The news comes a weeks after Twitter started selling app install ads, following Facebook’s lead. Yahoo is floating the idea as well.
YouTube’s app install ads will run with TrueView, the in-stream service that allows users to skip through videos, the company said. It was added to mobile in August of 2012.
A mobile ad with the new capability of opening an installed app on a user’s phone.
Twitter’s ad world just got a little bigger.
The messaging service — whose business is already 75% mobile — started selling ads in mobile apps beyond Twitter today, a key rationale of its purchase of MoPub, a mobile adexchange it purchased in September.
MoPub will allow Twitter’s advertisers to buy mobile app install ads through the exchange. App install ads are today the mobile web’s dominant form of advertising and a key source of revenue for Facebook and other publishers.
Via the integration, advertisers can buy mobile app install and app engagement ads on Twitter, as well as on the thousands of apps within MoPub’s network, which include WordPress, OpenTable, the mobile messaging app Tango, and the music-streaming app Songza.
Twitter’s intention to launch mobile app install ads has been a poorly kept secret. Promoted tweets with Twitter “Cards” attached in which users can click to install an app have been materializing in users’ Twitter streams over the last few weeks.
Though still in a private beta, mobile app install ads will be available for purchase in Twitter’s ad auction, and other targeting parameters can be applied to them. But separately, advertisers will be able to participate in real-time bidding to buy mobile app install and app engagement ad inventory programmatically via MoPub within the Twitter ad system. Those ads will appear as banners, interstitials, video and sometimes in native formats.
Good overview of what needs to be done by marketers “beyond creating an app” in order to drive awareness, usage and ROI!
So you’ve made an iPhone app, now what? Lisa Bettany, creator of Camera+, an app for the iPhone which has sold 2.6 million copies and has achieved the top spot in the App Store in the first release, gave CaT attendees tips on how to sell a product through the app store.
1. Create a Twitter contest. The contest that Camera+ ran had two simple steps: follow one designated account and post as many pictures as you want. “Twitter contests generate buzz,” she said referring to them later as “Tweet blasts.”
2. Sell strategically. Releasing an app on the weekends or a holiday, such as Christmas, has proven to be beneficial to sales numbers. Also, targeting the U.S. might be a good idea, since 58% of total iApp revenue was generated from the U.S. store.
3. Create a loyal following through engagement. Camera+ app users were sharing photos daily for a year. “If they’re loving it, they’re sharing it,” she said.
4. Wow your users. Research the features people actually want. Ms. Bettany advised to take app store reviews into consideration (while taking “You Suck” with a grain of salt, she said).
5. Fix bugs and boost performance. While this may be fairly obvious, she said Camera+ problems resulted in the app dropping from the top ten to roughly the No. 180 spot.
6. Don’t get kicked out of the App Store. Jokingly, Ms. Bettany referred to the time in which Apple took its app out of the digital store for creating the ability to take a picture using the volume button. Apple did not want that feature included in this app. Spoiler alert: It is going to be a feature on the iPhone 5 camera.
With the tremendous success of her Camera+ app, Mr. Bettany said, proudly, that “zero dollars was spent on traditional advertising.”
Copertino Digital 