Thursday, May 22, 2025

Rewarded 2.0: The Playbook for Turning Play-And-Earn Into Your LTV Engine Presented by Mistplay

Rewarded 2.0: The Playbook for Turning Play-And-Earn Into Your LTV Engine Presented by Mistplay
Tricia Han, Josephine Chow & Elizabeth Cattell

 

 

 

Quick Read Summary

Rewarded advertising has entered a new phase, moving from short term incentives to becoming a powerful engine for loyalty, engagement, and sustainable lifetime value.

At MAU Vegas, leaders from Mistplay, ShopBack, and Atlas Reality explored how value exchange, mission based design, and emotional connection are transforming how users interact with apps across gaming, commerce, and lifestyle.

Moderated by Peggy Anne Salz, the conversation highlighted two major announcements from Mistplay, the company’s long awaited launch on iOS and the introduction of Loyalty Play, a new rewards hub designed to help publishers build engagement loops within their own apps.

Across regions and verticals, rewarded engagement is being reshaped by user psychology and cultural nuance. Users increasingly seek purpose, progress, and emotional resonance rather than quick monetary payoffs. This shift positions Rewarded 2.0 as a relationship strategy that strengthens loyalty and long term value.

The panel’s message was clear. Rewards work best when they feel meaningful, when missions have intent, and when users feel that apps help them build moments that matter.

 

 

Rewarded 2.0: Building the New LTV Engine

Rewarded advertising has travelled a long road. In its earliest form it was seen as cheap, incentivised traffic that delivered volume but lacked quality. The industry has now outgrown that view. Rewarded has matured into a sophisticated model that blends behavioural science with smart value design.

Tricia Han opened the session with evidence of this shift.

“We see a seven to ten percent year over year increase in rewarded UA spend. More marketers now realise this is a real opportunity.”

The rise reflects both changing user behaviour and broader changes in mobile marketing. Users have grown more selective about how they spend their time. Traditional ads often interrupt rather than engage. Rewarded placements, by contrast, offer an intentional value exchange that feels fair and satisfying.

 

A Growing Category Reaches a Turning Point

Mistplay’s own performance results show why adoption is accelerating. Across their gaming partners they have seen noticeable improvements in both short term and long term performance.

“We have seen a thirty six percent increase in day seven ROAS, a seventy percent increase in day thirty retention, and even a two and a half times boost in installs.”

This indicates something deeper than simple efficiency. Rewarded users tend to invest more time, explore more features, and build stronger habits because they feel they are progressing toward something worthwhile.

The company’s business trajectory underscores this point. Founded in 2016, Mistplay has tripled its revenue in the last few years, all on one platform.

“We have done this entirely on Android. That is why I am excited to announce that Mistplay is now available on iOS.”

The iOS expansion opens the door for greater reach and deeper integration for game publishers that rely on loyalty mechanics to keep high value users engaged.

 

Rewarded Becomes a Core Strategic Lever

Elizabeth Cattell explained how rewarded has moved from a niche tactic to a central part of their growth system at Atlas Reality.

“It used to be siloed and low quality. Now it is part of our core strategy. We see strong LTV, not just installs.”

The shift comes from a broader realisation. Rewarded placements attract users who may avoid traditional advertising. They value clear incentives, transparent communication, and the ability to exercise agency.

“Gen Z does not hate ads. They want a fair value exchange.”

By using rewarded experiences throughout the user lifecycle, Atlas Reality improves retention, re engagement, and long term spend without relying on aggressive creative refreshes or escalating budgets.

 

Commerce Embraces Gamification

If rewarded began in gaming, the next major transformation is happening in commerce. ShopBack’s Co Founder Josephine Chow explained how gamified shopping has already become the norm across Asia Pacific.

“In APAC, spinning wheels, quests, and gold bars are everywhere. They are targeted, personalised, and built around what users want next.”

ShopBack uses machine learning to guide shoppers through missions that connect multiple purchase moments. Buying a flight leads to nudges for hotels, insurance, or travel essentials. When users complete each milestone, they earn additional rewards.

“It is not just about saving money. It is about building milestones that make the experience emotionally rewarding.”

The results are impressive. In markets like Hong Kong and Taiwan, more than ninety percent of users engage with ShopBack’s quests, and those users show fifty percent higher customer lifetime value.

 

Emotional Loyalty Takes Centre Stage

A core theme that emerged from the panel was the emotional component of rewarded. Monetary value matters, but meaning matters more.

Tricia Han shared stories directly from Mistplay users.

“One user told us their rewards fund date night. Another uses Dunkin gift cards to buy donuts for her husband. These moments create a positive emotional halo.”

This emotional connection explains why rewarded users often become loyal users. They associate an app with moments that feel personal, memorable, or supportive of their goals.

Atlas Reality sees similar behaviour with its Monthly Challenges feature.

“When users work for something, they feel more connected to it. It is the IKEA effect. Agency and effort increase value.”

The most successful rewarded systems give users something to accomplish, not simply something to claim.

 

Introducing Loyalty Play

To help more publishers adopt this model, Mistplay announced Loyalty Play, a rewards hub designed to help any app create value based engagement.

“We are extending our ten years of learning, our AI engine, and our live ops insights to help publishers monetise their users and drive deeper engagement.”

Loyalty Play supports mission based design, reward economies, and retention strategies that work across gaming, lifestyle, wellness, commerce, and other verticals. It reflects a broader belief that rewarded interactions will soon become a default expectation for users.

“This is how consumers want to interact with brands. It creates value, purpose, and motivation.”

 

Localisation Requires Cultural Intelligence

A major insight from the discussion was that rewarded experiences must be localised with nuance. Translation alone is not enough.

“AI can translate the text,” Chow noted. “It cannot translate the culture.”

ShopBack’s expansion into thirteen markets has shown that reward types, user communication, motivational triggers, and even tone must change per region. A feature that resonates strongly in Korea may fall flat in the United States. A message that motivates in Singapore may confuse in Germany.

Successful localisation requires empathy and a deep understanding of what users value in each market.

 

Designing Rewarded Journeys That Matter

Rewarded is changing how product teams and marketing teams work together. In fact, the distinction between them is starting to dissolve.

“Marketing and product cannot be separate. They have to operate as one” said Cattell.

On rewarded platforms, creative execution is still relevant, but the reward itself becomes the primary lever for performance. This reduces the creative churn required in channels like DSPs and social and instead shifts focus to designing meaningful missions.

These missions must connect to real user motivations. They should feel consistent with the brand’s purpose and help users build long term habits.

 

Unlearning Old Assumptions

Moving into Rewarded 2.0 means letting go of long held assumptions.

One outdated belief is that rewarded generates low quality users. The data no longer supports this. Rewarded users often show higher satisfaction, deeper engagement, and stronger retention because the experience connects with their goals.

Another assumption is that rewards should be effortless. The panel unanimously agreed that ease alone does not build loyalty. Users value missions that require small amounts of effort. The sense of achievement fuels emotional reward.

A final misconception is that all rewarded platforms are interchangeable.

“A reward is not a reward is a reward. Quality matters. Trust matters. User safety matters.”

Mistplay invests heavily in fraud detection, reward legitimacy, and a safe user experience because emotional loyalty depends on trust.

 

Avoiding the Cashback Race

A question from the audience raised an important risk. As rewarded grows, could the ecosystem fall into a race to the bottom, similar to what happened in fintech

Chow addressed this directly.

“Money solves some problems, but not all. Sustainability and product quality matter more than outbidding competitors.”

The real growth opportunity lies in reaching users who have not yet engaged with rewards because existing systems do not speak to their motivations. Winning them over requires thoughtful design, not bigger payouts.

 

Conclusion: Rewarded as Relationship

Rewarded 2.0 marks a fundamental shift. It is no longer just a paid strategy. It is a long term relationship strategy built on purpose, progress, and emotional value.

Mistplay’s expansion to iOS and the launch of Loyalty Play underscore the momentum behind this movement. Across gaming, commerce, and lifestyle, rewarded engagement is becoming a central component of user experience, retention, and lifetime value.

“You are not only giving someone a reward. You are helping them build a moment, a memory.”

As marketers search for sustainable growth, rewarded offers a path built on meaning rather than mechanics. In the new loyalty economy, rewards are not perks. They are the foundation of long term value.

 

 

About the Speakers

Tricia Han, Chief Business Officer, Mistplay

Tricia Han leads global business strategy at Mistplay, the leading loyalty and rewarded engagement platform for mobile games. She brings more than twenty years of experience across product, growth, and user psychology, including senior roles at MyFitnessPal. Her work focuses on how value exchange and behaviour design can deepen loyalty, improve retention, and power long term growth. At MAU Vegas she announced Mistplay’s expansion to iOS and the launch of Loyalty Play, a new engagement hub for publishers.

Josephine Chow, Co Founder, ShopBack

Josephine Chow is the co founder of ShopBack, Asia Pacific’s largest loyalty and cashback platform. With more than fifty million users across thirteen markets, she has helped define the region’s approach to gamified commerce. Her expertise spans regional expansion, user motivation, mission based shopping, and building sustainable reward ecosystems that drive high value behavioural change.
Elizabeth Cattell, VP of Marketing, Atlas Reality

Elizabeth Cattell leads user acquisition, lifecycle, and creative strategy at Atlas Reality, the studio behind the location based play to earn title Atlas Earth. With deep experience in performance marketing and engagement design, she specialises in using rewarded systems to strengthen full funnel growth, improve retention, and reach high intent audiences including Gen Z.

Peggy Anne Salz, Founder and Chief Analyst, MobileGroove

Peggy Anne Salz is a globally recognised author, analyst, and researcher focused on mobile marketing and growth. As founder of MobileGroove, she advises leading brands on user behaviour, mobile trends, and applied innovation. At MAU Vegas she moderated the Rewarded 2.0 discussion, drawing out insights across gaming, commerce, loyalty, and user psychology.

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