Horse Racing Solitaire is a mobile game by Salto Games, where I was the fractional UA lead. D0 ROAS doubled, day one payer conversion rose 50 percent, and blended CPI dropped from £9.43 to £5.38 in one month. Then the creative got tested against an outside studio on the same account.
This is the case for paid UA for mobile games and the account behind how we make ads. The second half is a direct comparison between our creative and an external studio's, published with the caveat that a careful reader would raise, so that they do not have to.
What was built
- Value optimization on Meta across iOS and Android, switched on once the signal could carry it.
- SKAN and AEM set up so iOS conversions carried value instead of counts.
- The cohort stack on Adjust and Tableau, so payback was visible by market and channel.
- Structured creative concept tests, test versions first, with a spend rule per ad, and only the winners remade. The first stage of the method is written out.
What happened
D0 ROAS went from 8 to 12 percent to 17 to 23 percent, roughly double. Day one payer conversion rose 50 percent. Blended CPI went from £9.43 to £5.38 in one month.
Two sources of creative, one account
From December 2025 to April 2026 the account ran ads from two sources: ours, written by me and produced by Ece Durgun with our creator network, and from March those of a widely known external creative studio brought in for comparison. Same Meta install campaign, same country, same spend rule. The account recorded this, with one caveat that matters.
| Install test, Dec 2025 to Apr 2026 | Our team | The studio |
|---|---|---|
| Ads tested | 175 | 16 |
| Ads over the £10 spend threshold | 41 | 4 |
| Spend | £1,208 | £186 |
| Installs | 993 | 125 |
| Blended CPI | £1.22 | £1.49 |
| Best ad, CPI | £0.65 | £1.21 |
| Ads under £1.00 | 14 | 0 |
The caveat, before anyone else raises it
Our team had been testing since December. The studio’s ads entered in March. Compare March alone, like for like, and the gap is smaller than the headline suggests. Their sample was also thin: £186 of spend and four ads over the threshold. So I would not lean on the install phase on its own.
| Blended CPI, install test | Our team | The studio | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole test (ours from December, the studio’s from March) | £1.22 | £1.49 | 22% |
| March 2026 only, like for like | £1.34 | £1.49 | 11% |
Where the algorithm decided
The studio’s best ads were then moved into the purchase campaigns running on value optimization, where Meta decides which ads get budget based on which ones drive value. Over 22 days from late March, the studio’s top ad received £4,763 of real spend, so it had a fair run. Meta walked its share of daily budget from a peak of 30 percent down to 4.5 percent, while my team’s ads went from around 70 percent to over 95 percent. Daily spend on the studio’s ad fell from £463 to £85. That is the algorithm’s verdict on a proper budget, and it is the number I would defend.
| Value optimization, 22 days | Our team | The studio |
|---|---|---|
| Spend | £23,357 | £4,763 |
| Share of budget | 83.1% | 16.9% |
| Share trend | about 70% to over 95% | 30% to 4.5% |
What it says
More rough ads found a lower floor than fewer polished ones, and the ads that found it held up when the algorithm had real money to allocate. That is the whole argument behind how I price ads, and this account is where I learned it. What happened when the ads that spent the most were removed is the question that follows.
In the client’s words
We've worked closely with Growth Therapist, led by Samet, for the past two years as we scaled our first product. He led creative and UA strategy through our soft launch and beyond, and consistently drove fast, high-quality creative experimentation. He's proactive, communicative, and very transparent.
Questions people ask
Who was the studio in the Horse Racing Solitaire comparison?
A widely known creative studio. I have chosen not to name them, because the point is the method, not the loser of a comparison. The client is named because the result is theirs.
Was the budget split fair?
Yes, and it is the first thing I checked. The studio’s top ad received £77 in the install phase, more than most of my individual ads, and £4,763 in the value phase. Average spend per ad was higher on their side.
Why does the March comparison matter?
Because my December and February months were stronger than March, and they pull the blended figure down in a period the studio was not running. The like for like gap is 11 percent on the install phase. The value phase needs no adjustment.