According to Statista, Ad spending in the In-App Advertising market worldwide is forecasted to reach $352.70 billions in 2024. The market is expected to demonstrate an annual growth rate (CAGR 2024-2028) of 9.02%, leading to a projected market volume of $534.10 billions by 2029. Advertisers are expected to to spend more on app advertising which means publishers will benefit from this trend. 

One of the advantages of app advertising is the stability of traffic which helps publishers earn money. However, with the diversity of formats, operations, and integrations, you may not understand clearly and fully in app advertising. By reading the entire article below, you will get the ‘secrets’ to unlock the full potential of app advertising. Let’s find out together!

What is app advertising?

App Advertising is the monetization model. It refers to digital advertising displayed to users within mobile apps, offering advertisers a way to reach their target audience while users engage with the app. This approach helps publishers earn more revenue while operating apps. For advertisers, app advertising provides an effective way to engage with more target audiences and attract more product conversions.

Now that you have understood the definition of app advertising, let’s find out how to utilize it for growth shortly.

Understanding App Advertising

In this part, we will delve into types of app advertising, and how to make use of the ad networks. After running app advertising, what kinds of metrics should we use to analyze the performance, and then take action to optimize it? Let’s explore below.

Different formats of app advertising

There are 4 typical types of advertising that you usually encounter without awareness. They are banner, interstitial, rewarded, and native. Each type of ads differ in size and place to display. Their abilities to generate money will vary depending on how the app is designed and built.

For example, if a publisher has a game app, s/he designs the users’ journey to watch the interstitial ads after a game’s match before moving to the next match and reward ads to earn in-game money that users can use to buy more items. The game is so engaging that the users can’t stop playing it and they are fine with watching short ads to play the next matches. That’s also how publishers can earn money.

App advertising networks and platforms

If you notice, ads from an app usually come from multiple sources like advertising networks. So how is it operating? 

Imagine you are a publisher wanting to monetize your app with ads. To deliver ads for apps, you need to use multiple app advertising networks or ad mediations platforms. Using them, an ad tag will be integrated in the app to send ad requests to those networks, then, ad networks will deliver the ads to the apps. 

There are times when publishers aren’t satisfied with the revenue they are earning as they see there is a lot of unfilled traffic. They tend to contact advertising companies to take advantage of their advertising networks and reach out to more demands to maximize revenue.

Key metrics for app advertising 

After understanding In-app advertising formats and how they are operated to call ads, let’s find out some key metrics needed for app advertising:

• Impression: This metric refers to the number of times the advertisements are visible to users. The more impressions are recorded, the more money publishers earn.
• Clicks: When someone clicks on app advertising, it shows that they have an interest in your products or services, and your in-app advertisements perform effectively. However, app advertisements can be flagged for confirmed-click, that is the time when you need to adjust the place display app to not restrict ads delivery.
• CPC (Cost per click): It shows how much advertisers need to pay per click when targeting the advertisements in apps. The higher the CPC, the more money publishers earn.
• Total fill rate: When the publisher sends ad requests to an ad network, not all the ad requests can be served since there is always a small amount of ad requests unfilled. Therefore, a fill rate is a metric that publishers should track regularly to check whether they are utilizing the full potential of their ad inventory. 
• Ad revenue: Ad revenue refers to the amount of money your apps bring back to you. It is affected by other factors such as impression, clicks, CPC and fill rate.

Creating Effective App Ads

Through the above sections, you have basic knowledge about in-app advertising. Are you curious about creating effective app ads now?

Identifying target audience

This has always been an important factor. Publishers always need to figure out their target audience to create a user journey that is compelling and retains users to maintain a steady flow of traffic. To optimize this effectively, the target audience needs to be determined as clearly and detailed as possible, by dividing it into clear categories such as age, gender, and other relevant demographics.

Imagine that if the users of an app’s targeted audience are mostly young men, they tend to be annoyed when they have to see an interstitial ad for longer than 5 seconds. This can drive them to quit the app afterwards. Hence, the publisher should have an understanding of their audience, how they might react to certain ad formats, and what should be the best possible ad to serve to certain audiences. 

Compelling ad copy and visuals

For in-app advertising, if ad content and visuals are attractive, users are more likely to click on it and explore more about the product, instead of feeling annoyed by the ads. To display high-quality advertisements, choosing a good ad network is crucial. For example, the Google Ad Manager has a strict regulation guideline for display ads that request the advertisers to follow. Therefore, the ad content and visuals will be improved and the user’s experience on the apps won’t be disturbed.

A/B testing and optimization

The user’s behavior changes with time. It is advisable that publishers perform A/B testing and continuously compare the performance of ad placements to optimize the advertisement as well as the user’s journey. They can set one or more floor prices with waterfall methods to check which floor prices generate more revenue.

App Advertising Strategies

Traffic is the metric that determines how much app revenue a publisher can earn, therefore, retaining and growing users of the app is the strategy the publisher should head to.

User Acquisition Strategies

Effective user acquisition strategies are essential for app growth. Publishers need to explore methods to attract and convert new users, including user segmentation, targeted advertising campaigns, referral programs, etc. 

Additionally, publishers can incorporate trending keywords throughout the content to attract new installs that best fit the user acquisition strategy. For example, if they have a messaging app, they can name like ‘ AI messaging’ and write intriguing descriptions of the app in Play stores to encourage users to install it. 

Moreover, categorizing your app on App store or play store and inviting influencers to promote your apps are brilliant ideas. Categorizing apps will encourage users to install if the app matches their needs and interests. Apps installed can benefit from the influence of famous people which drives their fans to download and use the apps.

Retention and Engagement Strategies

Retaining users and keeping them actively engaged is crucial for long-term app success. Discover strategies to foster user loyalty, such as personalized experiences, push notifications, in-app rewards, and interactive features. Learn how to analyze user behavior to identify areas for improvement and implement effective retention tactics.

Besides those strategies, publishers need to head for mobile friendliness. Users might get annoyed by redirect ads or inappropriate content. This can lead to the loss in the number of daily active users and traffic. Therefore, publishers should check the ads daily and take action such as blocking or capturing the frequency of ads if necessary.

Diversify ad sources

Besides ad networks, publishers can consider integrating with more ad demands and receive additional campaign bookings from advertisers to increase revenue for their app. This is facilitated when publishers work with well-known advertising companies such as Geniee.

Future Trends in App Advertising

AI is penetrating every industry and field, and app advertising is no exception. This creates opportunities for advertising agencies to seize the trend and take advantage of it. At the same time, privacy protection provisions also pose many challenges for businesses. 

Impact of AI and machine learning

The world is changing every day. Businesses are gradually applying AI (Artificial intelligence) and Machine learning to practical applications to improve labor productivity and business efficiency. In the field of advertising, AI and machine learning can help businesses understand the psychology and behavior of users. This leads to more personalized advertisements that enhance user experience. 

The role of privacy regulations

Privacy regulations, such as GDPR and CCPA, are reshaping the advertising industry. Advertisers must adapt to a cookie-less future and prioritize user data protection. This shift is driving the development of privacy-centric advertising solutions, including contextual targeting, first-party data strategies, and identity solutions. Compliance with privacy regulations is essential for building trust with users and ensuring the long-term success of app advertising.

In conclusion

To sum up, all you need to do is embrace this potential by making good quality apps, setting up appropriate advertising placements in app, connecting with ad networks and ad demands to display ads on your apps. At the same time, you should have a suitable user acquisition strategy to ensure active users and traffic for advertising.

Does it all seem too overwhelming? Simplify this process by partnering with Geniee today.