Chardonnay, a global mobile gaming studio, is focused on driving profitable growth. As competition increased across major UA channels in 2026, the team began testing new supply sources to unlock incremental, high-quality users without sacrificing long-term return.

They partnered with BidMachine to explore a different approach to user acquisition, prioritizing efficiency, user quality and downstream profitability over pure volume.

From testing a new channel to scaling profit

Chardonnay began working with BidMachine in early 2026, initially treating it as an experimental UA channel alongside partners like AppLovin, Google Ads and Moloco. The focus was on one title, Spades iOS, a competitive card game where efficient acquisition and user quality matter more than scale alone.

Instead of broad targeting, the strategy leaned into precision. The team focused on high-quality in-app supply, tested campaigns against relevant competitor inventory and continuously optimized toward downstream ROAS rather than just CPI. As performance improved, the team scaled into the segments that consistently met their profitability targets.

A UA approach built around performance

The impact came not just from access to new inventory, but from how quickly campaigns could be tested, iterated and scaled. 

A few things stood out:

High-intent supply
BidMachine’s SDK-direct inventory gave Chardonnay access to users inside relevant apps, driving stronger engagement from the start.

Fast iteration cycles
New ideas moved quickly from discussion to live campaigns, allowing the team to test and refine targeting, creatives and bidding strategies in near real time.

Flexible creative strategy
Campaigns used a wide range of creatives tailored to different audience segments and placements, improving performance across the funnel.

Alignment on profitability
Campaigns were consistently optimized toward Chardonnay’s internal profitability targets, ensuring spend translated into long-term return, not just installs.

As Alex Kozhura, who leads UA efforts at Chardonnay, described it:

“BidMachine is flexible. They move very fast, test different things and see what works. The loop between a new idea and implementation is very short.”

Results 

As campaigns scaled, Spades iOS became one of the top-performing titles on BidMachine:

• $3.51 CPI in the US
• 33.7% D7 ROAS
• 167.9% eROAS (D730 forecast)

This translated to roughly 1.5x return on every dollar spent, making BidMachine a consistently profitable UA channel for the title.

A new channel for incremental growth

BidMachine is now a key part of Chardonnay’s UA mix for select titles, providing access to differentiated supply and enabling faster testing and optimization. For Spades iOS, the result is efficient acquisition, high-quality users and profitable growth at scale.