Garena’s Free Fire recently celebrated its 8th anniversary with a high-profile crossover featuring the popular anime IP Naruto, which helped the title re-enter the top 10 grossing games on the U.S. iOS chart.

Having launched in 2017, Free Fire has maintained eight years of consistent operations. This article leverages AppGrowing’s data to analyze the game's current advertising strategy.

Advertising Overview

According to AppGrowing, Free Fire has run 279,164 ads across 95 regions and 10 ad platforms.

In terms of format, native ads dominate the mix, accounting for over 50%, followed by rewarded video ads at nearly 34%, and in-stream video at around 9%.

When it comes to creative formats, images account for roughly 47%, while videos make up over 44%. Among video assets, standard video comprises over 30%, and vertical video contributes approximately 14%.

Ad Volume Trends

In the past three months, Free Fire delivered a total of 13,889 ads, with a relatively stable daily output. From May through mid-June, daily creatives ranged between 3,000–4,000.

Starting late June, ad volume ramped up, consistently exceeding 4,000 creatives per day, peaking at nearly 4,600 on a single day.

Platform Distribution

Free Fire relies heavily on Google Ads, which accounts for over 96% of its media buy. Meta Ads comes second, but with a share of less than 4%.

This heavy preference for Google stems from its wide user reach and advanced targeting capabilities, which allow Free Fire to efficiently acquire users and boost ad conversion rates.

Conclusion

AppGrowing’s analysis highlights Free Fire’s refined and diversified ad strategy—demonstrating how a mature title can continue to scale effectively through smart creative execution and platform selection.

We hope this report provides useful insights to help you optimize your own advertising efforts.