Our October data reveals both established patterns and surprising disruptions in how consumers engage with brands across immersive and mobile platforms. The numbers tell a story of adaptation, innovation, and the occasional unexpected victory.

Walmart has emerged as October’s breakthrough success story, with Walmart Discovered seeing an extraordinary surge to 3.18 million new visits—more than doubling its September numbers. This immersive experience is now outperforming even its own mobile app, which recorded 1.68 million visits. With immersive engagement times averaging 7 minutes compared to 6.6 minutes on mobile, this suggests that well-crafted immersive experiences can rival, and even surpass, traditional digital channels.

Overall, the beauty sector continues to demonstrate the power of immersive experiences, albeit with mixed results. Sunsilk’s Hair Care Lab Tycoon, while experiencing a slight decline to 1.44 million visits in October, maintains impressive engagement with an average playtime of 8.6 minutes. L’Oreal Paris Catwalk Simulator shows promising growth with 1.22 million visits, though its average playtime decreased to 5.7 minutes from September’s 18 minutes.

Mobile strategies relying on mobile apps like e.l.f. Cosmetics (48,926 visits) and L’Oreal Access (4,320 visits) demonstrate significantly lower traffic than their immersive counterparts, suggesting that beauty brands are finding greater and more consistent engagement on immersive platforms.

Another breakout is Crocs World Tycoon which, despite lower visit numbers, boasts an impressive 13.4-minute average playtime—far exceeding the 3.4 minutes users spend on their mobile app.

Outlook

The October data shows several key trends that brands should consider:

1. Platform Synergy: Success increasingly depends on strategic platform choices that complement rather than compete with each other. Walmart’s strong performance across both immersive and mobile platforms exemplifies this approach.

2. Engagement Quality: While mobile apps often lead in visit numbers, immersive experiences frequently deliver longer engagement times. This suggests different platforms might serve different strategic purposes—mobile for transactions and convenience, immersive for brand building and experience.

3. Category-Specific Strategies: What works in one sector might not translate to another. Beauty brands are finding particular success with immersive experiences, while apparel brands often see stronger mobile performance.

As we move toward 2025, these trends suggest that successful digital strategies will require increasingly nuanced approaches to platform selection and experience design. Brands that can effectively balance immersive engagement with mobile convenience while staying true to their category-specific needs will likely see the strongest overall performance.

You may also like our recent report Beyond Mobile, which compared the efficacy of immersive experiences versus traditional digital strategies. Every month ALDORA aggregates the performance and engagement of major brands in immersive environments and across interactive experiences.

This month’s data reveals a landscape of both challenges and opportunities. While several franchises have seen significant growth, others experienced declines in August, painting a complex picture of digital engagement in the toy industry.

ALDORA’s rankings, measuring new visits and average playtime, offer a window into how brands are captivating audiences in an increasingly competitive digital landscape. As children and young adults continue to shift their leisure time to online platforms, these monthly updates have become a crucial barometer for brand relevance and engagement.

At the top of our August leaderboard, we find a mix of venerable toy lines and media franchises, each navigating their own path in these digital kingdoms. Their performance in these virtual realms is not just a footnote in their overall strategy—it’s rapidly becoming a central chapter.

Mattel’s iconic Barbie, while still leading in total visits, has seen a slight decline from July to August. The Barbie DreamHouse Tycoon experience on Roblox attracted a staggering 19 million new visits in August alone, with users spending an average of 14.5 minutes per session. This level of engagement speaks volumes about the power of well-crafted immersive experiences to hold attention in an age of digital distraction.

But Barbie isn’t the only one making waves in this new digital sea. Superhero franchises, long accustomed to leaping tall buildings, are now vaulting across platforms with equal agility. Marvel and Spider-Man experiences collectively drew over 20 million new visits in August. The Marvel and DC Super Heroes experience alone saw 11.6 million new visits, with users engaging for an average of 9.6 minutes per session. These numbers underscore the enduring appeal of superhero franchises and their successful translation into interactive digital environments.

The digital realm is also proving to be fertile ground for anime franchises. Dragon Ball and One Piece experiences show strong performance, with Dragon Ball-related experiences accumulating over 7 million new visits in August. The Dragon Ball Rage experience stands out with over 4 million new visits and an impressive average playtime of 16.5 minutes. These figures suggest that the fantastical worlds of anime are finding new life—and new audiences—in immersive digital spaces.

Even traditional toy brands, those stalwarts of physical play, are adapting to this new reality. LEGO, a brand synonymous with hands-on creativity, is successfully extending its appeal into the digital sphere. The LEGO Building Simulator attracted over 700,000 new visits in August, with users spending nearly 10 minutes per session on average. Similarly, Hot Wheels is racing into the digital age with its Open World experience, which saw close to 1 million new visits. These examples illustrate how classic toy brands can successfully transition into immersive digital experiences without losing their core appeal.

The message encoded in these numbers is clear: immersive experiences are becoming increasingly meaningful for audiences and, by extension, more crucial for brands. The high engagement times—many exceeding 10 minutes per session—indicate that users are not just passively interacting with these digital spaces. They’re living in them, playing, creating, and connecting with brands on a deeper level than ever before.

For toy franchises and entertainment brands, this shift represents both a challenge and an unprecedented opportunity. These digital platforms offer a chance to extend the life and relevance of franchises, reach new digitally-native audiences, create year-round engagement beyond physical product cycles, test new ideas with real-time feedback, and build communities around their brands.

Looking to the future, we can expect to see more brands investing heavily in emerging immersive spaces. The lines between physical toys, digital play, and brand engagement will continue to blur. Successful brands will be those that can create cohesive experiences across all these touchpoints, using digital immersion to strengthen their overall brand ecosystem.

Our August 2024 data shows that toy franchises are not just adapting to the digital age—they’re actively shaping it. As immersive experiences become more sophisticated and widespread, they will play an increasingly crucial role in how brands connect with their audiences, create value, and stay relevant in a rapidly changing digital landscape.

In this new world of play, the most successful brands will be those that understand a fundamental truth: in the digital realm, engagement is the new currency, and immersive experiences are the mint.

Every month ALDORA aggregates the performance and engagement of major brands in immersive environments and across interactive experiences.

You may also like our recent report Beyond Mobile, which compared the efficacy of immersive experiences versus traditional digital strategies.

The ALDORA framework, which encompasses five key dimensions – Play, Watch, Connect, Create, and Spend – offers a comprehensive lens through which to understand this new ecosystem. Among these dimensions, CONNECT has emerged as a critical factor for brands seeking to build and engage audiences in digital environments.

As the digital realm becomes increasingly saturated with content, traditional methods of discovery and user acquisition have grown more complex and costly. This shift poses significant challenges for brands as standing out amidst a sea of offerings has become increasingly difficult. However, it also presents a unique opportunity for those who can effectively leverage the power of connection.

It is difficult to overstate the importance of social interaction in driving engagement. Today’s digital spaces have become primary platforms for social interaction, with audiences seeking experiences centered on creativity and self-expression. Games, once solitary pursuits, have evolved into dynamic ecosystems where players not only engage in gameplay but also participate in a variety of interconnected activities. These include streaming on platforms like Twitch, creating mods and content, and, crucially, connecting with others in online communities.

This shift towards social gaming is evident in the numbers. The audience for shared online environments now outnumbers single-player experiences four to one. Between 2014 and 2021, the number of players in multiplayer games grew by an astounding 87%, while single-player games saw only a 1% increase. This trend underscores the growing importance of social connections in online, interactive entertainments.

A recent ALDORA report, Beyond Mobile, showcased how conventional digital strategies centered on mobile downloads are yielded less engagement than immersive experiences. Apparel brands, for instance, see much more traction by engaging consumers on their terms, rather than coaxing them into an isolated downloadable app.

For brands, the challenge lies in adapting to this new landscape. Traditional one-to-many communication models are giving way to more immersive, interactive approaches. Successful companies must look beyond conventional marketing strategies and focus on fostering meaningful connections within these digital communities.

One of the most successful releases from the last year was Baldur’s Gate III. Generating close to $2 billion since its release, it is a spectacular revival for Hasbro’s long-standing franchise of Dungeons & Dragons. Compared to the movie release, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, which generated $205 million at the box office, the game proved vastly more popular. The secret? During the development of the game, studio Larian Games connected with its user base. By sharing parts of the title before its release, it managed to build goodwill and de-risk the development process. By the time of the game’s launch, Larian Games had established a groundswell of online activity and buzz that contributed to broader promotion and ultimate commercial success. It was band marketing suited for a new generation.

Increasingly, similar initiatives emerge. Take, for instance, Discord’s innovative approach to game discovery. With users playing an astounding 60,000 different game titles each month on their platform, Discord introduced “Quests” – time-limited promotions that encourage players to try new games by offering rewards for completing simple tasks. What makes Quests particularly effective is their social nature. When a user accepts a Quest, their friends can see this activity, creating organic visibility for the featured game. This approach not only introduces players to new games but also leverages Discord’s social features to spread awareness.

And as a final example, the New York Times found unexpected success in the gaming world with its acquisition of Wordle. The simple word game brought “an unprecedented tens of millions of new users” to the Times, many of whom stayed to engage with other games. This led to the company’s best quarter ever for net subscriber additions to its Games section, showcasing the power of connecting through shared experiences.

As we move forward, brands that excel in fostering connections and facilitating meaningful interactions in digital spaces will be the ones that thrive. The CONNECT dimension of the ALDORA framework presents a key opportunity for brands to build loyal audiences, drive engagement, and ultimately succeed in the ever-evolving digital landscape. By embracing this new paradigm, companies can create deeper, more meaningful relationships with their consumers, turning casual users into engaged community members and brand advocates.