Desktop advertising has come a long way from the first banner Ad in Oct 1994. As display advertising evolved and matured, there eventually arose the need to move away from segment-based buys to very-fine grained individual buys. Programmatic buying empowered marketers to achieve the efficiency desired, growing disproportionately with the rise of display advertising.

Interesting as it seems, mobile advertising adapted itself to the ways of the display advertising world. Consequently, early mobile users experienced banner ads retro-fitted to suit mobile devices. While the focus stayed on capitalizing from the App economy and monetizing users, the user herself was completely ignored, and solving for the problem of ad experience on mobile remained unexplored.

Banner Ads continued to grow for a while, and then it all started to fall apart. In fact it got to a stage that the term ‘ Banner Blindness’ was coined.

Given its ramifications, the advertising industry turned towards fixing the banner ad problem innovatively. Among the multiple innovations publicized, the one that really caught the attention of the advertising community was the Native Ad format.

Unlike programmatic on desktop, which evolved after desktop matured, mobile programmatic grew rapidly right from the onset of mobile advertising. Unfortunately, mobile programmatic is built on a fallacy: banners that worked in display, will work in mobile. Mobile programmatic, like Mobile advertising had never been defined keeping the user in mind.

Today, we are proud to announce the launch of the InMobi Exchange.

With native we redefined mobile advertising keeping the user at the center. With mobile programmatic, we are pushing the envelope even further by bringing automation to native media buying. It now sets the stage for innovation on mobile programmatic given the constructs of how native advertising functions within the case of small-screen devices.

Mobile gamers are a fickle audience and a game that may have been at the top of the charts yesterday, is easily forgotten today, as more and more apps (with minor differences) flood the app stores. It is becoming imperative for game developers to not just consider monetization potential when implementing ads, but also the impact it has on the game play experience. Having a loyal user base is as much about your game, as it is about how you implement ads in your game. One wrong move and you are likely to annoy your fan base.

Among the plethora of ad formats available, lets face it - banner ads in games are dead. Banner ads are obtrusive within a mobile game experience (If you’ve ever accidentally tapped on one while playing your favorite game, you know exactly what I mean) and implementing banners means giving up space at the top or bottom of the game screen for a format which most gamers have learned to ignore successfully. Neither are gamers willing to look at banners during game play, nor are developers happy about having to design their game around this slot.

With the death of banners, focus is now on creating a native ad experience for gamers - be it in the look and feel of the ad, or how it fits in the actual game play experience itself.

Full page ads which fit into the natural interruptions of your game play have proven to be the most effective ad monetization template for games. These may be implemented in the form of static/rich media ads (interstitials) or as interstitial videos which play at timely moments in the games. While it may be tempting to use them more frequently to maximize monetization, we have noticed developers see maximum eCPMs when interstitials are used after every 2-3 minutes - this may mean at level completion or when a turn ends. With eCPMs 3X of static interstitials, video ads fit perfectly into the happy moments of your game - like level completion or level wins. It is important to ensure that the user experience is not marred by videos which keep playing every 2 mins - Frequency capping and session based optimization are key to a happy user.

Yet another variation of the video is the rewarded video. Rewarded video ads fit perfectly into your virtual economy as a means of redeeming a booster pack or an extra life or anything that the gamer needs to continue his game play. Rewarded videos are generally non skippable videos, placed in shop fronts and help in monetizing the game as well as increasing user retention, while at the same time ensuring that the follow up action is completely choice driven. While rewards are an awesome way to increase user retention, it is important to note that rewarded installs are a “dirty” way of earning money since it generally results in low quality users for the advertiser and can end up in your app being blacklisted by the major advertisers.

Native Interstitial Mock-Up for Devil Ninja 2

Rewarded Video in What’s the Difference

With ads becoming an integral part of a game’s monetization and retention mechanism, it is interesting to see how they can be used optimally for the different types of personalities in your game base. The most common classification of hardcore vs casual has long since been moved from the game to the gamer category. It is possible for even a supposedly casual game like Candy Crush Saga to have a hardcore gamer (who doesn’t have a friend who is already on the 589th level of the game) and for something as core as Infinity Blade to have a casual gamer base. At the end of the day, it comes down to the personality of the person playing the game and his motivation for doing so. Bateman and Boon, introduced 4 game play styles in their book - 21st Century Game Design. Lets take a look how ads can be used to successfully monetize and retain these different users.

The Conqueror - A patient gamer intent on winning, with sheer persistence and logistical optimization. Be it a hardcore conqueror intent on beating his own score or a casual conqueror fighting to win in PvP, these players are delighted by rewards that help them further their cause. Incentivized video ads which help them gain currency or rank rewards or open up a whole new challenge level are ideal for keeping them hooked.

The Manager - A persistent gamer intent on mastering the game mechanics with little consideration for actually winning the game. Getting stuck at any point can lead to sudden loss of interest with these gamers. Using video ads to keep them involved/engrossed during the wait periods of the game (such as waiting for a player's turn to end, waiting for your farm to build, etc.) is a good way to keep them hooked. Given the fickleness of these users, native interstitials are also an ideal way of monetizing the short run gamers with a pleasing ad experience.

The Wanderer - A player in search of a fun experience who is more interested in the story that the game builds than in winning the game. These players are invested in the characters of your game and will be delighted if their favorite characters are used to introduce the ads (Native frames/ Native Interstitials). Wanderers are more interested in toy-play than game play and can be retained longer if they are given new tools to explore at regular intervals. They will be delighted with brand video ads at level ups and equally excited to watch a video in exchange for a new environment or a fancy character.

The Participant - A player who is happiest when playing with other people or when the game is rooted in emotions. The participant is least competitive and better incentivized with social networks than free weapons/tools. Monetize these gamers with videos at happy moments, draw emotion with event specific native interstitials and keep them hooked with leaderboards/invites from their network of friends.

If you are a game developer and interested in exploring better ways to creating a native ad experience for your gamers, write to us at iluvnativeads@inmobi.com

Note: Native interstitials are regular interstitials with frames which look native to your app. These frames can be applied easily through your dashboard and do not require any integration changes. Learn more about how you can apply frames for your interstitial site with InMobi and share your excitement about upcoming popular events (think Football!) with your users.

FIFA – A Golden Opportunity For Marketers

Any world cup or a large sporting event is big for marketers and brands, and FIFA World cup 2014 is undoubtedly the largest marketing platform in the world because of the sheer numbers involved. With a total of 64 matches and 32 teams across 12 stadiums, the entire event is scheduled to take place from 12 June to 13 July 2014 with an estimated 4 billion fans following across television, mobile and social media. With so many eyes and ears paying attention to the games, this World Cup is braced to be a record-breaking marketing event which is bound to offer massive payoffs for advertisers. The FIFA World cup has a global fan following who is not only glued to their television sets, but also active on social media to follow the journey and express their views even months after the games have concluded.

For marketers, this tournament provides an incredible opportunity to reach their consumers at a large scale across multiple screens. Although only the official sponsors are allowed to mention the World Cup in their marketing, opportunities always exist for the non-official sponsors as well to create campaigns around the FIFA ecosystem. Hence it is important for the marketers to have a solid grip on the current trends in sports marketing and incorporate them in their campaigns.

The volume of user and publisher activity around the World Cup every four years shows how much global reach mobile platforms have achieved. With the ever-growing number of mobile devices, this year’s World Cup will be a measure of the world’s movement to smaller devices such as smartphones and tablets. It is clear that mobile phones will be front and center for consumers at this year's World Cup. As consumers move seamlessly between screens there are huge opportunities for marketers to target consumers with an effective and more efficient frequency across platforms.

World Cup 2014: Viewership and Buzz

Football is a sport of global interest amongst all demographic groups. This translates into a clear opportunity for brands and advertisers, with 72% of consumers planning to follow the 2014 World Cup closely according to a study from IAB “2014 World Cup: A Global Mobile Perspective”.

Of the countries surveyed, Football fandom is strongest in Italy, where 70% of respondents state they are dedicated soccer fans, followed by Ireland (60%) and Colombia (58%) - See more at: http://www.inmobi.com/blog/2014/06/11/fifa-world-cup-and-mobile-marketing-a-match-made-in-heaven/#sthash.JkbREpsh.dpuf

Smartphones to Play Major Role in 2014 World Cup

According to “2014 World Cup: A Global Mobile Perspective,“ an international study generated by the IAB,

• 48% of soccer fans (from 11 markets) who have a smartphone plan to use them to follow the World Cup action. That’s second only to TV (63%) when it comes to media channel preference for watching the matches
• Most consumers plan to follow the World Cup at home – either at their own home (69%) or at someone else’s (34%) – this means not only do you have an engaged audience, but a captive one, too
• Smartphones will act as the gateway to World Cup information and content – 58% will use their device to access information, while 46% will access content while following the tournament
• In terms of direct monetization of the event, 68% were willing to pay for World Cup video content, with sentiment the strongest in the UK (80%), Mexico (78%) and Colombia (74%)
• As for the type of mobile advertising they’re most responsive to, 33% say they want to watch ads that are entertaining and creative. Only 17% say the relevancy of the advertising is important, while 16% want ads that feature their country’s team. Moments from previous World Cup matches (14%), star athletes (11%) and ads from World Cup sponsors (10%) aren’t as popular

The study clearly highlights that sporting fans around the world are already open to mobile marketing and are keen to leverage their phones as part of their experience of the game.

Source: 2014 World Cup: A Global Mobile Perspective, IAB

Marketers Game plan To Win Big at the World Cup:

Sports fans are increasingly accessing their mobile devices to heighten their sporting event experience. Throughout the game, fans are tuning in for real-time updates, social media, and commentary. The combination of real-time results, large audiences, and mobile technologies make this an exciting yet daunting opportunity for brands around the world.

This translates to real-world advantages for marketers and advertisers. Here are a few ways to take advantage of mobile advertising during the World Cup this year.

• Adopt a cross-device strategy to increase the time consumers spend with a brand. Mobile not only intersects online and offline activity, but also provides an interactive platform that allows immediate ways for brands to engage their consumers.
• Use mobile in-app ads or native ads to promote your product before the matches.
• Focus on second screen strategies around engagement through curated creative, connected content and quick decisions.
• Incentivize consumers to motivate purchases using hyper-local targeting and providing discounts and coupons to mobile users while in-store.
• Adopt location-based elements in the campaign, which is a key component and differentiator for the mobile channel. Measurement is quite effective for this strategy, as each coupon has a unique ID tied to the source of the ad campaign that ensures proper attribution is given when redeemed.

Conclusion – The Verdict

The excitement around any big sporting event like the World Cup will drive customers to experiment with brands. Sports fans generally plan their game day activities ahead of time; hence, it is important for advertisers to start the campaigns a week or two in advance and not just during an event. The 2014 football World Cup promises to be the most watched event and is going to be a very competitive time for brands to capture the attention of the large number of viewers. The stakes are high with ad spend increasing as much as twenty times than the last World Cup in South Africa in 2010. Brands and marketers have a chance to truly expand their mobile digital footprint this summer and will succeed only if they remain authentic, tell a compelling story, and deliver contextual content in real-time. Brands should consider whether or not they want to be among the first to adopt the technological innovations in mobile marketing and test out these new opportunities.

So, keep your eyes and ears open because it’s time to roar “Juntos num só ritmo”.

Get excited, and embrace the big game.

Using mobile ads to monetize is an integral part of the mobile apps ecosystem today, with a large number of developers relying solely on advertising revenue to sustain their businesses. For this purpose, certain unique device-level identifiers are sent to ad networks to allow them to serve targeted and more relevant ads. Apart from better monetization, uniquely identifying devices is extremely important as it helps ad networks do conversion matching (attributing app installs to the source), frequency capping, estimating unique users, security and fraud detection, and re-engagement/retargeting campaigns. However, certain identifiers such as IMEI (a large number of apps actually use this!) are less than ideal from a security and privacy perspective.

What's the deal with AID?

To balance user privacy and mobile advertising requirements, last year Google announced that it is replacing the unique Android ID with a new Advertising ID (AID). Though this new ID has been available since then, come August 1st 2014, the new policy will be in effect that mandates the use of the Advertising ID. According to Google’s developer content guidelines,

“Beginning August 1st 2014, all updates and new apps uploaded to the Play Store must use the advertising ID (when available on a device) in lieu of any other device identifiers for any advertising purposes.”

With this new ID comes new user privacy controls, similar to Apple’s “limit ad tracking”. Users can choose to reset the Advertising ID (similar to resetting IDFA in iOS 6) and opt out of “interest based ads.”

What do I do so that my monetization continues uninterrupted?

Google’s approach for an anonymous unique ID is inline with Apple’s IDFA approach, which has been well received by the entire industry.

InMobi has always been compliant with Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines and Google’s Developer Content Guidelines and honors the policy changes including user opt-out settings for both platforms.

InMobi’s latest Android SDK supports the new Advertising ID. Download now and follow the integration guidelines to enjoy uninterrupted monetization for your Android apps.

What can I do for accurate ad-attribution?

Use Google AID, collected by InMobi Analytics. Starting 17th June 2014, the InMobi Analytics SDK for Android will collect the Google Advertising Identifier by default, along with its supplementary setting that allows users to opt out of "interest based ads".

If you’re an advertiser looking for implementation code (including the collection of the Google AID), then please upgrade to our latest SDK so that InMobi Analytics can start collecting the value on installs (and other events) and perform attribution. You can pass the value on ad click via your tracking links. Details on this will be posted and communicated very soon!

Download the InMobi Android SDK now to ensure accurate ad attribution.

Please Note: All new apps and updates submitted to Google Play from August 1st 2014 must utilize this new ID. Any violation to Google’s developer content guidelines can result in app rejection.

Football fans have been ‘second-screening’ in front of their televisions since the earliest laptops. But without understanding specifics of this behavior, marketers often have trouble taking targeted action.

Four years ago in South Africa, The Beautiful Game saw breakthrough scale of its global mobile audience, and new data on their behavior.

1. Mobile internet usage (and engagement with mobile advertising) increases while TV commercials are on during matches. Mobile engagement numbers saw spikes during ad breaks and half time. This is a great time to reach this audience.

2. Momentum on mobile is high even before and after the match. In fact, engagement peaks after the end of the match. This indicates that consumers are looking beyond TV for content at these times. Do look at engaging users during these periods.

3. Football fans are not restricting themselves to only sports content while second screening during a match. Mobile News & Entertainment saw 57% higher browsing activity. Targeting content verticals is not as important as targeting audiences and their context.

4. As for the type of mobile advertising they’re most responsive to, 33% say they want to watch ads that are entertaining and creative. Only 17% say the relevancy of the advertising is important (source: ‘2014 World Cup: A Global Mobile Perspective’ by the IAB). So bring out all your creative firepower (and think outside football, too) to engage consumers with advertising that they like and are responsive to.

Contact us, to learn more about how InMobi can effectively help you address your target audiences during events.

70% of marketers still don't know what it is, but according to projections, native advertising will account for nearly $3 billion in spend by the end of this year. This is a powerful statistic, and one that we explored in depth at the IAB’s Advertising Technology Marketplace in New York. Titled 'What’s Native Got to do With It?', the town hall discussion was moderated by Kaylie Smith, Rubicon Project’s Head of Seller Cloud, and the IAB’s Director of Industry Initiatives, Carl Kalapesi.

It was great to experience the excitement around native advertising with the buyers and sellers in the room who participated. It was clear that both see the value in these emerging ad units. One of the key themes that was explored during the discussion was the question around the exact definition of native ads. Is it custom content, relevant ads, advertorials, in-feed, units that have the look and feel of an app, etc.? While the IAB published a playbook to provide greater clarity on this subject, I’m excited that InMobi and Rubicon Project are working with the IAB and the OpenRTB Forum to develop standardization in order to drive native adoption.

Kaylie echoed the sentiment that was on everybody’s mind ‘How does native scale in the programmatic world?’. InMobi has been obsessing about this for quite some time now and we believe we have taken the right steps to tackle this challenge. We launched our native self-serve platform to scale publisher onboarding. Separately, we announced the InMobi Exchange that leverages the Rubicon Project’s technology stack providing access to hundreds of buyers that activate tens of thousands of advertisers globally. In addition, we have proposed new RTB specifications that would support a broad range of custom native mobile advertising experiences that work in a similar way to how RTB supports VAST for video.

‘Can every publisher support native ads, or do certain types of content lend themselves better to native experiences?’ The best examples here come from news, entertainment, social, and weather apps that have begun integrating the InMobi Native Ads platform. And although there’s not a current standardization for native, there are some general themes that have been emerging, including messenger, chat list, tiles, photo album, in-feed, and similar. In order to have native scale programmatically we will need to have increased standardization that may come from the current native ad format themes.

A question at the forefront of every brand or agency is ‘What is the enhanced value that native advertising provides advertisers and brands?’. And in this audience, both the agency and publisher side of the room were already sold on the value of native advertising. Incidentally, InMobi is seeing a 5x increase in advertiser conversions, and a 6x increase in publisher monetization on average. Because the advertising experiences are highly customized, the actual conversion rates and CPMs do vary widely, but overall, the seamless consumer experiences are producing much higher value.

The issue remaining to be solved is providing measurement and reporting that captures the impact that native ads have on branding. Agencies and publishers are looking to measure native ads beyond conversions, to extract the value they bring to a branding campaign.

There’s no doubt that native is a valuable and engaging unit that will enable leaders in the mobile space to move beyond traditional banners. Definitions, ad sizes, and ad positioning for native currently vary. However, through working closely with the IAB, we can come to create some general guidelines that will allow publishers and advertisers to scale native ad placements programmatically.

Last week, the Silicon Valley Chapter of the American Marketing Association (SVAMA) invited me to participate on their panel, Mobile Marketing: Creating An Effective Mobile Experience for Your User. I discussed mobile marketing strategy alongside marketing mavens Deborah Kelson, former Senior Director of Mobile and Multichannel Marketing of Walmart eCommerce, and Dave Lawson, Director of Mobile and Digital Unification of Knotice, an IgnitionOne Company. Shannon Ryan, Founder & CEO of ArchetypeDNA, moderated the panel.

Key Takeaways

1.Marketers need to account for the differences of mobile from other traditional media channels, such as TV and online, yet still incorporate similar elements to create a cohesive multi-channel ad experience. Oftentimes, marketers try to force their traditional strategies into mobile. Although mobile complements other channels, it is its own separate channel and should be treated as such. Marketers most likely wouldn’t air the same exact TV commercial on the radio - instead, they may emphasize individual media attributes, e.g. sound for radio or video for television, but still incorporate many of the same elements, e.g. characters, voice, product slogan, to develop a cohesive multi-channel experience. The same goes for mobile. Examples of mobile properties to consider are physical attributes, e.g. screen sizes or touchscreen capabilities; usage context, e.g. while commuting or while at home; and connectivity.

2.Mobile is highly personalized; customization is essential to designing an engaging mobile experience. When crafting a mobile strategy, marketers need to understand how their consumers are using mobile in every day life and how consumers are using mobile specifically to help them shop for certain products or services. Marketers should also understand what consumers expect of their ads. Using this information, marketers can create specially targeted and relevant ad experiences to their consumers. For example, we noticed a correlation between car preference and ad preference, and we also noticed a correlation between car preference and mobile content consumption. In this instance, marketers can target vehicle-specific ads to the sites most frequented by their consumers

3.Before designing creatives, marketers should identify key performance indicators (KPIs) and optimize their campaigns against these metrics. This will determine how successfully they view their strategies and how they then optimize their campaigns. Sample KPIs include (but are not limited to): in-ad behavioral metrics, e.g. engagement rate, dwell time, and link-out rate;cost metrics, e.g. cost-per-acquisition (CPA), cost-per-download (CPD), and revenue-per-dollar spent; and standard brand metrics, e.g. brand lift, purchase intent and message association.

4.Mobile marketing is evolving. From geo-fencing to native advertising, the possibilities are limitless. Stay ahead of the curve and up-to-date on emerging technologies and trends.

In short: Optimize! Optimize! Optimize! Marketers should optimize their strategies to mobile devices. Marketers should optimize their ad experiences to their consumers’ preferences. And marketers should optimize their campaigns to meet and exceed their KPIs. Keeping these points in mind, marketers can maximize their opportunities on mobile.

With so many matches running into overtime and nail biting finishes ending with penalty shoot outs, it is no wonder that beer vendors have made a killing this year in the Brazil World Cup fever. But so have some of the mobile app developers. And I don’t mean just the game devs who built apps to report scores or football games like Fantasy Manager Football.

There is no doubting the positive impact that a simple creative refresh can have on app install rates. Big advertising game studios like Gree have relied on this good old method for years. Keep the ad creatives fresh and CTRs and CVRs remain healthy. But there really hasn’t been anything similar on the publisher side so far - apart from changing ad placements. With the launch of frames for interstitial ad units, this has all changed. It is easy to come up with a common concept like a simple white/black/blue border, apply it for all your interstitial properties and forget about it. Put in a little creativity and keep surprising your gamers with a new frame every few days and you can change the game altogether!

At InMobi, we took it upon ourselves to be an integral part of the soccer madness. Coupled with innovative game developers on the network who are always up for something new, we launched a gallery of world cup themed frames - a new frame every day for every match that is played. Now that’s creative refresh on a daily basis - And were we surprised! By simply changing the frames, we saw CTRs and eCPMs shoot up by more than a 100%. Publishers on the InMobi network have been making double digit eCPMs on static interstitials in key geographies where the world cup themed frames have been applied. CVRs have never been better, as ad units are now getting the attention they deserve.

We can’t wait to see the effect, the finals will have! If you would like to make the most of the last week of the World Cup madness, apply our soccer frame today.

2048 has players across all age groups and geographies and nothing unites a global audience like the World Cup. We were excited to make the most of this opportunity and when InMobi approached us with World Cup themed frames, it was the perfect solution. Not only do the frames look fantastic, but they have doubled eCPMs with literally zero effort.
- Guntis Pontags, Co-Founder, Estoty

With the multiverse of apps available in the mobile ecosystem, managing and growing your user-base amongst your suite of apps is a challenging proposition. Apart from focussing on building beautiful apps, you also have to focus on the three pillars - user acquisition, retention AND monetization, and each pillar requires time and effort. There are several solutions to these challenges that work in unison to grow and maintain your user-base.

One simple solution that works in retaining your users within your app suite is cross-promoting your apps through house ads. And guess what? It is low-cost, easy-to-implement and therefore less-risky!

Cross Promotion Through House Ads

• Scenario 1: Getting Users to Try Your New App

Your existing, loyal users trust you, and any new app that you launch already has pre-established credibility with these users. When launching a new app, notify your existing users and get a critical mass of users for your new property very quickly. This not only retains your existing users within your property but also gives you an initial set of reviews and download count on the app stores which people typically consider while making the download or not-to-download decision.

Pros: Accelerates the user base growth for your new app.

Cons: If you are a gaming publisher, this may migrate users from your earlier game to the new game. And if those users are high-paying users, this may result in lost-revenue. A viable solution is to segment your users into paying and non-paying, and cross-promote only to the non-paying user base.

• Scenario 2: Retaining Your High Quality Users

Let’s say you have a game with 100 levels with a well-established user base. When a user finishes all the 100 levels, where does he/she go? You want to retain these loyal users who have worked hard to complete your game and are extremely likely to try out a new game. Segment your users based on the level they are on and cross promote your new app to the users who are at level 95 and above. The end-result? You have now managed to successfully retain your loyal users through another offering of yours.

Pros: Retains users who would have left otherwise, thereby protecting your revenue streams.

Cons: Acquiring users for your new game through this strategy depends on the number of your users who play to reach the final stages of your game. The size of this user segment may not be huge enough to give you a significant bump in your user base for the new game.

• Scenario 3: Tapping into Users' Networks for Promotion.

Users sharing stats and information about your new app on their social networks can result in new user acquisition for free. If your earlier published app has a social sharing feature built-in, you can segment your users based on the number of the times they have shared in-app statuses on social networks, and cross-promote your new app to them.

Pros: Free user acquisition through social network virality.

Cons: This strategy depends on the “Social Media Quotient” of your users - how active they are on social media, how big their social networks are, how influential they are, etc. All these are important factors that determine the success of this strategy. This is not a disadvantage but can cause a variability in the factors that determine success, thereby causing unpredictability in the end result.

All these actions are easily possible through InMobi Analytics.

How do I do this through InMobi Analytics?

Step 1: Download the InMobi SDK from here.

Step 2: Integrate the SDK ( iOS, Android) and ensure the following:

a) Define the appropriate slot where you want to show the cross-promotion. Follow this guide to register your app and set up the slotId to be used in your code base.

b) Ensure that you have defined the relevant custom event such as tracking “Social Sharers” if you are targeting that segment.

Step 3: Create a segment by visiting “All Segments” against your app’s information in “Reporting” and hitting the “Create Segment” button with the appropriate rules.

Step 4: Hit the spanner icon against your app under the “Properties” tab and select “Actions”.

Step 5. Define the action by setting up your creative for cross promotion and select the segment you want to target.

Learn more on how you can implement these strategies with InMobi Analytics by visiting this link.

1. What is cross-promotion?

Cross-promotion, which involves the practice of setting up apps that promote each other to their audiences, is a wonderful, free way to promote your app. In practice app developers advertise each other’s apps via advertising placements within those apps. It’s a perfect approach for app developers on a tight budget. And, although there’s no real currency being exchanged between the app developers using this model, the app downloads this promotion strategy can drive could certainly be considered a form of currency.

Whether you’re exchanging impressions, clicks, downloads, installs, or sales, the fundamental principle is the same. The key is to ensure that all participants are extracting a similar value to the value that they are contributing to the exchange.

2. What are the benefits? What pitfalls to avoid?

The benefits cross-promotion offers are plenty. App developers can target their customers with ads related to the apps they already know and love — and it costs nothing!

Keep in mind that cross promotion is a kind of barter that relies heavily on data analysis, funnel optimization and testing (and lots of it!). If the idea of cross promotion is sounding more and more interesting, you can take advantage of it by either joining an existing platform or creating one yourself.

Many app developers have huge audiences of users. Since users download and use many apps, cross promotion can make business sense. Be sure you swap your audience with a non-competitive app developer. And be aware of the pitfalls. It’s hard to hard to know if you’re getting equivalent value out of the swap.

3. What options do you have to implement cross-promotion?

There are a variety of options available for developers to implement cross-promotion:

a. Create direct deals with other game developers. Agree to use your game to send traffic to their game, in exchange for them sending traffic to yours. You will need to add a mediation layer, or a tracking mechanism.

b. Implement advertising in your existing games. If you have several existing games in the mobile market, partnering with an ad network like InMobi enables you to create House Ads and run them to promote your new game.

c. Utilize an in-game advertising service that offers in-network cross-promotion.

4. When is cross-promotion effective?

Cross-promotion works best when you have developed a string of games and can tap into an existing customer base of people who already love and play your games. In this scenario, where you have a captured audience, you capture their attention by running in-house ads for your latest games — effectively harnessing in-house ads and doing cross promotion on your own inventory.

5. What inventory do you use?

It’s imperative to understand which inventory you want to use to show house ads vs. inventory that you wish to monetize through an ad network or an ad exchange. For instance, to your premium users, you could show promotional house ads to sell virtual goods instead of showing an ad-network ad. You will realize that by effectively understanding the sections/ placements of your app where your ads perform well, you will be able to generate higher eCPMs.

There are various scenarios where cross-promotion can be really beneficial. Click here to read about it and also how you can use InMobi Analytics to cross-promote your apps.

The world of mobile ad attribution is changing rapidly. From custom solutions offered by mobile ad platforms to independent solutions offered by pure mobile ad attribution players, and in more recent times changes introduced by Google, the world of mobile ad attribution has never been short on options and excitement. We help make sense of major changes in the attribution landscape.

Shift Towards ID Standardization

Apple IDFA has been in existence for a while and Google announced its new Advertising ID (AID) last year. Google’s notification on use of AID states that “... beginning August 1st 2014, all updates and new apps uploaded to the Play Store must use the advertising ID (when available on a device) in lieu of any other device identifiers for any advertising purposes.”

Most conversion trackers are updating their SDKs to collect AIDs in order to ensure a smooth transition to the new standard in Android device IDs. Advertisers, in turn, are also upgrading to the latest SDKs. Doing this sooner than later is imperative, as analytics SDKs can ensure that new standard IDs are matched correctly with existing user data, avoiding over-attribution later. Naturally, advertisers would be keen on avoiding a situation where there is a sudden spike in the number of acquisitions. If you’re an Android advertiser on InMobi Analytics - I hope you haven’t been waiting. Just in case you have,upgrade today!

Entry of new information parameters and sources

Leading the charge is Apple’s iTunes Connect. Developers get tons of perks, including the ability to track acquisition, engagement and retention metrics, for starters. Installs can be tracked using a Provider and Campaign ID. With no SDK changes or updates to the app required, this is an elegant and simple solution for attribution.

Most conversion trackers, including InMobi Analytics, are eagerly awaiting the APIs in order to start attribution, pronto! However, the importance of third-party conversion tracking cannot be understated, because of the ability of trackers to post-back conversions to networks.

Improvements in device fingerprinting

A device fingerprint is a probabilistic composite ID, typically generated by combining several device attributes. Conversion matches are determined by anonymously matching generated fingerprints at install and click time.

Device Fingerprinting is fraught with some issues - the most pertinent being the challenge of using fingerprinting at the right time. Using fingerprinting at the wrong time inevitably leads to a large number of false positives or negatives, affecting the accuracy of the method. Moreover, the technology varies amongst trackers, leading to the absence of a standardized way of measurement when device identifiers are not present. Many conversion trackers are working towards improving the accuracy of fingerprinting technology. The need of the hour is a standardized solution that offers predictability across trackers.

InMobi is working on understanding fingerprint behaviour to help standardize the method in cases where device identifiers are either not available, or are of lower confidence in terms of accuracy.

What remains clear in the midst of several changes, is the ever-increasing importance of attribution itself - to allow accurate revenue predictability and ad-network optimization for advertisers. In the face of the attribution duopoly exhibited by large players, the role of niche third party attribution technology is set to move towards enabling efficient ad optimization and easy integration of ad-serving products and services through independent, unbiased attribution for advertisers.

So users love your app and you are now ready to scale your app business through app-install ads. You have chosen the ad network that you want to work with and the audience that you want to target and are now working on the creatives for your campaign. What seems to be a seemingly straightforward matter, can have far-reaching impact on how effective your app-install campaign would be. In other words, the fate of your app business could hinge on how effective your creatives are.

Thankfully, there are ways to increase your chances of success. Following are key creative learnings from some of the most successful app install campaigns.

1. Use specific calls to action that take the guess work out

‘Download Now’ or ‘Install Now’ don’t tell users what to expect from your app. Instead, how about asking if an adventure game enthusiast would like to ‘Command a dragon’, or if a building game fan wants to ‘Build a successful city’? When in doubt, a button that reads ‘Play Now’ works well too.

Do remember to localize your message for different language across your target countries.

2. Wow and inform users with your images

With fleeting attention spans, your creative won’t get a second chance to make an impact. Successful app install ads use eye-catching graphics that also showcase the best of the app. Ads provide games a great opportunity to promote their best characters and scenes.

Take at look at what Subway Surfers features below - their most popular surfers Jake and Tricky with a surfboard under her arm, set in Sao Paolo. Evernote’s app install campaign has an image that very nicely captures everything the app does.

3. Leverage video for gaming apps

Everyone loves watching videos. And video ads perform well especially for games, where users are able to get a front-and-center experience. Video ads on InMobi have had, on an average, a 54% higher click through rate (CTR) compared to static images.

For your video ad, choose a scene which is at the heart of your game’s experience.A low-cost way to create an effective video is to just record footage of your game itself, and sync it with your game’s soundtrack.15 to 30 second video ads work best.

4. Try “playable ads” creatives

How about a creative that lets users try your app before downloading it? The ‘playable ad’ creative format has emerged through advances in virtualization and delivery optimization that have enabled ‘gamelets’ to be played with negligible latency. Engaged and committed users acquired through these ads have demonstrated a higher lifetime value (LTV).

5. Test, test and test

Most importantly, keep testing everything you do. Testing variations of your ad creative to determine performance (CTRs, conversion rates) will give you insights that you need to drive the growth of your app’s user base.

Whether you are in apparel or consumer electronics, if you are interested in influencing shoppers’ online or in-store behavior during the 2014 holiday season you are probably considering mobile as part of the solution. If you’re not, you certainly should be.

According to the Ipsos Holiday Shopping Study, more than 75% of all smartphone users will use their smartphone for holiday shopping and 1 in 4 will make a purchase on their phone.* No matter what channel consumers use for purchase, mobile advertising will have a big impact on the decision – bigger than ads they see on TV or online.

A bigger impact than TV! How is this possible? Major advances in targeting, creative, and attribution have put mobile advertising on top this holiday season.

Start with Audience

As brand marketers know, the starting point of a successful campaign lies in defining the target audience - and today mobile marketers can reach their optimal audience at scale to steer almost every aspect of the holiday purchase decision. Brands interested in driving consideration can target users based on their device type, location, demographics, interest, and behavior, or combine multiple dimensions to create user personas that match their target. Brands who want to reach users further down the purchase funnel should consider location based targeting.

Geo fencing has been used successfully in campaigns for a couple years now, but only now are marketers realizing its full potential to drive retail traffic to their store and away from competitors. Imagine you want to buy your son the newest version of a smartphone. You are walking into your neighborhood mobile phone store when you are served a mobile ad for $100 off the Samsung Galaxy S5 along with directions to a nearby retail location. That is the unique power of mobile to deliver the right message to the right person at precisely the right moment.

Stand Out with Creative

Talk of mobile campaigns always brings up the thought of small banner ads on small screens, but today’s creative options go way beyond banners. Brands need the ability to choose from multiple formats to stand out from their competition. Some of the options available now include rich media experiences that leverage user data to create user relevance, mobile videos that create a brand narrative, and native advertising that improves the user experience by seamlessly integrating with content. More creative options mean marketers have a larger platform to drive brand interaction and engagement.

Prove ROI from In-store Purchases

Ok, but how do I know it’s working? Through advanced attribution solutions it is now possible to quantify the impact of mobile ad exposure to in-store visits. By connecting the digital and the physical we can help our clients understand the incremental impact on sales, closing the loop on the metric that matters to brands – ROI.

Get Started Now

So if you are looking to make a sales impact this holiday season, consider making InMobi a big part your plan. We can help you maximize your mobile investment this holiday season. With our turnkey holiday solution your brand can:
1. Reach your target audience at scale at a time and place when they are most likely to be in a shopping mindset
2. Engage your prospects through rich creative experiences
3. Quantify the impact of mobile ad campaign on in-store visits

Contact James at james.riess@inmobi.com

* Ipsos 2013 Holiday Shopping Intentions Study

Download the guide to maximise your holiday sales.

The Indian Start-Up Ecosystem received a major boost with the new government announcing its clear intent to encourage risk-taking among entrepreneurs. In his maiden Finance Budget, Union Minister Arun Jaitley announced a slew of reforms that includes a Rs 10,000 crore Venture Capital Fund for start-ups. This augurs well for several product start-ups, which can now look up to the government playing the role of a catalyst. The intent of the government is for start-ups to use this seed money and attract further capital.

More importantly, the Indian Union Budget went a step ahead to provide further cushioning to start-ups by identifying the need for a proper bankruptcy framework to be defined. This is a welcome note for entrepreneurs. It creates an environment to not only access seed capital and look to attract more investors, but also have clarity on exit options in the event of a failure.

I have always believed that India needs to create a clear framework to encourage more start-ups and product companies to emerge. They are going to redefine our value proposition immensely besides contributing directly to our economy. For this to happen, the culture of accepting failures and encouraging start-ups to innovate and succeed is critical. I believe this Union Budget clearly showcases the government’s intent to enable entrepreneurs in this regard.

It was equally heartening to see the focus on fueling top talent to this start-up ecosystem. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the government has budgeted Rs 500 crore each to set up five new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). The premier engineering IIT colleges will be added to the states of Jammu & Kashmir, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Top-ranked business schools or IIMs will be set up in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar, Odisha and Maharashtra.

More power to Indian product start-ups!

A key change in the mobile ad attribution space is about to occur very soon. Post August 1st, Google’s Advertising ID (AID) will be used for attribution on all Android devices. In order to ensure that all Android advertisers on InMobi Analytics start using the new Google AID (for ad attribution) before Google Play’s deadline, we’ve established a seamless process to comply with this important requirement.

For Android Advertisers on Google Play using InMobi Analytics: Please download our latest SDK (Version 4.4.2) from here or our website in order to enable InMobi Analytics to start performing attribution. You can pass the value on ad click via your tracking links. Here’s a sample tracking url with Google AID / GPID:

http://c.appsdt.com/click/phoenix/59f9658f-098e-4365-b76f-367803a02bbe?odin1=$O1&udid=$UDID&clickId=$IMP_ID&ts=$TS&gpid=$GPID

For Android Advertisers not on Google Play, using InMobi Analytics: While not mandatory, we still strongly recommend upgrading to our latest SDK (Version 4.4.2) from here or our website. This is our most stable version yet, and it comes with built-in support for all future InMobi Analytics upgrades.

It is highly recommended that all Android Advertisers on Google Play upgrade to the new SDK immediately, in order to comply with the deadline of August 1st. InMobi Analytics is fully aligned with this change, and you can start using Google AID for ad-attribution in just three convenient steps!

Step 1: Android advertisers must download our new Android SDK and add the package to your existing code. There's absolutely no need to call any methods!

Step 2: Add the Google Play Services Jar. This will allow you to read the AID.

Step 3: Contact your Campaign Manager to verify that Google AID is being collected in the install logs. Your designated Campaign Manager / InMobi Analytics contact point can easily verify that the Google AID is being collected.

For more information or any questions, please reach out to your Account Manager or prajwal.bs@inmobi.com. We’ll ensure that you have all the information you need to upgrade before the deadline, pronto!

Today we released our Q2 2014 Network Research, which reported on the latest mobile device and OS share trends on the InMobi network.

Here are some of the global highlights:

• Overall, the volume of impressions globally in Q2 2014 on the InMobi network was up significantly compared to the previous quarter. This growth was driven by in-app ads that contributed 62.3 percent of mobile ad impressions.
• Smartphones still account for the lion’s share of impressions with 72%, up 4.2 percentage points from the previous quarter. Ad impressions from tablets accounted for almost 16% of the total platform impressions in Q2 2014.
• Samsung leads the table of manufactures in terms of impressions, followed by Apple. Nokia, despite its global decline still contributes a sizeable 13% of impressions, though its share has declined by 2.2% compared to Q1 2014.
• Android is the largest OS on the InMobi Ad Network (50%), growing 4.3 % from Q1 2014. Apple contributed to 30% of impressions, up marginally by 1.0% from the previous quarter.
• On the handset front, Apple devices dominated in ad impression share across the globe in Q2 2014, but some Samsung mobile devices appeared to see greater engagement.

Note: The data presented in the report was sourced from the InMobi mobile advertising network for Q2 2014.

To learn more about regions/countries: Click here to download InMobi Network Research Q2 2014.

Interested in understanding more about this report and how it could impact your business? Reach out to our insights team at insights@inmobi.com

From the Winter Olympics to a fantastic World Cup, it’s already been a great year for sports around the world. And as the summer baseball season unfolds in the US, the IAB Mobile Center, InMobi and Decision Fuel (now YouGov) have collaborated to publish a look at how US consumers use their smartphones to plan and purchase tickets to sporting events.

This report completes a trilogy of studies examining mobile and ticketing. Previously we looked at mobile and movies and mobile and live theater and music performances. Like those event categories, sports benefits greatly from the ease and convenience of the mobile internet.

Among the key findings from the sports research:

• 85% of mobile sports fans turn to mobile after seeing ads for entertainment events on other channels.
• 49% of mobile sports fans say they find information about entertainment activities via mobile, making that channel more important than PC and print for entertainment information.
• 78% of mobile sports fans use their mobiles to help plan trips to watch live sporting events.
• 1 out of 3 mobile sports fans purchases game tickets directly through their phones or tablets. Box office, online and mobile are now all major sources of ticket sales.

Read IAB's full blog post here

Download the report here

To learn more about our research, contact insights@inmobi.com

Related:

From the Bedroom to the Box Office: The Role of Mobile in the Moviegoing Experience

Raising the Curtain on Mobile

EDIT:

Here's what happened in episode 1, episode 2, episode 3 and episode 4.

At InMobi, a large chunk of our day is spent on trying to find answers to difficult questions. Questions such as how to design the next-gen big data platform, what the best Star Wars movie is or what the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow is.

We also furiously discuss, dissect and decode mobile games. Playing mobile games is an activity that you will commonly observe at InMobi - at the cafeteria, in cubicles and sometimes even during meetings. It's not an uncommon sight to see an InMobian walk slowly from one meeting room to the other, eyes firmly on mobile screen whilst trying to better a high score on a game.

That being said, we’ve found it difficult to agree on what our favorite mobile game is. Numerous water-cooler conversations and Skype discussions have taken place and yet all we have managed to do is to get to a list of games that have been trending in the InMobi offices across the world, this year.

We figured that there was only one way to settle this.

Here is presenting #GamesPeoplePlay. A mobile-game deathmatch tournament that will once and for all settle what our favorite games are. We have selected a list of 8 awesome mobile games and will square them off against each other. The games are judged by InMobians who play each game for an entire work day, trying to get as much game time in a days’ work. They decide what games advance until a champion is crowned!

Presenting our list of 8 games that will compete for Season 1 of #GamesPeoplePlay.

The games (in no particular order) in Season 1 are: Aerox, Stay In The Line, Agent Dash, BREAKFINITY, Skyline Skaters, Paperama, Dots, Smash Hit

The brackets for #GamesPeoplePlay are:

The gloves are off and it's a fight to the finish. May the best game win!

Anything is possible in the world of gaming. In the real world, however, your game can get obliterated in no time if you don’t listen and talk the language of your users. You might have a fantastic product on your hands. But communicating this on the right channels, at the right time, in the right tone is the order of the day. The gaming world has definitely tapped marketing in a big way. However advertising dollars can only get you that far if you are a small game developer. More importantly, smaller game developers are mostly cash strapped. Therefore, the right amount of media attention could actually be a huge ‘game changer’ in their overall success.

As a PR professional and an avid gamer, here are top 5 things that come to mind when you want to garner the right amount of positive media attention to your gaming app.

Compelling Hook – Whether you are a game developer or a pin manufacturer, you definitely need that one compelling hook for consumers to engage with you. Since the beginning of time, we are fascinated and moved by a great story. With thousands of games vying for media attention, it is important to break the clutter and say what’s different in your game. Several casual games like Timberman hook up their users with one simple task at hand. In Timberman you are simply chopping a huge tree trunk as a lumberjack. Games that break monotony always appeal to a wider audience. I recently read about DreamWorks and Microsoft unveiling a dragon-themed exploration game that uses real-world data like maps, traffic, weather and time of the day. It even applies this logic to whichever country / city you are in. How cool is that for a story. Anybody loves a great story. The media is no exception. Your game must live up to this very basic requirement. Think PR early and not after the product is developed. Understand if you are having an awesome story to narrate even while the game is being developed.

PR Agency / Consultant – Work with them to understand what really sells. If you are on a tight budget, PR consultants can be a good option. They are usually a one-man show and can take up a project like launching your game for the Press. Most importantly, they have the contacts in the media to know where your story is most likely to be picked, who are the journalists who would love it and how to reach them. Never look at engaging with a PR consultant / agency when your game is ready. Make them part of your build about 3-5 months before launch and map out your exact media strategy. The power of the written word is irreplaceable. So you must make sure you are seen in the press at the right time for the right reasons.

Game Personality – Today, life does revolve a lot ‘around’ your product as much as your product itself. Be it an iPhone or Angry Birds, these products generate more PR not only because of what they offer but also their ability to become a personality. The accessories they create around the brand are a great example. Take the Google Doodles. I know it’s not a game. But it makes you do something at times. Your action doesn’t solve any problem. But by simply doing a fun thing, they lead users to their own search data on a certain topic. People connect with personalities better than they connect with brands. In the case of Angry Birds, the accessories market has exploded. You can now wear the brand, thus enhancing your association with it. So make your product ‘walk and talk’ at some point.

Pitching it Right – When you pitch a gaming story to media, it is important to strike the right chord from the word go. Remember, your email is perhaps your best and the only shot to impress. Subject lines in emails can make or break your pitch. It’s your headline for a story you are about to say. If you have already got publicity for your game in the media, try not to refer to it. No media likes to know that they are not top priority. Instead, understand what each publication or a specific journalist prefers to cover and tailor-make the news for them. Pitch the right thing to the right publication. Lastly, journalists are also consuming information on the go, mostly on their smart phones. So if your pitch makes them scroll down to the deep ends of the ocean before getting to the point, you have already lost them. Keep it crisp and ensure a ‘wow’ factor.

It’s not always about the game – Remember, when you pitch to the media, your story need not necessarily be about your game. It could be an innovative way you developed it using various interesting tools. It could be your visuals that are unheard of, or perhaps investments in your game, which is backed a popular personality. Any of these things aspects could make news. For instance, if your game instantly got one million hits, it’s worth leading your pitch with that because it has the ability to instantly attract attention. The rest of the story can follow. In some other cases, your game could perfectly pitch for a trend story. For instance, if the journalist covers nature and environment, it might interest them to know that your game uses real images of the parks and gardens in your city as part of the game.

The best team won the Football World Cup 2014. While 32 teams were fighting hard over four weeks to determine who would be crowned World Champions, the Insights Team at InMobi looked at how sports fans were using mobile during the event.

Did the game change the media consumption habits of mobile app users? Which categories of apps were keeping the sports fans busy? Which countries were most active on mobile on the opening day of the event? Which countries showed the most activity before, during and after a match? Here is what we uncovered.

Sports apps rule the roost, Gaming apps take a backseat

Gaming apps have been the craze among mobile users across the world. 39% of casual gamers in the U.S. spend up-to an hour a day on gaming apps ^[1]. During the first week of the World Cup, however, gaming apps took a backseat, as mobile users took to sports apps to track the progress of their favourite football teams. Sports app consumption saw a 60% surge worldwide on the InMobi ad network, while media & video apps experienced a 49% increase. The graph below indicates the % change in app consumption during the 2014 Football World Cup.

Source: InMobi Network

Opening Day loyalty

The Opening Day match was a highly anticipated event across the world. Nations such as South Korea, Japan and Singapore were remarkably loyal on mobile even though the game kicked off in these countries at pre-dawn hours. Countries such as UK, Germany and Brazil seemed to prefer following the game on other media.

Source: InMobi Network

App Usage peaks around Match Hours

Sports app consumption differed across the hours of a match day in various countries. Sports fans in some countries were markedly more active before a match compared to those in other countries. App consumption in the UK on the UK-Italy match day peaked before the game. However, when USA played Ghana, sports app usage in US increased steadily throughout the game and peaked post-game. Sports fans in Argentina were most active during the game hours, while fans in Germany were marginally more interested in mobile sports apps after the game.

Source: InMobi Network

Team up with mobile

Through our research, we’ve reaffirmed that mobile engages sports fans during all stages of the matches - before, during and after games. Our recent study of live sports fans in the US^[2]conducted jointly with the IAB and Decision Fuel, now YouGov, shows that 78% of US sports fans used their devices to help plan trips to watch live sporting events. Advertisers can more effectively target their consumers by knowing just how sports fans are using their mobile devices while they’re watching games. A winning advertiser can up the end game by crafting a media plan that takes into account these consumption patterns.

Note: Data for this study was sourced from the InMobi network for the period of 12th – 20th June 2014. Reference period for calculating change in consumption was 3rd – 11th June 2014. App consumption was measured by examining the number of hourly ad requests. An ad request is defined as the request for an ad made by the app when the app is active.

^[1]US Mobile Gaming Playbook, InMobi, Q1 2014

^[2] Mobile & Sports, InMobi in partnership with IAB, July 2014

To discover more Insights, visit our Global Insights Portal

To learn more about our research, contact: insights@inmobi.com

Related:

Mobile and Sports Ticketing: Hitting a Home Run