If you are a brand, business, marketer, or mobile app developer sketching a roadmap towards your latest project, I know about a question that’s keeping you on the fence.
Should you or not integrate in-app advertising in your arsenal?
Out of many things solved over the years with mobile, native mobile advertisements are still kind of “not so prominent” among many brands, marketers, and businesses. They are not sure if embedding Ads into their mobile apps fits into their marketing mix. In a world that is going mobile-first, many still consider mobile as a secondary channel, rather than a primary medium to drive most of the modern-day engagements. Hence, in-app advertising merely remains an afterthought to many.
Sadly, only a few understand the efficiency of mobile in not only driving superior engagements but also boosting the degree of media consumption. Compared to other forms, in-app Ads have the potential to become a vital part of any modern-day monetization or marketing strategy.
Fortunately, there is no shortage of quick learners and early adopters. Worldwide marketers spending over $184 billion on mobile advertising in 2018 is proof of the same. We cannot deny the fact that Statista believes this number would even cross the $160 billion mark by the end of 2019. I mean, there has been a shift; the number of mobile app publishers using in-app advertising has already surpassed the number of those using in-app purchases as a primary source of monetization. That’s a sign, indeed.
Why In-app Advertising Is Crucial For Brands?
One of the answers lies in the explanation of how advertisements work on mobile websites Vs mobile apps. Mobile apps are far better at driving attention and engagement through personalized user experiences that mobile websites lack. Websites rely on ‘Cookies’ to track users. Ads targeted via mobile websites track only browsing behaviors, that too if they survive the Ad-blockers. With so much at stake, these cookies expire after every 24 hours.
On the other hand, mobile apps track users via unique Device ID, which does not expire this frequently. Using Device ID, apps can extract deeper and stable information about users, which is more meaningful than just browsing behaviors. To name a few, mobile apps can extract GPS location, Device Brand, Device OS, Wireless Carrier, and personal information such as name, email, Age, and Gender under some specific circumstances. As per Ad blockers are concerned, no ad-blocker can subdue in-app Ads as of now.
Users Spend More Time On Mobile Apps
Intriguingly, consumers spend more time on their mobile phones than computers. Out of this, mobile apps make 90% of the total time. Eventually, it’s a mobile app where advertisers can find most of their target people. Contrastingly, as compared to mobile apps that almost grow into a part of users’ daily habits and utility, we don’t find users visiting websites this frequently.
In case you still have a doubt, know that Facebook literally went from a no-ads revenue model to making 41% of their total revenue through mobile-ads just after one year of implementing ads in their mobile app.
Better Click-Through Rates And Targeting
As per a study by Opera Mediaworks, in-app ads receive two times better CTR to let advertisers make 13.5 times better money than what website-based Ads could ever achieve. With more immersed and personalized user experience, users find it intriguing to click on adapted in-app advertisements.
For starters, normal ad banners stand out from the rest of the web pages and are highly intrusive due to poor re-targeting. Contrastingly, mobile apps can deliver accurate in-app targeting and choose from a plethora of immersive ad formats as per tailored user experience. In-app advertising these days supports high-quality HD videos, tiles, and responsive banners to adapt smaller screen sizes.
In short, with the Device ID, GPS tracking, personal information, and right kind of mobile app, you can expect a highly accurate targeting through mobile apps. Additionally, information curated through mobile apps remains highly stable when compared to volatile data gathered via cookies, which don’t last long. Device IDs last for up to 600 times longer than cookies. In the end, advertisers get better prospects for hyper-focus targeting and superior click-through rates in apps than other forms of Ads.
Accurate Targeting Makes It Safer For Brands Reputation
Companies and brands have been expressing their concern about Ads ending-up in awkward situations and ruining the brand image. Poorly targeted Ads sometimes end-up next to explicit or offensive content, severely smearing the brand image. This happens often in website-ads, where brands generally remain unacquainted with the platforms where advertisers show their Ads.
However, this is quite different from in-app Ads. For starters, in-app Ads reach a highly targeted audience, so they barely land in the wrong place. Most of the advertisers let brands decide the type and category of apps to show their Ads. Besides, apps that support Ads go through brand safety tests by the advertisers, Apple Store, and Google Play store, which add an extra layer of security for brand reputation.
How does In-app Advertising Work?
As of now, we know how in-app advertising uses Device ID and SDK to identify a user and many other data about the target users. Let’s merge it with some other entities to understand the back-end of how Ads navigate in a network of different stakeholders:
- Advertisers: A marketer creates an ad template as per specified formats and designs a campaign. The Ad copies/campaigns go to a DSP (demand-side platform), which curates campaigns from many other advertisers as well. The curated campaigns then go to the mobile app publishers.
- Mobile app publishers: Publishers integrate these campaigns with an SSP (supply-side platform) that collects all the ads supplied advertisers. The integration of publishers Ad service with advertisers is done through either SDKs or APIs, which app publisher supply to the app developers.
- Ad Network: Ad network works as a platform to connect advertisers with app publishers. Please note that advertisers curate Ad copies from marketers and forward to the App publishers who run these Ads on their partner apps. Ads network just connect them to ensure a publisher gets as many Ads to offer to their partner Apps.
Looking Forward
Getting on the right foot with in-app ads can land you with boosted prospects. This entire ecosystem is a multi-dimensional web with different kinds of benefits for different entities. Whether you are an app owner, a marketer, or an advertiser, in-app advertising is the present and probably the future as well. We might see Ad formats and targeting tactics evolving over time, but the scope of app-based advertising is not fading away any sooner. We would be seeing more businesses making their ways to it in the upcoming year as well. However, if you are an advertiser, there is no time like now to include in-app advertising in your arsenal.
