1 D28
2 ROAS
3 CPE
4 Dashboard
5 SDK
6 Data
7 Dev Tools
8 Tapjoy
9 Roadmap
A note from the Unity Ads team

A lot has
changed this quarter.

D28 Vector CPE

Q1 is usually a slower start to the year — lower budgets, tighter targets, more cautious campaigns.

This year broke the pattern. User quality improved across almost every campaign type, on both Android and iOS, and in a few categories scale even topped the holiday peak. That’s not a seasonal bump — it’s Vector, the AI behind Unity Ads, steadily getting better. (Google Cloud even highlighted how efficiently Vector now scales real-time AI behind the scenes.) Here’s what came out of it.

Everything in one glance
01
D28 ROAS, expandedLive + beta
IAP is live; Ad Revenue & Hybrid now in open beta, worldwide.
→ 02
Faster ROAS onboardingImproved
Launch from day one — no detour through CPI.
→ 03
Vector CPE — LiveLive Today
CPE Retention & CPE Payer: optimize beyond install ROAS.
→ 04
A cleaner dashboardLive · May 19
One Unity — Develop, Acquire, Monetize in one place.
→ 05
SDK 4.18+Update
Up to 59% faster init and cleaner runtime signals.
→
06
Strengthen your dataNew links
Google Analytics linking & Developer Data Framework.
→ 07
Unity AI Tutorial SeriesOpen Beta
AI Assistant & MCP in the Unity Editor — speed up your workflow.
→ 08
Tapjoy OfferwallNew
Multi Reward & Daily Rewards live. tROAS 4-tier bidding.
→ 09
Coming nextRoadmap
CPE Custom-Event optimization, and a more agentic Vector.
→
✦ The highest-performing mobile ad formats

Creative is the next frontier

Video and Playable consistently outperform every other mobile ad format — playables drive 20× more installs than banners, and video drives 14×. GenAI Creative, Creative Optimization, and Creative Insights are coming with agentic Vector, so it won't just place your ads — it'll help you make the ones that win. A taste of the formats winning right now:

Jewel ColoringPlayable · tap to color ✦ live
🏆 Arrowscapes Play Now
ArrowscapesPlayable · path puzzle
Parking JamPlayable · drag to escape ✦ live
Unity Ads Skip 5s › ▶ VIDEO Galaxy Strike RPG Adventure · ★ 4.9 · 10M+ installs 🎁 Earn 300 gems free 0:18 Install Free →
Galaxy StrikeVideo · cinematic RPG ad
✦ Live — try it now

Top-performing creative right now is Playable & Video

Playables drive 20× more installs than banners. Video drives 14×. Try the real thing below.

Playables drive 20× more installs than static banners

20×
More installs than banners
with Playable ads
Liftoff 2024 Mobile Ad Creative Index
14×
More installs than banners
with Video ads
Liftoff 2024 Mobile Ad Creative Index
95%+
Completion rate for
Rewarded Video
Appodeal / Yango Q4 2024 benchmarks
Day 0 Day 7 Day 28 long-tail value D7 misses
01 — D28 ROAS

D28 now sees more of your players

D7 is great at catching the players who pay fast. But for a lot of games, more than half of a player’s value shows up after the first week — and D7 just can’t see it. So we taught Vector to optimize on a 28-day horizon. You set a country-level ROAS target; Vector predicts each user’s 28-day value and bids accordingly.

Now live: D28 IAP ROAS — for IAP-heavy games with longer payback curves.

Open beta (worldwide): D28 Ad Revenue ROAS and D28 Hybrid ROAS — long-horizon optimization for ad-funded and mixed-monetization games.

What the beta is showing
Share of qualifying beta games that beat their paired D7 campaign (same game ID & geo)
Ad Revenue D28 Hybrid D28 Better D28 retention 90% Higher ad-revenue ARPU 67% Better D28 retention 88% Higher total ARPU 59%

One thing to remember: D28 runs alongside D7, not instead of it. Launch D7 first, let it pass Learning, then spin up D28 in the same geo so it skips Learning and optimizes from day one.

Actionfit × Unity Ads — D28 IAP ROAS
New Vector case study live today. Actionfit highlights how D28 IAP ROAS optimizer unlocks long-horizon value their D7 campaigns couldn't capture. Read on LinkedIn →
02 — ROAS Onboarding

ROAS is faster to get into now

We trimmed the friction. You can launch ROAS campaigns from day one (no detour through CPI), add new countries to existing campaigns more easily, and the dashboard now flags data-readiness or measurement issues before they slow you down. Learning vs. Live states are clearer too.

If setup ever felt like too much and you stepped away from ROAS, now’s a good time to take another look.

← New Campaign ✓ Campaign Live! D28 ROAS · Launched Day 1 Campaign settings Type D28 ROAS Target ROAS 35% Countries US, UK, DE, JP Daily budget $500 / day Live · 2h since launch 1,842 Impressions 127 Installs Vector learning in progress...
Lion Studios × Unity Ads — 6× iOS scale with D28 Hybrid ROAS
New Vector case study: Lion Studios used the D28 Hybrid ROAS campaign type — optimizing across IAP and ad revenue together — to 6× their iOS scale. Read on LinkedIn →
03 — Vector CPE

Two new ways to optimize beyond ROAS

Vector-powered CPE is here. Two new campaign types now available on Unity Ads — giving advertisers two more ways to optimize toward D7 outcomes beyond ROAS. Both are designed to run alongside your existing ROAS campaigns to build a more diversified UA portfolio.

Set your Target Cost Per Event, and Unity Vector dynamically optimizes bids toward users most likely to complete that event — same engine, different signal.

D7
CPE Retention
Active users
Acquires users predicted to remain active on Day 7 — optimize for stickiness, not just installs.
$
CPE Payer
First purchase
Acquires users likely to make their first purchase within 7 days — target payers before they pay.
Both campaign types reach user segments that ROAS alone doesn’t capture — running them together builds a fuller, more resilient UA mix.
Playrix × Unity Ads — Township & Vector
Playrix's Aleksandr Bajev shares how the top studio uses Unity Ads to grow Township, and how the network's performance has dramatically improved with Unity Vector. Full interview live on LinkedIn. Watch →
Read the docs →
04 — Dashboard

A cleaner, more connected dashboard

Develop Acquire Monetize

Tabs, logins, tools, reporting surfaces — managing growth shouldn’t feel like a scavenger hunt. So we started bringing it together. The new Unity dashboard began rolling out May 19, organized around three clear nodes: Development, User Acquisition, and Monetization.

Cleaner navigation, a more modern workspace, easier movement between the things you do every day. This is Phase 1 — the foundation, not the finish line. More products join through the rest of 2026.

U Unity 3 Develop Acquire Monetize CAMPAIGNS My Puzzle Game — D28 ● Live +24% ROAS Action Game — D7 ◔ Learning 18.2% ROAS Spend · last 7 days ↑ 18% MoM $24K Total spend 2.1M Impressions 🏠 📊 ⚙
59% faster SDK initialization
05 — SDK 4.18+

A faster, steadier SDK

It’s easy to treat an SDK update as routine maintenance. This one isn’t. The latest Unity Ads SDK (4.18+) starts faster, delivers more reliably, and feeds cleaner runtime signals into optimization — which means less drop-off between load and show, and fewer opportunities lost before the auction even begins.

In our pre/post analyses: up to 59% faster init, stronger load-to-show (+32% Android, +66% iOS), and roughly ~20% more impressions and ~19% more revenue per DAU.

Internal results, not guaranteed outcomes — they vary with implementation, traffic mix, and mediation setup.

0%
Faster SDK
initialization
+0%
Load-to-show
Android
+0%
Load-to-show
iOS
~0%
More impressions
per DAU
Internal results, not guaranteed outcomes — they vary with implementation, traffic mix, and mediation setup.
06 — Data Activation

Fewer blind spots, smarter optimization

Vector optimization Attribution GA / Firebase Revenue SDK signals

Optimization is only as good as what it can see. Most studios aren’t short on data — it’s just scattered across attribution, behavior tools, and revenue systems. We’ve made it easier to connect those signals so Vector works with the full picture:

Google Analytics linking
A quick, no-code, 3-step link for your GA/Firebase behavior signals. Attribution tells you how players arrived; this tells you what they actually do.
MMP data quality
Cleaner attribution windows, organic data, and revenue-event mapping. Bad inputs mean bad optimization, so this matters more than it might look.
Android license key & IAP signals
Stronger Android revenue validation and cleaner purchase signals.
Developer Data Framework (DDF)
The permission layer that unlocks approved data for optimization — you stay in control of how your data is used.

And on the privacy side: Unity recently joined IAB Europe’s Transparency & Consent Framework — a recognized industry standard for collecting and respecting user consent across European markets. As you connect more signals, they’re handled to that standard.

07 — Developer Tools
Unity AI Open Beta

Speed up your game
development workflow

The Unity AI Assistant and Model Context Protocol (MCP) let your developers answer questions, handle time-consuming tasks, and let AI agents interact directly with the Unity Editor — all without leaving the IDE. The AI Tutorial Series shows exactly how to get started.

▶ Watch the Tutorial Series 🔗 Full announcement
Unity Editor — SampleScene Scene U Unity AI OPEN BETA chest_wood × starting_pos × terrain1 × 75 chest_wood game objects should be placed at random positions on X and Z axis from the terrain bounds... ↑
08 — Tapjoy Offerwall

Deep engagement,
rewarded

The Tapjoy Offerwall connects your game to users who earn real in-app rewards by playing — not just installing. Multi Reward and Daily Rewards are live today, driving quality installs that go well beyond the first session.

Campaign types
● Live
Multi Reward
Reward users at multiple milestones throughout the game — from tutorial all the way to IAP and deep level events. Higher payouts at deeper events attract higher-quality users.
Tutorial
$0.25
Lvl 25
$1.50
IAP
$15
Lvl 150
custom
● Live
Daily Rewards
Reward users for completing levels every day over a sustained period. Bids can be adjusted by country and monetization type (ad revenue or IAP) — great for driving long-term retention.

Daily Rewards (DR-CPE)

⚽
🚀FAST & EASY
Going Balls
🪙 200 / Level
UP TO
20,000
🏃
🚀FAST & EASY
Cheerleader Run 3D
🪙 160 / Level
UP TO
32,000
🦙
🚀FAST & EASY
Alpaca Farm! Animal Adventure
🪙 90 / Game
UP TO
18,000

Small rewards for daily engagements with mobile apps

tROAS Offerwall bidding  Daily Reward only
Current
Flat bid

Same bid and user payout regardless of event difficulty or the associated in-app revenue at each level.

$—
$—
$—
$—
tROAS
4 ascending tiers

Higher payouts at deeper events — users are incentivized to stay and play past the easy early levels.

Tier 1 Lvl 1–50 30 🪙/lvl
Tier 2 Lvl 51–100 45 🪙/lvl +50%
Tier 3 Lvl 101–150 60 🪙/lvl +100%
Tier 4 Lvl 151–200 90 🪙/lvl +200%
#1
Save Time
Eliminates manual bidding — fully automated based on your ROAS goal and daily budget.
#2
Improve User Quality
Automated request-level bids outperform manual bids set at the offer or publisher-app level.
#3
More Effective Bidding
The 4-tier system is purpose-built to retain users deeper in your offer and maximize engagement.
How it works — the user journey
Earn Coins ✕ All Play Web Shopping Multiple Rewards 🎱 Going Balls ♥ Most Rewards 10 tasks · Level 150 Up to 86,000 🪙 🌸 Alpha 8 milestones 40,522 🪙 🏹 Boom Slingers 6 milestones 18,560 🪙 🦙 Alpaca Farm ♥ Most Rewards 32,360 🪙 ⚡ Fast & Easy Rewards
Step 1 Select offer
← Offer Details ✕ 🎱 GOING BALLS ♥ Most Rewards Earn up to 86,000 🪙 What to do: 1. Open Going Balls from this offerwall 2. Reach milestones below to earn rewards Milestones: Complete Tutorial 2,100 🪙 Reach Level 25 5,400 🪙 Reach Level 60 12,200 🪙 Reach Level 150 24,800 🪙 Make IAP purchase 41,500 🪙 Earn 🪙 86,000 Coins
Step 2 Read instructions
09:41 100% ← Google Play 🎱 Going Balls Supersonic Studios 4.7 ★ 100M+ downloads Install This app is free Screenshots About this game Roll the ball through challenging obstacle courses. Test your reflexes and advance far! 4.7 ★★★★★ 12.4M ratings
Step 3 Install & play
Earn Coins ✕ Offers My Rewards History Continue Playing View All 🎱 Going Balls ⏱ Ends in 14 days 5 of 10 tasks completed Coins earned 18,000 / 86,000 21% complete +5,400 🪙 next Keep Playing → Other Active Offers 3 offers 🌸 Alpha 2 of 8 tasks Continue 🏹 Boom Slingers Not started Start 🏆 Total earned: 18,000 🪙 this session
Step 4 Track & earn
Offerwall Currency Sales
2026 Calendar
Limited-time multipliers that move the needle

Scheduled sales temporarily boost coin payouts by up to 10× — timed around holidays and peak gaming periods. Users earn more coins for the same actions, which drives higher offer completion rates, stronger engagement, and measurable revenue uplift across your monetizing titles.

Father's Day
Jun 19–21, 2026
up to 5×
Independence Day
Jul 3–6, 2026
up to 5×
Summer Booster
Jul 24–26, 2026
up to 5×
Lucky 8 Weekend
Aug 7–9, 2026
up to 5×
Back to School
Aug 21–23, 2026
up to 5×
Labor Day
Sep 4–7, 2026
up to 7×
View full 2026 sales calendar →
⚡ Pro tip: Pair Currency Sales with Message to Earn push notifications to re-activate lapsed players during the sale window — this combination consistently delivers the strongest uplift in daily completions and offerwall revenue.
Coming H1 2026
H1 2026
CPI Billing
  • Billed at install — not when the user completes an engagement event
  • Publisher payout stays at the event level for accurate currency exchange
  • User reward payout determined by expected conversion rate, dynamically optimized by the offerwall in the future
  • Simplifies ROAS reporting and streamlines campaign optimization
H12026
09 — Roadmap

What’s coming next

Q2 CPE Q3 Custom-Event H2 agentic Vector 🏁
Q2
✓ Live Now
CPE Retention & CPE Payer
Now live — two Vector-powered campaign types to optimize toward D7 outcomes beyond ROAS. See section 03 →
Q3
Q3
CPE Custom-Event
Define your own optimization signal. Tell Vector exactly what success looks like for your game.
2026
Through 2026
More of One Unity
Ad Quality, LevelPlay, and Rewarded Offer join the unified experience. By year-end, video and offerwall demand live in a single Acquire experience.
H2
H2
Vector goes agentic
Creative Optimization, an Advertiser Insights Agent, GenAI Creative, and Creative Insights are in the works. The direction is clear: Vector is moving from a campaign optimization engine toward something that helps you actually run your UA. It’s the same system, just doing more over time.
Not sure where to start?
There’s no single right answer — the best next step depends on your monetization model and where your biggest gaps are today. Your Unity team is happy to look at your setup with you and figure out what’s worth doing first.
Talk to your Unity team