Ah, must have misread that, I thought Kings and Generals was another game the OP had seen lots of ads for.

I guess my youtube habits may be just limited, I tend to lean toward the science side of educational channels (was never much of a history buff) and on the gaming side I watch a few letsplay type things but mostly about games I have already played, and I don't play many current games so the videos are usually 3yo or more.

The sponsored video 'products' I can recall from youtube videos are mostly VPN or password manager services, or the big guns like audible & hello-fresh. I imagine I have probably seen a few tap-to-win bejewelled clones too but they all run into 1 game in my mind so I dont think I could name any.

it certainly it's one of the most popular mobile games i've seen some animators in youtube that use it as a direct sponsor inside their videos, they may be exagerating their numbers but surely they got a playerbase wide enough to warrant its survival in the mobile stores and to keep milking it enough, we would need to investigate more but the iOS apple store shows that the game has been rated at least 306.2K times having an average of 4.7 out of 5, and in the app store of google it has around 1,311,072 ratings averagin 4.3 out of 5., while a lot of new ratings have similar opinions to this one:

"It is a hyped up game advertising on YouTube. The graphics are awesome. However it's a throw back to D and D. It's just a hyped pay to win, and I mean you will pay, 49.99 for crystals. 39.99 for a few objects that won't make it any more fun. Very repetitive, over priced, they need to make money for the advertising done on other platforms, I'll be spending my money elsewhere, I advise to do the same. It lacks excitement, it lacks depth, it costs wayyyy to much."

"Loved it, but now it has become impossible to make progress. Strangely I have been upgrading my legends continuously, but it has become harder and harder to make progress, especially winning in the Arena has become near impossible. Update: arena getting worse. Update 2: now 9 out of 10 Arena fights are in an endless loop, which can go on for hours because the last opponent just cannot be killed, you will need to abandon and thus lose the battle."

that means even if they begin to dislike it there are people playing it, and people playing on mobile sometimes gain strange habits like they aren't willing to spend 300-500 in a console and 60 in a longer game with much richer content, but don't mind paying anything from like 5 to 100 dollars every month to have an advantage or a way to progress in the games, me and my family haver never payed a cent in those mobile games but lots of people do, and they pay a lot more than what "normal" console and PC games cost, for example, i play Fire Emblem Heroes or FEH for short, never payed for anything in it, altough sometimes i wouldn't mind giving them a few dollars since the game has entertained me for a few years now, but the price of the "orbs" used to get more and new characters in the game is ridiculous, you can earn a good amount of orbs by completing the missions and other task in the game but a lot of guys from the FEH reddit tell stories about how much they wanted a character and ended up spending from the tens to thousands of dollars to amass enough orbs to get a single copy of the desired character, you can buy as low as 3 orbs for $1.99 or packages of 140 orbs for $74.99, in euros is even more you pay for 140 orbs €79.99, while some people say that they get a 5 star character in like 40 orbs other report things like:

"I don't know the exact math, but it seems to be around an average of ~60 orbs. I'm not sure if this applies to B8 banners as well, though.
I think you have pretty good luck. I usually get a 5* within 70-80 orbs and even 120 or over if I'm unlucky"

So when people give up and spend in the 75 orb pack that costs $39.99 which is the most cost-efficient pack, or in the 140 orb pack to ensure they get one character, they begin to pay prices near or superior to that of console games,

Now we have in consideration that FEH isn't even one of the most popular anime-like gacha or lottery like games in the app stores, countless of other games that report spending by players that are much much bigger to FEH are anime ones based in Naruto, One-Piece, Bleach, Dragon Ball, Saint Seiya, Yu-gi-oh etc. which by the way have more than one gacha game, there are also others based on KOF, Mega Man and other previous game franchises, cheking right now the KOF one is having a crossover event with a Seven Deadly Sins anime game, also the game that has been the hit for a time now Genshin impact reports millions in spendings since it has become THE AAA gacha game because it is basically a Breath of the wild clone but with waifu gacha mechanics.

Getting back to raid shadow legends going to a web tracking the top apps of stores, we have that for the last week (because you need a premium account to watch lifetime history:

RAID: Shadow Legends
Publisher: Plarium Global Ltd
Price: Free with In App Purchases

the download rank history for RAID: Shadow Legends in United States in the past week:

* it has placed around 50-60 (1 being the most downloaded of each category) in role playing games category.

* it has placed around 105-120 in the action category

* it has place between 440-470 in the games in general category.

* it fluctuates between 1160-1300 of all apps.

Not bad numbers if we consider that the free apps include some of the most general use daily used apps for services:


1. HBO Max: Stream TV & Movies
WarnerMedia

2 YouTube: Watch, Listen, Stream
Google LLC

3 TikTok
TikTok Pte. Ltd.

4 Instagram
Instagram, Inc.

5 Facebook
Facebook, Inc.

6 Snapchat
Snap, Inc.

7 Messenger
Facebook, Inc.

8 Bridge Race
SUPERSONIC STUDIOS LTD

9 Gmail - Email by Google
Google LLC

10 Cash App
Square, Inc.

11 ZOOM Cloud Meetings
Zoom

12 Google Maps - Transit & Food
Google LLC

13 Amazon Shopping
AMZN Mobile LLC

14 Among Us!
InnerSloth LLC

15 Crash Bandicoot: On the Run!
King

16 DoorDash - Food Delivery
DoorDash, Inc.

17 League of Legends: Wild Rift
Riot Games

18 Netflix
Netflix, Inc.

19 WhatsApp Messenger
WhatsApp Inc.

20 Spotify: Discover new music
Spotify Ltd.

21 SHEIN-Fashion Shopping Online
Shein Group Ltd

22 Project Makeover
Magic Tavern, Inc.

23 High Heels!
Zynga Inc.

24 Google
Google LLC

25 Hulu: Stream movies & TV shows
Hulu, LLC

26 Z Escape
HOMA GAMES

27 Shop: package & order tracker
Shopify Inc.

28 Discord - Talk, Chat, Hang Out
Discord, Inc.

29 Soccer Super Star - Futbol
Real Free Soccer

30 Google Chrome
Google LLC

31 PayPal: Mobile Cash
PayPal, Inc.

32 Venmo
Venmo

33 Roblox
Roblox Corporation

34 Mix and Drink
Ace Games Inc.

35 Pinterest
Pinterest

36 Parking Jam 3D
Popcore GmbH

37 Disney+
Disney

38 Twitter
Twitter, Inc.

39 Uber - Request a ride
Uber Technologies, Inc.

40 Amazon Prime Video
AMZN Mobile LLC

41 Google Duo
Google LLC

42 Beat Blade: Dash Dance
耀素 卢

43 Roku - Official Remote Control
ROKU INC

44 Reddit
reddit

45 911 Emergency Dispatcher
SUPERSONIC STUDIOS LTD

46 Uber Eats: Food Delivery
Uber Technologies, Inc.

47 Walmart - Shopping & Grocery
Walmart

48 Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Corporation

49 Happy Printer
Tap2Play LLC

50 MLB
MLB

And in the grossing or rising category we have that services like HBO, HULU, Amazon and Disney are rising, but also games:

1 HBO Max: Stream TV & Movies
WarnerMedia

2 Clash of Clans
Supercell

3 Roblox
Roblox Corporation

4 YouTube: Watch, Listen, Stream
Google LLC

5 Tinder - Dating New People
Tinder Inc.

6 Call of Duty®: Mobile
Activision Publishing, Inc.

7 Candy Crush Saga
King

8 Twitch: Live Game Streaming
Twitch Interactive, Inc.

9 Disney+
Disney

10 PUBG MOBILE 3RD ANNIVERSARY
Tencent Mobile International Limited

11 Project Makeover
Magic Tavern, Inc.

12 Hulu: Stream movies & TV shows
Hulu, LLC

13 Pokémon GO
Niantic, Inc.

14 Bumble - Dating & Meet People
Bumble Holding Limited

15 Coin Master
Moon Active

16 BIGO LIVE-Live Stream, Go Live
BIGO TECHNOLOGY PTE. LTD.

17 Homescapes
Playrix

18 State of Survival: Zombie War
KingsGroup International AG

19 Gardenscapes
Playrix

20 Pandora: Music & Podcasts
Pandora Media, Inc.

21 MARVEL Strike Force
Scopely

22 Garena Free Fire - The Cobra
GARENA INTERNATIONAL I PRIVATE LIMITED

23 Rise of Kingdoms
Lilith Games

24 YouTube Music
Google LLC

25 Toon Blast
Peak Games

26 Clash Royale
Supercell

27 DRAGON BALL LEGENDS
BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc.

28 Bingo Blitz™ - BINGO games
Playtika Santa Monica, LLC

29 Netflix
Netflix, Inc.

30 Game of Thrones: Conquest ™
Warner Bros.

31 Audible audiobooks & podcasts
Audible, Inc.

32 Slotomania™ Vegas Casino Slots
Playtika LTD

33 Candy Crush Soda Saga
King

34 Genshin Impact
miHoYo Limited

35 Tagged -Chill, Chat & Go Live!
Ifwe Inc.

36Marvel Contest of Champions
Kabam Games, Inc.

37 MLB
MLB

38 TikTok
TikTok Pte. Ltd.

39 Fishdom
Playrix

40 IMVU: 3D Avatar Creator & Chat
IMVU

41 Cashman Casino Las Vegas Slots
Product Madness

42 Facebook
Facebook, Inc.

43 トップウォー
Topwar Studio

44 Plenty of Fish Dating
PlentyOfFish

45 DoubleDown™- Casino Slots Game
Double Down Interactive LLC

46 Hinge: Dating & Relationships
Hinge, Inc.

47 Lords Mobile: Kingdom Wars
IGG.COM

48 Puzzles & Survival
37GAMES

49 Jackpot Party - Casino Slots
Phantom EFX, Inc.

50 Amazon Music: Songs & Podcasts
AMZN Mobile LLC

I also get a RAID shadow legends ad from time to time, but the ones that seem ever green to me that have had ads since a long time ago and keep having them advertised are Clash of Clans, Clash royale and a lot of things with Clash on their name, from there zombie games keep spaming advertisement and now i cannot play a anime related video without getting a genshin impact ad, and since like yesterday i keep getting League of Legends Wild rift ads, in an unrelated comment: surprised to see IMVU still exists.

Considering what they must be paying for the sheer volume of these ads...it must have SOME success.

It's been almost a year since i last heard of it but before that it was constant for years on all kinds of videos. Big youtubers to the smallest of small.
That parasite of a game was everywhere.

The studio that makes it is owned by the the biggest gambling corporation in Australia, which is one of the biggest of it's type in the world.

It was set up in 2018 and had massive marketing from the very beginning. It's enourmous ad presence didn't come from it's success but was instead a planned marketing campaign.
It's a good one as it's far far cheaper to bribe websites, youtubers and so on to sell your product than battle it out with tv ads.

Lessons learned: the overlap between VGC readers and Kings and Generals watchers not the most extensive thing in the world.

I have heard of it. I do like Bazbattles, which seems to be an off shoot of it.

@OP, It seems to keep funding itself with these continuous ads, and this thread also helps promote it. Half the youtubers I watch had an in video ad for the game too, of course easy to skip.

Nope.

To all the people satating they use as-blocking: Ad-blockers don’t work when the ad is a sponsor segment of a video, which is the way Raid is markeded.

I don't speak for everyone but I do watch kings and generals videos. They are interesting. I like historical battles and stuff like that tho.