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Dashboard for Universal App Campaigns (Photo: Google)
App install ads are the search ads of mobile devices, an iconic ad format that helped mobile advertising revenues overtake those of desktop Web ads last year. But as app overload becomes more apparent, app developers are looking to go beyond just installations.
Today at Google’s I/O conference for software and app developers, the search giant is announcing several ways to allow developers to market their apps to the most valuable potential users: people most likely not only to install a game or travel app, but to play it or buy vacation packages regularly.
For one, Google is expanding its app ads, which it calls Universal App Campaigns, beyond Android devices to work on apps on Apple ’s iOS mobile software that powers iPhones and iPads. The ads can reach target users on both Android and iOS devices not only on apps but also on YouTube, search and the Google Display Network of more than 2 million partner websites.
The app campaign service is also starting to offer more options to target the most valuable users based on in-app “conversions,” such as reaching level 10 in a game or making a purchase in a shopping app. It’s also offering the option to pay based on those conversions, not just based on installations.
Finally, it’s automating much of the work needed to figure out both whom the most valuable customers are and how much they’re worth so advertisers know the right amount to bid in ad auctions. “We’re doing the heavy lifting with the ad creative and the targeting,” says Sissie Hsiao, product management director for mobile app ads.
Closely linking the more targeted advertising and the analytics potentially helps developers make more money. That, of course, eventually makes the search and display ad giant more money from its core business of advertising.
Although Google’s spending on far-out projects such as Internet balloons and self-driving cars depressed earnings in the first quarter, mobile ad revenues drove continued growth. In fact, Google claims it has prompted 2 billion app installs as a result of its ads, the same number app install ad pioneer Facebook cited for its own installs at its F8 developer conference in April. And Google says the number of app ads has doubled from a year ago.
Dashboard for Firebase Analytics (Photo: Google)
Yet another component of Google’s app ad push is Firebase, a company it bought back in October 2014. It provides a package of data storage and real-time data synchronization software needed to manage an app’s customers and features. Today, Google is announcing a new Firebase Analytics service that it says will serve as the glue for all of Firebase’s storage, user “push” notifications, purchase tracking and other services.
“You can think of this as Google’s mobile development platform now,” says Firebase Analytics product manager Russ Ketchum. Firebase allows developers to more quickly create apps and web applications. The new analytics piece lets them measure not only installations, but purchases and a dozen other customer actions.
Ad-driven actions by users can also be tracked across about 20 other ad networks, such as AdColony, InMobi and Vungle, where ads are run. The online diet app SparkPeople, for instance, noted the advantage of linking its Google AdWords account to Firebase so it can gauge the lifetime value for its users gained from each ad campaign.
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