Affiliates who aren’t yet targeting mobile apps for their ad placements may want to reconsider, as it can have a significant effect on conversion rates.
App Ads Driving Revenue
New insights by Sapio Research has revealed that in-app ads are making a major impact on advertising campaign effectiveness. The survey - which was designed to gain a stronger understanding of how brands and media agencies are planning their mobile ad campaigns -reinforced just how valuable advertisers are finding mobile placements, with in-app ads improving campaign ROI by an average of 41%.
Reliability and targeting utility seem to be the primary reasons why there is heightened investment on the app front, as nearly one third of respondents claimed that it’s driving far better engagement and offering stronger targeting capabilities than mobile web and desktop.
Gaming Apps at the Forefront
There was a staggering amount of support towards gaming app placement specifically, as both agencies (93%) and brands (86%) alike claimed that they will be running more ads within those apps due to the level of increased user engagement, scale and reach. In addition to the increased adoption of gaming app advertisements, 78% of those surveyed said they’re already running ads in gaming apps.
The growth of gaming app ad placements can also largely be attributed to new ad formats that have been specifically geared to games, like opt-in ads, video ads, and - most recently - playable ads.
Capturing a Growing Demographic
Younger consumers are continuing to me a key element in terms of this shift in engagement, with those in between the ages of 18 to 24 being far more prone to engage and convert on an in-app ad. Interesting, only one branch above that bracket favors the mobile web approach, with 25 to 34 year-olds preferring to engage with mobile web over apps, meaning that affiliates shouldn’t be writing off mobile web ads just yet.
While there is a worldwide spread of people favoring in-app ads, the US in particular is leading the wave. 32% of US-based buyers are spending 50% or more of their total digital advertising budgets on in-app ads, and 39% of US ad buyers include in-app ads as part of their media plan for campaigns 50% of the time or more when they’re putting together their performance strategy.
Activate Your App-Ads
In-app advertising revenue has achieved tremendous growth in recent years, rising by 80% since 2016. As younger demographics who are generally more open to these mobile formats, start to take up a larger share of purchasing power, this number will likely only continue to grow.
There are a couple of key takeaways from an affiliate marketing perspective that would be worth making a note of if you’re not already taking advantage of these trends.
First of all, if you’re driving traffic to an in-app game of any kind, you’ll definitely want to start testing out the playable ad format. As mentioned above, Facebook unveiled new ad functionality that actually allows users to play a brief portion of the game before being sent to the purchase or download page. And Facebook isn’t the only platform to implement this capability either; Google also has implemented some equally as intriguing features to coincide nicely within mobile games.
Secondly – even if you’re not driving traffic to a gaming app specifically – utilizing in-app games for more broad offers and products seems to be driving more ROI regardless, so don’t be shy to start placing your ads within those types of apps just because the product might not line up perfectly. And gaming apps specifically don’t necessarily matter either – apps as a whole are picking up traction, so start increasing your visibility within them! At the end of the day, this is where the bulk of the younger generation is spending their time, so experiment!
If you have any questions about the in-app format, or if you’re interested in learning more about our offers and which ones are most likely to capitalize on this format, we encourage you to reach out to your affiliate manager. They’ll be happy to point you to the highest mobile-converters to help fill out your pockets over the holiday season.