Solutions for Publishers

PuzzleMe™ games are great for building loyalty and habit, and can be monetized by publishers in many ways.

Ad monetization

LA Times games page for crosswords, sudoku and word search

Leading sites use PuzzleMe to power their online games and puzzles section. As experienced publishers know, daily games like crossword and sudoku are great drivers of loyalty and habit. Further, the high time on page creates a lot of ad inventory for display and video pre-roll advertising, making these games a profitable source of revenue. Publishers can make best use of this inventory by monetising these ads themselves, instead of outsourcing them to a third part games provider. Games also help drive up your average session duration and can help increase advertising rates across the site.

For live examples, see the games sites for The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Times of India and El Pais. These sites illustrate a complete solution based on PuzzleMe, including a puzzle picker, multiple series and sizes of puzzles, and monetisation. Not directly visible, however, is PuzzleMe’s ability at the backend to seamlessly ingest puzzles from a syndicate or constructor, to manage the editing and publication workflows, and to provide detailed analytics on puzzle plays.

With its smooth UX and excellent support, PuzzleMe has helped publishers continuously grow usage, loyalty and habit with their readers.

Subscription benefits

You can provide access to games and puzzles as a key subscription benefit. Many content producers across the world are looking for ways to increase their subscribers and retain them. Give them more reasons to subscribe with our Smart Games. An analysis by the Wall Street Journal shows that users who engage early on with puzzles and games have a lower churn rate than those who don’t.

For examples, see the puzzle sites of The New Yorker or Publico (Portugal) who put their puzzles behind a metered or hard paywall. The Guardian Puzzles app on iOS and Android, built by Amuse Labs for The Guardian, is an example of a highly polished experience that is accessible via its own subscription, separate from the main Guardian news app.

Native advertising

A crossword puzzle created to promote the Netflix original series - The Chair

Using PuzzleMe, brands can engage with their customers in a playful and thoughtful way. Games invite meaningful, positive and pleasurable interaction with a brand, with a high recall value.

Here is a puzzle commissioned by Netflix for its show, The Chair. The puzzle clues are related to the theme of the show and the experience folds in Netflix brand assets. As users solve the puzzle, a cut-out of Sandra Oh, the star of the show, periodically comes in to encourage the user to finish the puzzle. When the puzzle is complete, a special audio message recorded by Sandra is played as a reward, and solvers are directed to the show’s website.

Similarly, The New Yorker Brand Labs has run crossword puzzles for Duolingo (link) and Folger’s coffee (link). This puzzle promotes Shopify and its local merchants as part of a campaign in the L.A. Times. This National Post puzzle promotes the movie, Tenet.

This Kriss-Kross puzzle promotes Formula-1 racing.

Puzzles can also be embedded within ad units of standard IAB sizes, or as part of chat messaging in a progressive web app. Read more on our Solutions for Brands page.

Movie and product launches

Crossword puzzle creating using PuzzleMe platform to promote Christopher Nolan's movie 'Tenet'

This themed puzzle created by the Postmedia group in Canada demonstrates how puzzles can be part of launches and events. The puzzle is based on Christopher Nolan’s blockbluster movie Tenet and was released in Canada during the movie’s promotion. All the clues and answers are related to this movie and can be used as an engagement tool to create buzz amongst audiences.

This example illustrates how a puzzle can be themed for different types of events.

Click here to try the puzzle on the National Post’s website.

Reader engagement

A topical news crossword puzzle with image clues, created by The New Haven Independent

The New Haven Independent creates crossword puzzles on topics of local interest. The puzzles include multimedia, and are highly topical to the conversation in New Haven. Click here to go to the site.

Another example of multimedia puzzles in a local news context is a set of puzzles done by WCPO, a TV station in Cincinnati. Click here to solve a puzzle on Cincinnati neighborhoods.

PuzzleMe has many more use cases. We can provide other word or logic based games on request. Please contact us to discuss how PuzzleMe can help you.