the tactic found it effective.

Moreover, the praised tactic successfully combats AdBlock technology and it is inherently more trusted by consumers. As reported by Forbes, 92% of consumers trust an influencer recommendation more than an advertisement or traditional celebrity endorsement. Moreover, consumers often actively seek out content from their favorite influencers and thus do not see endorsements from them as intrusive as standard advertisements.

Are you convinced that influencer marketing is right for your brand but unsure of how to get started? Well, thankfully, there are plenty of tools and experts available to help you get going.

Get in the Game

Before diving headfirst, identify the main goal of the influencer marketing campaign. Whether the goal is content-based, sales-driven or something else entirely, it’s important to have a clear objective at the outset.

In the same Liniqua survey, it was reported that “Create authentic content about my brand” and “Drive engagement around my product/brand” were the most common influencer marketing goals set.

Lay the Campaign Foundation

With a definitive goal set, next comes defining a budget and influencer profile that matches it and then, of course, finding influencers who meet the profile. Sifting through potential influencers, all of whom have varying rates, audience sizes, content styles and platforms that they operate on, requires time and effort.

That said, you get out what you put in. Partnering with an influencer who fits your budget and creates highly engaging content on a regular basis could make the difference between an unsuccessful campaign and a viral one.

Measure Results

With an up and running campaign, it is prudent to regularly track and measure its progress towards reaching the set goal. Try to track the value you are getting from Influencer Marketing the best you can and compare them to your KPIs. Gameinfluencer´s data shows, that mobile gaming users, that came via influencer marketing have on average a 14% higher retention rate than users coming from Facebook ads. Permanent monitoring also allows the opportunity to adjust strategically as well as gather learnings for future influencer marketing initiatives and provides invaluable data and insight into the process.

There’s no doubt that influencer marketing is here to stay with an even fast growth rate as marketers double down and increase their budgets based on previous successful campaigns.

Get in on the action now whether it be in-house or through the use of an influencer marketing provider like GameInfluencer.

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