Interview

1 million downloads proves monetising from search bolt-on works on Android, says StartApp's Itay Rokni

Advertising not the only answer

1 million downloads proves monetising from search bolt-on works on Android, says StartApp's Itay Rokni
There's a no nonsense tone to Itay Rokni when he talks about monetisation problems with Android Market.

Putting it plainly, Rokni – who serves as VP for marketing at Israeli StartApp – believes the vast majority of apps on Google's platform simply don't make enough money on their own, owing in large part to consumer hunger for free apps.

As a result, developers are led one of two ways – either they employ in-app advertising, or they turn to tools like StartApp, which straps on a search tool to apps that generates revenue whenever it's used.

We caught up with Rokni for his take on why, almost 1 million downloads later, consumers are embracing software bolt-ons on Android, rather than complaining about them.

Pocket Gamer: Tell us a bit about StartApp.

Itay Rokni: We started StartApp with the intention to give mobile app developers a real way to make revenue from their free apps, while keeping the user experience in the app clean from cluttered ads.

Our motto was, and still is, 'empowering the world of free apps'. We understood that with current monetisation solutions for free app developers, this system will eventually die out, as there will be little incentive for developers to create quality apps and hand them out for free.

In-app ads, which is the most popular monetisation option out there, delivers little revenue to the developer - unless you’re Rovio. So we started looking for an alternative to cater all app developers, no matter what app you have or how many downloads you generate, we wanted to offer the highest revenue to devs.

Why did you choose a search engine?

Search monetisation is something we know. Know very well, in fact.

Myself and several others here at StartApp have used this monetisation model in past companies we worked in to incredible success. It's one of the rare solutions that combines both monetisation and added value to users.

We know the potential and revenue that lies in this model and our intention was to try and migrate this model from the world of PC and web into mobile.

And we have. Utilising this monetisation model, with its incredible potential, allows us to pay our partner developers on a per download basis, rather than rely on impressions, clicks or - sometimes odd - banner targeting and placement.

The developer knows he is getting paid for every app download he generates with our SDK - it’s the most simple model to understand and one where there are no surprises to the developer.

Another huge advantage our model has is that it enables the developer, if he wants, to have his app completely clean of ads and banners, which sometimes ruin a good app or UI. He'll get paid more while his user gets a better experience.

The suggestion behind StartApp is, developers are struggling to monetise their apps on Android from the sale of their titles. What does that say about the platform's health?

It’s no secret that selling your app on the Android Market is a big no-no.

Of course, there are exceptions, and some great success stories out there, but when it comes to the medium to small independent developer, it is highly likely that Android Market already has a better, more polished and free alternative to pretty much anything it wishes to develop.

This 'free' Android eco-system that has evolved makes it difficult to get the users to open up their wallets - unlike the Apple App Store, where it almost seems the opposite is true.

The stats talk for themselves: 80 percent of paid apps are downloaded less than 100 times. Only 4 percent of app downloads are paid apps.

You say developers can earn anywhere between $10-50 per 1,000 downloads. What kind of results did you see in your beta test?

Our model is very straightforward – you get paid for every app download. $0.05 for U.S download and $0.01 for any other country.

In the near future, we will offer our developers the option of a 50/50 revenue share based on the search results their users generate, and I’m sure those number will even grow higher than what we offer today.

Isn't there a risk that consumers will view the search app as an annoying add-on?

That’s definitely something we are aware of and monitoring all the time.

Obviously we all want to get the best app for free and no ads but reality is that developers needs to make revenue as well to cover cost, hence between the options of paying for the apps, cluttered in-app ads, or a useful search that they can also delete, we believe the latter is the preferred one by consumers.

Bottom line, after nearly 1 million downloads and several million searches already made, we are seeing very little push back from users.

We are tracking the apps utilising our solution, and requesting feedback from our devs to see if there is anything out of the ordinary, aside from a few negative reviews – not unusual on Android Market - there hasn’t been much bad vibe so far.

Unlike in-app ads, users can delete our search and can keep using the app for free. Transparency is very important to us, and do not wish for a user to be surprised.

So, all our developers are obligated to add a short disclaimer text on every app description using StartApp.

This, we believe, helps get the point over to the user and significantly reduce negative reviews. From all the apps using StartApp, there has yet to be one that suffered a popularity decrease after adding our SDK.

Do you have plans to refine the current search-based set up, or are there other ways you're looking to help monetise Android developers?

We are still in the beginning of this journey. Currently, we are refining our search feed and search features to make it a better option for users.

Our Developer Zone - where developers can download our SDK and manage their reports and payments automatically – will launch shortly.

The search itself is a great solution. Obviously we have more ideas to benefits the developers and users, but not ready yet to announce them. We'll be very happy to give you heads up when time is right.
Thanks to Itay for his time.

You can find out more about StartApp on the firm's website.

With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.