Appetite For Mobile Apps

The desktop computer of the early-mid nineties is now realized in today’s smartphone. Of the 95% of Americans with a cellphone, 77% are using a smartphone. So what is America doing on their smartphones? Making calls and texting, but mostly leveraging mobile apps to consume details on the weather, news, music and social activities. Last year, eMarketer reported that 90% of time spent on smartphones was dedicated to mobile apps. As such, it has become very important for publishers to allocate more time toward the success of their mobile in-app monetization strategy. Two of the most important tactics are understanding user composition, and ad formats. Let’s dive into the details of each.

User Composition

Buyers want to reach specific audiences and they do not discriminate against environments while searching for the best path. As such, it is incredibly important for publishers to understand device specific audiences across desktop, mobile web and mobile apps. Understanding the differences can help define the value of your in-app inventory for both direct sales efforts and 3rd-party monetization.

For example, in 2017 Publisher X reported that 80% of their desktop audience comprised of females ages 25-55 while their mobile app made up the extra 20%. Back in 2017, Publisher X’s desktop CPM rate was $30 and mobile app was only $15.

Fast forward to 2019: 60% of Publisher X’s mobile app audience consists of females ages 25-55 and desktop has dropped to only 40% of the demographic. This information empowers Publisher X to increase their mobile app rate card during buyer conversations and properly value their inventory across all environments.

Ad Formats

Okay, you understand your audience. Now let’s get familiar with ad formats. Picture this...

User X is on a lunch break. She sits back and begins scrolling through an interesting article about the latest ad tech news… and then BAM! A pop-up video with blaring audio overtakes her entire literary real estate. She has suddenly lost track of the content she was consuming, and is annoyed by the interruption of an irrelevant ad. What does she do next? She closes the app and carries on with other activities.

As a publisher, annoyed User X just contributed to increasing your in-app bounce rate. Now picture this…

User Y is relaxing at home after a long day at work. He opens a news app and starts diligently reading an article arguing in favor of avocado being a fruit. While scrolling onto the next paragraph, User Y happens upon a video about California avocados. Intrigued by the smart look of the video, he clicks on it and turns up the volume to hear more about these avocados. After completing the short, informative video content he continues reading the article.

User Y just contributed to increasing your video complete rates while staying engaged with your app. This is why formats matter. Native advertising makes irritated users happy by exposing them to aesthetically pleasing, in-feed content that matches the look and feel of the article. Buyers want to allocate more spend toward apps with engaged users. Native advertising formats create a win/win situation for both publishers and buyers.

52.2% of all website traffic is attributed to mobile phones making it safe to assume that smartphones are not going away anytime soon. The emergence of app-ads.txt is another surefire sign that the industry continues to become more serious about apps being a part of the standard conversation. This reality makes it very important for publishers to continually evolve a competitive app monetization strategy. To define the value of your app inventory, begin with understanding your audience and offering the most compelling ad formats. The most powerful monetization strategies start there.

For more information on Nativo’s mobile in-app monetization solutions, reach out to your Account Manager or contact us.

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