Success Story

In a matter of weeks, the shift to video-only creatives unlocked powerful results for Wister’s UA efforts in France:

• 180%+ higher CTR with video formats
• 110% increase in weekly subscriptions from video campaigns
• 28% decrease in CPA compared to banner creatives

The video-first strategy not only delivered better engagement but also allowed for scaling campaign volumes without compromising on cost efficiency.

Headquartered in France, Wister is a leader in Direct Carrier Billing (DCB) and multimedia content publishing. Since 2003, they’ve developed an extensive catalog of mobile-first entertainment, partnering with mobile operators and top-tier content providers across Europe.

Wister had long relied on display banners to drive subscriptions. While these campaigns performed well, they were looking to expand reach and improve cost-efficiency, especially in their core market: France.

With access to high-quality, clean traffic and advanced optimization capabilities, Smadex remained a strong partner, presenting an opportunity to test new formats and unlock additional scale.

Wister and Smadex joined forces to test a new approach: video-only campaigns. These interstitial creatives were designed to drive stronger engagement and conversions while allowing us to measure the impact against existing banner strategies.

Here’s how we did it:

1. Phase 1: The first test was launched for their top-performing gaming campaign.
2. Phase 2: After clear CPA improvements, the strategy was extended to two additional campaigns.
3. Phase 3 (ongoing): Progressive expansion of video-only campaigns across all active Wister’s campaigns in France.

With video campaigns managed separately from banners, our team could focus on optimizing performance and gaining clean insights, leading to stronger and more scalable results.

“Partnering with Smadex for our video strategy transformed our user acquisition efforts. Their clean traffic and optimization expertise helped us scale efficiently. We’re looking forward to continue growing our partnership.”

Patrick Ghazarian, Head of Programmatic at Wister

Through a mix of fresh creative ideas and data-driven strategies, Wister and Smadex achieved impressive growth together. By combining
Wister’s engaging content with Smadex’s programmatic expertise, we scaled video campaigns while improving effi ciency and delivering strong results in the highly competitive French market.