Monday, December 01, 2014

App Install Advertising

As discussed in this Techcrunch article, today's app stores are overcrowded. There are millions of apps to choose from and developers struggle to get their games or utilities downloaded into the hands of users. While there are search engines and top 10 charts, there is very little personalized browsing or discovery. In order for developers to generate engagement and sales within their product, they first need app downloads. This is where app install advertising comes in.

App install ads have some big advantages on mobile compared to traditional banner ads:
1. Apps are easy to buy- most consumers have their credit card loaded into the app store and don't need to take the time to input all of their credit card details. This allows for more instantaneous, impulse purchases.
2. Installs are easy to track- conversion for app install ads is simple and straightforward. It is not a mobile ad for a product being bought offline or diving to a large website. One click leads directly to a purchase.

In the app install advertising, there are three big players: Google, Facebook and Twitter. These players already see a growing share of their ad revenue coming from mobile but a large portion of that is being driven by app install ads. Each player has acquired a company to help them grow and capitalize on app install ads: Facebook & Parse, Google & AdMob, and Twitter & MoPub.

As more brands/businesses focus on mobile, they will look to grow their userbases through install ads. While Google, Facebook and Twitter all offer solutions, there is not a clear winner in the app economy space yet. This will likely be determined by which service provides the best targeting, ad formats, conversion rates and the highest CLV for the lowest cost.

No comments: