How to launch your first Unity Ads user acquisition campaign

You made a game. Now you need people to actually play it. That's what user acquisition (UA) campaigns are for, and Unity Ads is one of the most direct ways to get your game in front of players who are already playing mobile games.

This guide walks through setting up a Unity Ads UA campaign from a blank dashboard all the way to hitting "Go Live," including the parts most first-timers get wrong: budget sizing, creative packs, and attribution.

The tips throughout come from the Unity Ads and Supersonic UA teams. Recommendations reflect guidance from Unity and Supersonic UA teams as of September 2026. Results vary by game, geography, budget, and creative. Figures are starting points, not guarantees of performance.

What we'll cover:

1. Connecting your game to Unity Ads
2. Creating a campaign and choosing a campaign type
3. Setting campaign settings
4. Adding creative packs
5. Testing your playable ads on a real device
6. Setting up attribution with an MMP
7. Going live and what to watch afterward

How Unity Ads UA actually works

Unity Ads lets you show your game's ads inside other mobile games. You set a budget, upload some videos, and the algorithm does the heavy lifting of finding the right players who are most likely to install and engage with your game.

Targeting is handled by Unity Vector, Unity's prediction engine. You don't manually pick audiences. Unity Vector predicts who is likely to install and engage, then keeps optimizing as data comes in. Your job is to give it a clear objective, enough budget to learn, and good creatives.

Step 1: Add your game

1. Go to cloud.unity.com and log in.
2. Click Products, then Grow. This is where monetization and user acquisition live.
3. In the left sidebar, click Apps, then Add App.
4. Copy your game's App Store® or Google Play URL and paste it in. Unity pulls in your game's name and icon automatically.
5. Click Add.
6. Click your game in the sidebar to open the campaign dashboard.

Step 2: Create a campaign and pick your campaign type

Click Create Campaign. The first choice is campaign type, which defines what the algorithm optimizes toward.

For this walkthrough we chose ROAS with a day 7 window, because the example game monetizes primarily through ads and we want users who watch them.

Previously, launching ROAS campaigns used to require spending a specific amount of time and money on CPI campaigns. But now, you can launch ROAS campaigns immediately and get Vector's ROAS optimization from day one.

Name it clearly

Use a naming convention that captures app, platform, and target region, for example Endurance_iOS_US. It sounds trivial until you're managing twenty campaigns.

Step 3: Set your budget

Funding the campaign

You have two options. The first is direct deposit by card or bank transfer, in the Finance section. The second is LevelPlay revenue routing: if you're already earning from LevelPlay mediation, you can route that revenue straight into UA spend.

How much to spend

While there's no hard minimum, the dashboard shows a recommended budget, which is a useful reference if you want the algorithm to get enough data to learn properly.

• Daily budget: at least $500 per day is recommended for meaningful learning.
• Wallet buffer: keep 5 to 6 times your daily spend in your organization wallet. Run dry and your campaign pauses mid-flight.

Choosing your ROAS window

Match the window to your monetization curve.

• In-app purchases: D7 or D28. Purchases take time, so players need a longer runway.
• Ad revenue: D0, D7, or D28. Friction is low, so a player will watch an ad quickly.
• Hybrid: D7 and D28.

A mid-core RPG generates significant revenue well after day 7. A hyper-casual game usually earns most of it in the first couple of days. Pick accordingly.

If you're running an Installs campaign: setting your CPI bid

Your CPI bid is the maximum you'll pay per install. When you add a country, the dashboard shows you that market's benchmark CPI.

Set your bid roughly 20% above benchmark. That's competitive enough to win slots consistently without overpaying. For the US and other tier-1 countries, follow the budget rule of $100 or more per day per live creative pack.

Dates

Set start and end dates in the scheduling section. We ran the example campaign for exactly one week. One week is a sensible minimum, since it gives Unity time to learn and gives you enough data to make decisions. You can always extend or pause once it's live.

Resist the urge to tinker in the first several days. The algorithm needs stable conditions. If you must adjust bids or budget mid-campaign, move by no more than 10% to 15% at a time. Bigger swings can knock the campaign back into learning.

Optional settings

On the right side of the campaign you'll find optional controls. For a first campaign, most should stay untouched.

Source bids (Installs campaigns only). Different bids per placement or app. Leave it empty, since Unity handles this automatically. Revisit only if specific sources consistently underperform after weeks of data.

Source block list. Unity recommends not blocklisting at launch, because the algorithm finds users across all placements. Only block a source once it has 100 or more installs and consistently poor results.

Regional targeting. Target specific states within a country. We left it at all US states. Keep it broad unless you have a real reason not to, though note that creatives often perform better when localized.

App targeting. An allow list restricts your ads to specific apps only. A block list prevents your ads from showing in specific apps.

Category targeting. Target or exclude apps by store category. We used two categories for our game. Useful if your game has a very specific audience, but start broad.

Device targeting. OS versions and device types. The defaults work for nearly every game. Change this only if your game has genuine minimum requirements.

Step 4: Add your creative packs

Creative packs are your actual ads, the videos players see inside other games. Each pack needs a portrait video, a landscape video, and an end card. This is the highest-leverage part of the whole setup. Great creatives mean lower CPI and better players. Weak creatives mean wasted budget.

The four pack types

Video plus static end card. A video, then a still image with a download button. Simple, reliable, and always worth having.

Video plus interactive end card. A video, then a brief interactive moment before the install button. Better engagement than static.

Video plus playable end card. A video, then a more involved mini-game. Strong for games with fun core mechanics.

Standalone playable. No video, just a full playable ad of 20 seconds or more. Best conversion when the gameplay sells itself.

Custom app pages

Custom Product Pages (App Store®) and Custom Store Listings (Google Play) let you tailor the store page to a specific audience or campaign, highlighting different features, promotions, or content. You create them in App Store® Connect or Google Play Console, then paste the resulting URL into your campaign.

Test them with creative testing campaigns: pair each product page with different creatives and see which combination wins. Good things to test include characters and objects, video previews, localized pages, screenshots of your newest content, in-app events, and seasonal moments like Black Friday, Christmas, Easter, or major sporting events.

When you use unique product pages, avoid reusing the same creative content across multiple campaigns of the same type (ROAS, Installs, and so on).

How many packs do you need?

Six to eight packs is the recommended starting point. More variety helps the algorithm find winners faster.

A few creative best practices:

• Always include both portrait and landscape in every pack.
• Once your first packs reach 5,000 to 10,000 starts (impressions), add 4 to 6 more.
• Never have more than 3 packs in learning at the same time.
• Review weekly and remove packs with consistently low impressions.
• Upload creatives to Unity at the same time as your other ad networks. The earlier Unity sees them, the faster it learns.

Playable ad tips from the Supersonic team

• Aim for at least 20 seconds of gameplay. Longer playables tend to attract higher-quality players.
• Include 10 or more tap interactions before sending anyone to the store.
• Keep the install button visible at all times.
• Only redirect to the store after a win moment, never after a failure.
• Use arrows or hand gestures to guide the first interaction.
• Add satisfying sound, scoring, and success chimes. It can help conversion.
• Check out the Playworks plugin to build playable end cards directly inside the Unity Editor, with no extra tooling required.

Step 5: Test your creatives on a real device

Never go live without previewing your ads on an actual phone.

1. Download the Ad Tester for Unity Ads app from the App Store® or Google Play.
2. In your campaign, click Preview and Test Creative Pack.
3. Hit Show QR Code, then scan it in the test app.
4. Switch between portrait and landscape in the preview to confirm both orientations look right.

Creatives also pass through a moderation queue after uploading. Turn on Creative Moderation Alerts in settings so you get an email when they're approved or flagged.

Step 6: Set up attribution with an MMP

Attribution tells you which installs and post-install events came from which ads. Without it, Unity Ads can't fully see whether your campaigns are working, and the algorithm can't optimize.

You need a Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP). The main options are AppsFlyer, Adjust, and Singular. This walkthrough uses AppsFlyer.

6a. Create and configure your MMP account

1. Sign up at appsflyer.com.
2. Go to Settings, then My Apps, then Add App.
3. Select your platform. The app must already be available in the store.
4. Paste your store URL into the App Store® URL field, click Next, select your currency, and click Add My App.
5. Continue through app onboarding.
6. Add a test device. AppsFlyer's documentation covers the steps.
7. Add in-app events. Select "Gaming" as your vertical and work through the standard event list.

6b. Integrate the SDK

The AppsFlyer docs link to a GitHub repo with the Unity package. Import it into your project, then:

1. Create an empty GameObject and attach an AppsFlyerManager script to it.
2. Write that script to handle initialization and event tracking.
3. Make sure you're forwarding the key events: installs, sessions, ad revenue, and purchases, plus any custom events like level completions.

It's usually just a package import plus your app ID. It looks intimidating the first time and is genuinely straightforward the second. Verify your work with SDK Integration Tests in the AppsFlyer dashboard by selecting your test device and pressing Start.

6c. Connect your MMP to Unity Ads

In AppsFlyer app onboarding, scroll to Connect Partners:

1. Select Unity and activate the partner.
2. Copy your Game ID from Unity Ads and paste it into the Unity Ads Game ID field.
3. Turn on the organic flag. This separates paid installs from organic ones, which helps the model learn what a quality user looks like for your game.
4. Select all media sources, including organic.
5. Set the postback window to 180 days (6 months) or longer so you can see long-term data.
6. Save.

6d. Connect Unity Ads cost data

1. In the Unity dashboard, go to Settings, then Unity Ads Cost Data.
2. Click Copy Organization Core ID and paste it into the matching field in your MMP.
3. Go to API Management, then Service Account, and create a new service account. Name it something like "AppsFlyer Integration."
4. Click Create, then Add Key.
5. Copy the Key ID into the Service Account Key ID field, and the Secret Key into the Service Account Secret Key field. Save.
6. Set the organization role: go to Grow and select Advertise Stats API MMP Viewer, then save.

6e. Paste your attribution links

1. In your MMP dashboard, open Attribution Link and copy the Click Attribution Link.
2. In Unity, click Attribution Link Setup, select AppsFlyer, and paste the click URL.
3. Back in the MMP, copy the Impression Attribution Link and paste it into Unity's Start/Impression URL field.
4. Save.

Verify it worked. Check back roughly 72 hours after launch to confirm installs are appearing in the Unity reporting dashboard. If installs show up but events don't, your SDK event forwarding is almost certainly misconfigured.

Step 7: Go live

Check the Required Settings panel on the right side of your campaign. All four need to be green:

• Creative packs
• Countries and bids
• Budget
• Attribution

All green? Hit the big blue Go Live button.

What to watch after launch

The learning phase

Your campaign enters a learning phase immediately. Do not touch anything: not bids, not budget, not creatives. The algorithm needs stable conditions to find the right users.

This typically takes at least a week and requires hitting install and spend thresholds. Wait until learning completes before you evaluate performance. Judging a campaign mid-learning is the single most common first-timer mistake.

The live phase

Once you're out of learning:

• Confirm in AppsFlyer that installs are being attributed correctly.
• Watch impression share per creative pack. Below 10% after the learning phase means it's time to swap that pack out.
• Keep any bid or budget change to 10% or 15% maximum per adjustment.

That's everything you need to get your first Unity Ads campaign live. The natural next step is going deeper on creatives, since that's where most of your performance gains will come from, specifically building a playable ad with Playworks inside the Unity Editor.