Tacter: Page Views & Ad Revenue Growth.
Tacter is a gaming platform that monetizes primarily through advertising and by sharing revenue with content creators. As traffic grew, the company faced pressure to make the revenue share sustainable and to increase page views to strengthen ad-based income.
The Challenge / Problem
Two critical issues were limiting growth:
- The revenue-sharing model was unprofitable because creators were paid a fixed RPM that did not reflect regional differences or engagement quality.
- Page views were not increasing fast enough, which capped both creator earnings and Tacter's own revenue.
We needed to fix the monetization model and significantly increase page views without harming creators or user experience.
Goals / Objectives
Process
Fixing the Revenue Model
Research and Data Analysis
Our audit showed that we were paying a flat RPM per broad region. Months of ad provider data revealed large differences in actual revenue per country.
Solutions Implemented
- We introduced a granular RPM model at the country level, which aligned payouts with real ad value.
- We created an engagement-based payout model inspired by Medium. We added new events that measured time on page (30, 60, 90 and 120 seconds). After measuring it for a couple weeks we decided to start paying content creators by views that lasted at least 30 seconds. This allowed us to reward healthy audiences and reduce cost from low-quality traffic and bots.
The change had minimal negative impact on creators with strong engagement. Creators with low-quality audiences saw reduced payouts, which improved fairness and removed structural losses. After these adjustments, the revenue model became profitable and scalable.
Increasing Page Views
Through more than 20 interviews with weekly active players of TFT and Pokémon TCG Pocket, we discovered a key insight:
Users do not care deeply about which creator made a guide. They care about improving and winning more games.
This reframed our strategy. We shifted focus toward high-value, easy-to-consume content that drives deeper navigation and encourages return visits.
Solution: Tier List Pages
We built clear and simple tier lists that allowed users to understand the meta at a glance.
This increased home-page engagement and session duration, but tier lists alone were not enough to increase page views at scale. They served as an effective entry point.
Solution: Composition and Deck Detail Pages
We designed new detail pages that delivered essential information in a clear and friendly way. Competitor pages were often dense and overwhelming. Our solution focused on simplicity and actionability.
Key design decisions:
- Clean visual hierarchy
- Essential data only
- Quick-read guides
- Embedded recommendations to creator content
- Internal linking that encourages navigation across compositions and decks
- Matchup insights to help users choose what to play next
These pages became the main driver of increased page views.
Impact
Page Views
Page views for TFT increased from an average of 4.9 per user to more than 7. This represents approximately a 1.5x increase.
Ad Revenue
The updated revenue model allowed the company to move from negative to positive margins. The new detail pages generated one hundred percent of the ad revenue for Tacter, which further amplified total income.
User Experience
Players consumed more content because it was presented clearly and focused on gameplay improvement.
Learnings