According to the 2023 report of data.ai (previously AppAnnie), the weighted average of mobile usage per user in countries like Indonesia, Brazil, India, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and South Korea in the year 2022 increased to 5 hours per day. As the room for more opportunities paves the way for app developers to create successful brands, marketers need to see this as ‘the calm before the storm’ because the hyper-competition will only get more fierce from here on.
The global consumer spend on mobile apps in 2022 stood at around 167 billion USD. With so much penetration happening in mobile usage in apps, mobile advertisers are hunting for the best place to advertise their app, which can be significantly leveraged using in-app advertising.
In-app advertising as a monetization strategy is highly effective for apps across sizes and the nature of the business, but specifically for apps that fall in gaming, fintech, entertainment, edtech, shopping, and social verticals. Trends suggest that these apps will be in the main spotlight in the year 2023.
How app publishers can advertise with in-app advertising:
In-app advertising is one of the best places to advertise apps. Publishers looking at gaining a competitive edge and acquiring users with more retention capabilities need to –
- Choose the right ad network: It requires the right balance between choosing the most suitable ad network, reaching the precise audience, and being able to communicate effectively through creatives.
- Pick the right ad formats: App publishers can choose from a diverse range of in-app ad formats like rewarded ads, native ads, and banner ads to appeal to their targeted user persona.
- Decide on the pricing model: Each pricing model has its share of risks and rewards. Advertisers can choose from the following pricing models – CPM (Cost Per Mille), CPC (Cost Per Click), CPI (Cost Per Install), & CPA (Cost Per Action).
Read more about the ad networks, ad formats, and in-app pricing models in the blog here.
Three Reasons why in-app advertising is the best place to advertise apps:
- In-app advertising (IAA) as a revenue stream has been promising for app developers in the freemium world of app markets and to be able to target the right users at the right time. Knowing the value of in-app placements, app publishers can garner significant revenue.
- It helps increase user engagement. The advantage for app developers to be able to allow ads that catalyze the flow of their app with that of the displayed ad has increased user retention capabilities. given the ad is placed at the right time with relevance.
- With multiple ad formats to offer, advertisers can pick a strategy that best fits their goals and scales seamless revenue, and strengthens their app’s brand value.
In the recent times, mobile users are navigating through more surveilled privacy regulations and choosing to pay less for apps, and rather opt for free apps with in-app ads, a popular trend that is becoming more common among mobile users. Additionally, the time spent in apps by users has grown to 90%, and just 10% spending their time on mobile webpages. A well planned in-app ad can act as an effective driver of revenue increment. When the content of ads are fluid to that of the app features, the scale offered by in-app advertising is equally rewarding both for revenue and user retention.
Here are the best verticals and places to advertise apps:
- Gaming apps: The mobile game monetization is taking leaps with in-app advertising and mobile gamers seem to be getting highly engaged with apps that they feel are relevant as well. As game app publishers, you want to give the best experience to users without interrupting their journey. This involves choosing the right ad formats, relevant content, and, reaching to the right audience which can all be accomplished with in-app advertising.
- Fintech apps: Apps in this category have gained popularity in the past 2-3 years as crypto trading, neobanking, and stock trading apps continue to soar high in engagement among users across age groups and now also attracting the gen-z audiences at large. Advertising your fintech app with an adjacent app offering and using the right ad placements can help generate high quality traffic and enable real-time conversions.
- Social apps: One of the best ways to advertise in apps is using social media apps that have accumulated millions of users over the years and are invaluably significant for any and every user owning a mobile device. Advertisers can expect an effective and precise targeted advertising on social apps as they have the ability to reach the users at multiple touch points and the average time spent on these apps is relatively higher than other categories.
- Entertainment apps: If there’s one thing that keeps mobile users hooked to their devices, it is entertainment! Users tend to penetrate more on their devices while browsing through entertainment apps, be it streaming services , video apps, or music apps. App publishers can make complete use of banner ads using high quality video content, compelling users to engage and discover more about your brand.
There are other app categories like shopping apps and edutech apps expecting high rise in user engagement in 2023 as mentioned in the blog earlier. Be it educational content or your newly launched shopping app which requires a targeted product ad, both the respective categories are very effective in helping you increase your app install rates.
Additionally, location-based apps can be leveraged by local businesses to penetrate into their vernacular audiences specific to each geographic location. This is one of the best ways to acquire local customers.
By leveraging the right ad networks and ad formats and prompting users to engage with relevant content, app developers can be rest assured to see the effectiveness of their in-app advertising campaigns across verticals of similar intent. In-app advertising is the best place to advertise apps only if app publishers make the most of their advertising campaigns and succeed in executing a scalable in-app marketing strategy.