Introducing a New Way to Sell Virtual Goods for Games on Desktop

Today, we are announcing an update to desktop app ads that allow game developers to sell virtual goods directly from an ad in News Feed or the right-hand column. A developer with a desktop game on Facebook can now promote the sale of a virtual good, such as an extra booster pack, and gamers can purchase the virtual good directly from the ad and start playing the game.

Kixeye used these desktop app ads for virtual goods for their game Battle Pirates to reengage active players who were past purchasers, as well as active ones who had not yet paid. Kixeye offered discounts on their gold virtual currency and they saw over a 10 percent click-through rate and a 50 percent conversion rate for past purchasers. They saw a 14 percent conversion rate for those who hadn't paid before. In addition, they targeted their highest value spenders with large discounts — for instance, $500 worth of gold virtual currency for $250 — and saw over 5,000 percent return on ad spend.

We updated desktop app ads last year to help app developers better engage their players and turn them into payers, and we've always allowed developers to sell virtual goods in apps on Facebook. Now, with desktop app ads for virtual goods, developers can take both of these products a step further, and engage players with promotions outside of their app. Promotions at a value of $3 or less will be free for developers to provide to eligible people as part of our existing Payer Promotion feature, just as they are within all desktop apps.

Starting today, developers can create desktop app ads for virtual goods through all of our ads interfaces, including Create Flow, Power Editor, or through our Preferred Marketing Developers. For more information, please see our tutorial on how to use desktop app ads for virtual goods.