As the current AppGratis situation demonstrates, user acquisition remains the hottest topic.
Making content is the easy part, but getting people to experience that content continues to drive much of innovation in the app ecosystem.
Given the prices that are being paid for each install driven by an advertising campaign, it's no surprise companies are looking at user activity beyond the download too.
From the ground up
That's part of what mobile marketing platform TapSense is bringing to the table.
Set up in 2011 by some of the original team behind InMobi, it's been building out the reach and technology of M3 Cloud, something it describes as a new generation advertising platform for mobile.
"There's a real challenge trying to get legacy technology to work with smartphones and handle all the complexities such as different OSes, conversion tracking, multi-channel funnel analytics and the rest," explains VP of marketing, Gregory Kennedy, himself a recent convert from InMobi.
"It's much more complex than handling web advertising."
Available in markets such as the US, UK, Australia, Canada, parts of Europe and Japan, M3 Cloud being used by companies such as Pocket Gems and TinyCo.
What's your motivation?
In particular, TapSense is looking at specific areas where seemingly small features or improvements can have a big impact.
For example, in 2012, it announced its TapSense Ads for iOS, which enables downloads from in-app adverts without the user leaving the host app.
Kennedy is also keen to talk about TapSense's conversion tracking piece.
"It's vital to go beyond the user downloading the app," he explains.
This feeds into a wider industry trend. Influenced by the rise of mobile performance advertising, brand campaigns are now highly targeted on an outcome.
"Brand advertising is dead," Kennedy argues. "It's all about brand response.
"These clients need high quality inventory, and there also needs to be some sort of action, whether it's a download, a sign up, or a like.
"Don't run advertising for the sake of it."
Interview
Contributing Editor
A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.
Related Articles
Top Stories
Feature
May 17th, 2024
New release roundup: The best new mobile games from a battle royale to a console classic remake
Feature
May 16th, 2024
Behind the scenes: How adding sandwich offers to an idle merge game boosted three metrics at once
Events
Digital Dragons | Europe | May 19th |
GamesBeat Summit 2024 | North America | May 20th |
Mobidictum Meetup Tallinn May 2024 | Europe | May 21st |
Nordic Game Spring 2024 | Nordic | May 21st |
Impact 2024 - Indie Games | May 23rd | |
Morocco Gaming Expo | Africa | May 24th |
MomoCon 2024 | North America | May 24th |
Unreal Fest Gold Coast 2024 | Australasia | May 29th |
Popular Stories
Feature
May 14th, 2024
53 top mobile games in soft launch: Squad Busters, Battle Guys: Royale, Plants vs. Zombies 3, LEGO Hill Climb Adventures, and more
Feature
May 13th, 2024
Hot Five: Dubai's new Gaming Visa, April's mobile game charts, and Xbox studio closures
Interview
May 13th, 2024