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Implementing ads without cannibalizing subscription conversions: A brief guide by ad format

Daniel Godley — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 07:35:09 +0000

2024 has seen many premium subscription service apps expanding their business models to incorporate an ad-tier into their offerings. At first glance, this shift makes sense – traditionally only 3-4% of users are likely to subscribe to a premium subscription-based app. Ads offer premium apps and streaming services a way to monetize the remaining 96% of users who would otherwise not generate revenue. While converting users to subscribers still offers the highest ROI for these apps, they would leave significant revenue on the table without ads. Still, some apps are hesitant to incorporate ads into their monetization strategy. Beyond more general concerns about ads causing churn due to a negative experience, there is also a concern that an ad-based tier would cannibalize subscription conversions. The reasoning is that if a user can access an app’s services through an ad-tier, they won’t be incentivized to purchase a subscription. But with the savvy implementation of an ad-based tier, subscription cannibalization can be avoided, as well as exposing an even greater cohort of users to the benefits of your app’s premium content or services, perhaps leading to more subscription conversions down the line. Below, we go over what you need to know about implementing ads without cannibalizing subscription conversions, broken down by ad format.

How to implement ads, by format:

1. Display ads Display ads are one of the most widely used types of ad formats, including formats like banner, MREC, native, and splash ads (splash ads are pop-up ads that trigger when users open their app). Their popularity is often attributed to their ease of use and unobtrusiveness – display ads require minimal development work from publishers and do not overtly disrupt app usage. Users experience display ads as digital ‘posters’ and are still able to use the app normally when display ads are on screen. As minimally disruptive as display ads are, they’re system-initiated, so users can’t opt out. As a result, there is still some risk of users bouncing. To prevent this, users should be primed to expect ads with messaging related to the tiers – the ad tier where they’ll receive some premium features for free with ads, and the premium tier where they can access all the features of the app without ads. Priming users that ads are present can help to avoid churn since users are less likely to see the ads as intrusive as they’ll be expecting them. Notifying users that they’re on an ad-tier can also work to incentivize subscription conversions – ad-tier users get a taste of premium content, which may make them want to subscribe to unlock the full experience and receive all premium features. Another option for an ad-tier is to give users full premium features but with ads with an option to access an ad-free experience by subscribing. Preferably, users should be primed with a notification from the start of their app experience. A good place is in the sign-up flow since this is when they’ll have the option between using a subscription or ad-based tier for the first time. Moreover, a sticky notification in their account settings is another great place for the notification. There should be a CTA alongside the notification to become a subscriber, which can work to convert users who initially chose the ad-tier of your app. 2. Interstitials Interstitials offer even better revenue generation potential than display ads but can be more intrusive. Like display ads, interstitials are system-initiated, but unlike display ads, users can’t keep using the app until they have either completed or dismissed the ad. So, implementing them correctly is even more important. Like with display ads, priming users is essential. And since interstitials can interrupt the user experience of the app, it’s doubly vital to prime them that ads are present. 3. Rewarded videos Rewarded videos (RVs) are one of the best ways to monetize users, since, like some interstitial ads, they are a more engaging 15-30 second video, but unlike interstitial ads, RVs are user-initiated. In other words, users opt-in to watch the ad until completion in return for access to in-app currency or content. This makes rewarded videos premium placements with high revenue generation potential – RVs incentivize higher engagement and so advertisers are willing to bid more for them. Thanks to this, RVs can actually positively impact your conversion and retention rates. They enable you to give users a taste of premium content in exchange for watching ads. Some users will want more of the premium content and subscribe, while others, who may have otherwise churned, will stay for the premium content they received from the rewarded video. The primary difficulty with RVs is that they come with some development needs. To implement them, you need a way to categorize content so that it can be exchanged for ads watched. With the right resources and expertise this is entirely possible (Unity has an in-house dedicated consulting team to help publishers accomplish this), but it does take some work. 4. Offerwall Offerwalls take the value exchange-driven engagement of RVs one step further, offering users in-app currency or unlockable features for not just watching ads, but also completing tasks in other apps. Users can be tasked using a range of offers, like downloading another app, making an in-app purchase there, or progressing far enough in terms of levels or engagement in that advertised app. Like RVs, offerwalls are also an opt-in, user-initiated monetization strategy, meaning that they are less likely to cause users to churn because users are actively choosing to engage with them. However, just like RVs, there is some development work required. To implement an offerwall you would also need to categorize your features and content. But, on top of that, offerwall implementation also requires you to have some form of in-app currency that users can receive in exchange for completing tasks. Users also then need a storefront in your app where they can spend the in-app currency they earn. Though the requirements of offerwalls can be steep, if you can implement one properly, it can offer a key way to diversify your monetization strategy, giving you a way to monetize highly engaged users who are committed enough to engage with outside offers to access premium content in your app, but still might be on the fence when it comes to purchasing a subscription. Ultimately, all ad formats have a lot to offer in terms of revenue generation and diversifying your monetization strategies. The right one, or the combination of ads, will depend on your app and audience. But, regardless of which ad format is right for your app, all ad format implementations share one commonality – the importance of using segmentation to prevent cannibalization.

Segment users to prevent cannibalization

For a subscription app diversifying into ads, it’s critical to use a monetization platform that allows you to segment users, ideally by region, device model, OS, and more. These segmentation options enable you to tailor your ad implementation to ensure that high-potential users get an app experience that drives them to convert, whereas users who are less likely to convert to a subscription package are routed to an ad-based tier. For example, users from a tier-1 region, like the US, are more likely to convert than those from tier-2 regions like LATAM, so segmenting tier-1 users out of the ad-based tier will help to prevent losing high-quality users who might have otherwise become subscribers. With a monetization platform that enables you to segment users in this way, you stand the best chance of reaping the rewards of implementing an ad monetization strategy without the cost of cannibalization – especially when used in conjunction with priming.

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Beyond 50: An untapped audience

Ziva Shapiro — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 12:41:14 +0000

While many marketers heavily concentrate on reaching Gen Z and Millennial audiences, an often-overlooked yet rapidly-expanding demographic has emerged within the mobile gaming sphere: adults over 50. There are over 52 million people over the age of 50 playing mobile games in the US, according to a 2023 AARP Research study. These numbers suggest that mobile gaming isn’t exclusive to Gen Z and Millennials – games are a prime place to reach the 50+ demographic. To dive deeper, we surveyed 1,533 U.S. adults* aged 50+ to uncover insights into their current mobile gaming habits, advertising preferences, and health considerations. Here’s what we learned:

1. 42% of respondents play for more than an hour each day and of this group, 7.7% dedicate over 5 hours daily to mobile gaming

Takeaway: For brand marketers and advertisers, regardless of industry, it’s important to recognize that audiences over 50 are engaging with mobile games throughout their day. If you’re looking to reach these audiences, make sure your programmatic partners can offer you the flexibility, scale, and reach to connect with them during their mobile gaming sessions. You might even want to double down later in the day, which seems to be a particularly great window for engagement.

2. 46% of respondents play mobile games for fun or to relax

Respondents report playing mobile games for various reasons: 46% for fun, 45% to relax or take a break, 40% to pass the time, 39% to keep their brain sharp, 20% for mastery, and 9% to connect with friends and family. The preferred game genres were card, board, casino, and match-3, perhaps indicating some nostalgia for real-world gaming experiences. Takeaway: Reach the over 50 audience on their favorite mobile game genres and use custom playable or interactive end cards in your in-app mobile strategy to offer fun and immersive experiences. Try a word search or match-3 interactive playable to encourage an enjoyable interaction with your brand.

3. 72% of respondents indicated some level of interest in improving their physical health

A significant portion of respondents over 50 recognize the importance of maintaining or improving their health as they age. 3 out of 5 respondents (60%) reported that they’re currently taking vitamins or supplements, which suggests a proactive attitude towards health maintenance. Takeaway: For health and wellness brands, mobile gaming might just uncover an untapped audience. Reach health-conscious audiences playing mobile games with products aimed at maintaining and improving health and well-being.

4. 55% of respondents currently shop for over-the-counter health/wellness products online

Over half of the respondents (56%) expressed openness to shopping for over-the-counter health and wellness products online within the next 12 months. Factors motivating purchases of over-the-counter health-related products include price (51%), product effectiveness (48%), brand reputation (39%), recommendations from healthcare professionals (32%), positive customer reviews (25%), and personalized promotions or discounts (17%). We also found out how much this group is spending: Takeaway: Leverage programmatic solutions that offer a variety of ad experiences to facilitate an easy transition from ad viewing to product purchasing- especially for those products within the <$100 range.

5. More than half of respondents express some level of likelihood to engage with in-game rewards

Advertisements have an influence on what health-related items this group chooses to buy, with 13% saying they’re influenced to a great extent and 41% stating some influence of advertisements. 52% of respondents expressed some likelihood to engage with in-game rewards, with 24% indicating they’re very likely and 28% saying they’re likely to do so. We took it a step further and asked respondents what types of rewards or incentives would encourage them to engage with health and wellness advertisements. Takeaway: Tailoring the messaging in your creatives is essential for every audience. Consider incorporating incentives like discounts, free samples, and loyalty points in your health and wellness product ads to effectively engage with adults over 50. Advertising on mobile games presents a unique opportunity to reach audiences over 50, especially those who are actively seeking ways to improve their health and wellness. By understanding their mobile gaming habits, health considerations, and advertisement preferences, advertisers can tailor their strategies to effectively capture attention, drive engagement, and ultimately, influence purchase decisions within this growing market segment. *The survey encompassed 45% female participants, 46% male participants, 5% who identified as genderfluid, nonbinary, or genderqueer, and 4% who preferred not to disclose their gender identity.

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Ad revenue and churn: A balancing act

Daniel Godley — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 07:29:14 +0000

A diverse monetization strategy is vital to provide your app with long-term resilience. Using varied revenue streams, you’re able to ensure that your app keeps running and growing even if one stream fails to deliver. For subscription and IAP-based apps, ad monetization can offer this resiliency. When IAP and subscription conversions are low, ads enable these apps to continue monetizing and generating revenue, making them a valuable addition to their monetization mix. But, some apps are cautious to adopt ads, since, if left unmonitored, they can lead to churn due to negative user experiences or poaching from competitor apps. Furthermore, if a user has a negative ad experience in an app, that could cause them to view the app negatively too. To effectively monetize using ads, developers need a way to monitor the ads they run, identify those that are problematic, and balance the churn that some ads cause alongside the revenue they create. To that end, let’s dive into how ads can cause churn, why that needs to be an element of how you understand your ad monetization and tools that can help you find the right balance between churn and revenue.

How ads can cause users to churn

Churn here refers to users leaving your app once they’ve already installed it and are engaging with your content. Many factors can lead to churn: an unfriendly user interface, failing to meet the needs of a user, or even fulfilling the user’s needs to a level where they no longer need your app. But another cause of churn can be the ads running in your app. To help break down how ads can cause user churn, we can use two distinct categories – negative ad experiences and competitor ads. A negative ad experience can mean a variety of things but generally can be defined as ads that create frustration. This frustration can be the result of the ad being difficult to close due to a hidden or tiny close button, the ad length being too long, or even ad content that is seen as inappropriate. Then there’s competitor ads. This is when an ad gets the user to leave your app to download another. We can separate the source of these ads into two categories, direct and indirect competitors. Direct competitors are those that have an app offering that is in the same vertical as your own, offering the same or similar services. Indirect competitors are those apps that take a share of attention away from your app. Social media apps, streaming apps, and news apps (to name just a few) are all in indirect competition with one another, as a user typically goes to each from a similar motivation, and can only be focused on one at a time. Whatever the reason, churn can cause major damage to the long-term success of your app. So, preventing churn should be a top priority.

The other side of the coin

As important as preventing churn is, there’s another side here. The ads that will be running in your app most often are likely to be those from direct and indirect competitors – they’ll be the primary source of demand for your placements since they have the most to gain and have the best chance of converting users. So, to effectively monetize with ads it’s important to include those that originate from competitors. However, doing so without taking into account the churn they could cause can be harmful to the longevity of your app. Effective ad monetization is about striking a balance between the churn and the revenue generated from ads.

Necessary tools to balance revenue and churn

Solving for the right balance can be a daunting task, particularly since for most apps, seeing which creatives are running can seem like peering into a black box. Luckily, there are many tools available to help, including Ad Quality from Unity – but to make sure you’re able to use them effectively to find that balance between revenue and churn, there are several important functions you’ll want to consider. 1. Churn management Obvious but vital is the ability of these tools to reliably measure user churn on a per-ad basis. This is your canary in the coal mine and your best defense against ads that are causing users to leave your app. Churn management allows you to monitor user churn across the user journey, which means you can see when users are leaving your app and which ads they engaged with before they did. 2. Creative overview Also important is the ability to see all the creatives currently running on your app. This allows you to review the creatives users are seeing manually, so you can spot problematic or inappropriate ads and report them. Used in conjunction with churn management, you can see which ad a user saw that could have caused them to churn. 3. Revenue per creative To make effective use of an ad management solution without negatively affecting revenue generation, you also need to be able to see the revenue individual ads are bringing in. Without this visibility, it won’t be possible to calculate your revenue/churn balance. 4. Competitor ad detection Another essential is the ability to detect competitor ads. Solutions that offer competitor ad detection let you set which ads can run on your supply by source. If an ad is coming from a direct competitor, you can set custom triggers to report the ad before it runs.

Finding the right balance

Ideally, your ad management tool should allow you to see which ads are causing churn, block ads from competitors that you see as harmful, get an overview, and manually review all ads that are running, and see how much revenue these ads are generating. Using this information, you can start to find the right balance between revenue and churn. You can do this by examining the ads’ CTR (click-through rate) and churn rate. If you see that an ad’s CTR is high, but revenue is low, you’ve found an ineffective ad. What these data points are telling you is that users are clicking on the ad, which then causes them to leave your app, without generating revenue sufficient to justify allowing it to keep running. Similarly, if an ad’s bounce rate is high and the revenue is low, the ad is causing users to leave without generating revenue sufficient to justify it. These are the most simple outcomes of the revenue/churn equation, but what happens when CTR or churn is high, and so is revenue? The answer depends on your goals and app. For an app that is still scaling and attempting to acquire loyal users, the correct choice could be to block this ad as it is negatively affecting retention, but for an established app with a loyal user base, the answer might be to keep it running. This is the balancing act of revenue and churn. Whatever your needs, to find the right balance for you, a prerequisite is the visibility and control that an ad management solution affords, like Ad Quality from Unity. Talk to a Unity expert about how we can help you effectively manage your ad monetization while protecting your app and brand.

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4 ways to help your app scale during major sporting events

Daniel Godley — Mon, 10 Jun 2024 10:58:40 +0000

Major sporting events often mean an increase in both app engagement and interest from users for relevant apps. And the 2024 Olympics and Euro Championship, kicking off in July, will likely have billions tuning in to watch their nation’s athletes compete. As they watch, viewers will be looking to place their next food order, check the latest commentary, and buy their team’s merchandise. For marketers of QSR, news, e-commerce, and sports streaming apps, among others, this represents a huge opportunity to scale with highly engaged users. To help you accomplish this, here are 4 ways to revitalize your campaigns for an Olympic surge in screen time this July and August.

1. Update your creatives with sports-themed elements

Updating creatives with themes related to a specific time or event has been seen to generate improvements in performance. Themed creatives are a powerful tool to connect your app with what’s top of mind for users. They also work as reminders for the event, igniting interest in related purchases. Leading up to and during major sporting events like the Olympics or Euro Championship, update your creatives with sports-related imagery and themes to link the event with your app and make the global contest a part of your marketing. One simple way to do this is by featuring objects associated with the event in your creatives – like gold medals, podiums, scorecards, trophies, and flags.

2. Engage your audience with interactive polls and contests

Audience interaction is a core pillar of community building and brand recognition. And few things get an audience as emotionally engaged as asking for their opinion on their team’s performance and competing against others. By running interactive polls and contests you can incentivize users to engage with your social media channels, building brand awareness. An example would be to run a poll on your app’s social media account asking followers who they believe will win in a given Olympic category. You can also run contests, like the first to respond with the correct answer to a Euro Championship trivia question wins a prize, to incentivize users to engage.

3. Create FOMO using time-limited seasonal offers

Fear of missing out (FOMO) is an incredibly motivating force. Limiting the availability of offers to a specific window is a great way to leverage FOMO to your advantage. A case in point is McDonald’s Szechuan sauce offer, which was only available for a limited time using the app. The limited offer generated international publicity for the fast-food giant and worked to drive users to place orders through the app. Use major sporting events as an opportunity to create a limited offer associated with the event. This could be in the form of a discount on a subscription, a special sale on a particular product, or even releasing a themed product that ties into the event.

4. Diversify your marketing channels

The massive viewership of the Olympics, Euro Championship, and other major sporting events presents a golden opportunity to grow your app. Make sure you’re getting the most out of it by using a diverse mix of marketing channels. The more diverse and varied your channels, the better your chances to reach users when they want to make that next purchase or install their next app. This is also a great time to innovate on top of what you know works – don’t just stick to social and traditional channels, try performance channels that enable you to reach new users in new ways. On-device channels, like Aura from Unity, are an example of how you can complement your existing channels with native placements directly on a user’s device which appear when they are most likely to install.

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Introducing the all-new Unity LevelPlay

Unity LevelPlay — Wed, 22 May 2024 11:16:34 +0000

Partnering with a strong mediation provider has never been more important. As the shift to bidding and mounting privacy regulations present challenges for app publishers, using a mediation that can boost your business across both monetization and user acquisition is critical. In 2024, LevelPlay is releasing significant product updates designed to help you drive more revenue, connect with high-quality users, and streamline the experience from game creation to growth. The combined updates will be transformational, making the ad mediation an all-new LevelPlay. In the first phase, LevelPlay has already released support for a dedicated package in the Unity Editor Package Manager. This powers a dramatically easier integration process that is only available for Unity LevelPlay, simplifying mediation setup to enable Unity developers to start monetizing faster. Developers will be able to complete their mediation integration in the same place they build their games, with the LevelPlay integration a native part of Unity developers’ workflow. The package also reduces overhead for publishers by enabling them to upgrade their SDK without being required to update the whole Unity package. But that’s not all. Over the coming months we’re releasing a series of additional product launches designed to maximize app growth and simplify growth management from every angle. Upcoming phases of the roll-out include:

Major upgrades to network UA tech. Powered by a new generation of machine learning tech, the Unity Ads and ironSource Ads networks now make LevelPlay publishers’ UA more impactful than ever. Publishers who run automated ROAS campaigns are already seeing meaningful uplift in both scale and quality on both networks, and additional optimizations will be released on a rolling basis through the rest of the year.

Multiple ad units. Publishers will be able to load multiple ad units simultaneously, which means they can create a dynamic waterfall setup and customize the waterfall by in-app placement. This gives publishers more control over their ad strategy with additional ways to optimize for key metrics like latency and ARPDAU.

One home for Unity growth data. We’re centralizing data from Unity’s leading growth solutions into a new platform homepage, giving publishers an instant snapshot of the health of their app portfolio in one clear view. This new page will allow publishers to view UA and revenue data side-by-side, compare performance over set time periods, monitor their brand safety, and see combined network performance for Unity Ads and ironSource Ads. In addition to the two networks, the homepage will include LevelPlay and Ad Quality data, with Aura and Tapjoy Offerwall data coming next.

Platform experience revamp. We’re also updating our platform UX to make it simpler than ever to grow your game. It’ll take fewer steps to manage and optimize your ad strategy with smoother functionality and greater ease-of-use. The platform revamp will be wrapped up in a new UI reflecting Unity’s look and feel for an even more seamless flow from game creation to growth.

Stay tuned on the Unity Grow LinkedIn page and your email inbox for ongoing announcements.

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How to maintain control and transparency with in-app bidding

Savannah Cookson — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 14:48:54 +0000

Compared to traditional waterfall instances, in-app bidding can be advantageous. However one concern raised within the context of in-app bidding is the loss of manual tweaks to fill ad requests. Given the automation with in-app bidding, it can raise concerns about losing control and transparency. To help mitigate concerns around moving to in-app bidding, there are tools and services that help you maintain transparency and control. This article looks at three key pillars to addressing those concerns: testing, granular reporting, and understanding your ad experiences.

Maintain control through robust testing

In the automated in-app bidding environment, you need to be able to test, learn, and adapt ad strategies to see long-term success. A/B testing gives you greater understanding of your monetization metrics, from average revenue per user (ARPU) to retention. Knowledge is power, and A/B testing is the only way you can truly measure the impact of different in-app bidding strategies. Running an A/B test can give you the answers you need to feel secure in this new landscape. Certain KPIs you can look at to help determine success could be: overall average revenue per daily active user (ARPDAU), ARPU growth, increase in the number of impressions per user, and fewer managed instances. Tracking ARPDAU before and after you implement bidding measures overall revenue, not just performance by network. In addition, A/B testing gives you granular insights into your strategy so that you can continue to optimize and build a dynamic marketplace in this new ecosystem. Unity LevelPlay has a robust A/B testing solution that allows you to test a wide range of variables including bidding vs. traditional waterfalls, mediation groups, new networks, instance pricing, and ad strategy. Among LevelPlay customers who A/B tested integrating the Unity Ads bidder, the test group won in 78% of the cases, and those who applied the changes saw ad ARPDAU increases of up to 7%. Overall, A/B testing brings you peace of mind when transitioning to an in-app bidding world, confirming the switch is right for your app. After switching, a robust A/B testing tool continues to give you control over the bidding environment, allowing you to test and implement new optimizations. Learn more about A/B testing.

Gain transparency with deeper reporting

Having transparency into your ad performance can help you make informed changes to accelerate your app’s growth. In-app bidding is an automated setup which will run based on general best practices, so the ability to make real-time, data-informed choices for your app is incredibly valuable, giving you a leg up on competitors. Features such as real-time pivot from LevelPlay provide granular visibility into monetization performance and the ability to make instant changes. Publishers can detect performance changes as they occur, compare revenue over time, and analyze network performance. Trackable KPIs such as eCPM buckets, ad latency, impressions, DAU, DEU, and sessions per DEU can help publishers understand not only ad performance, but user engagement patterns as well. These metrics can be sliced and diced by country, time, ad source, and more to give a deeper level of insight to determine what, if any, changes are needed. “In 2024, Unity LevelPlay remains focused on giving developers more control and transparency through granular analytics that provide actionable data in real time, to help optimize their monetization strategies and maintain user experience to drive higher retention and ARPU,” Omer Adato, Senior Director of Product Management at Unity says.

Experience ads as your users do

Another concern raised is that since in-app bidding operates in real time and your ad space can be filled quite quickly without you even knowing, having transparency into the ads being shown in your app is key to ensuring you’re selling ad space to advertisers that won’t disrupt the user experience. After all, seeing a frustrating ad or having a glitchy experience can quickly cause users to churn. However you can gain insight that supports both brand and safety as well as revenue. Gaining oversight of your users’ ad experiences supports not only branding and safety, but revenue as well. By blocking troublesome ads initially, you cultivate a healthier ecosystem until networks address issues. Once resolved, lifting blocks on revenue sources restores income while maintaining a quality user experience. Overall, targeted blocking and unblocking empowers monetization through cooperation on ad quality. Ad Quality from LevelPlay is designed to give full transparency into your ad experience. You can access a gallery of all the ads shown in your app, ad analysis, and user journeys. Publishers can also define a set of triggers in Ad Quality, called custom notifications. This feature proactively alerts publishers if a specific creative, advertiser, content rating, or buggy ad appears in your app, so that you can immediately respond to any critical needs. While in-app bidding is running automatically in the background, a feature like Ad Quality gives you much needed transparency into how your ad space is being filled. “Ad Quality helps us ensure that ad content in our apps is appropriate for our audiences. We get notified when titles with high content ratings are displayed, so we know when to reach out to the networks. This visibility is key for us.” — Stefano Accossato, Head of UA & Ad Monetization at TutoTOONS In an in-app bidding environment, working with a mediation platform that has the right features to maintain control and transparency over your ad strategy can help make the transition from traditional waterfalls easier and help create a top performing ad strategy. Learn more about Unity LevelPlay and how you can get started with A/B testing, Real time pivot, and Ad Quality.

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Social networks are not enough: why you should diversify your app marketing channel mix

Daniel Godley — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 09:46:14 +0000

App marketers now have more capabilities than ever before to reach new audiences. Yet, despite the wealth of options available, many app marketers choose to rely solely on social ad networks (SANs) for their user acquisition (UA) efforts. This is in part because many app marketers believe that SANs are sufficient for effective UA. But, this misses the significant impact that SDK networks can offer apps in terms of scale, optimizations, and resilience. All of which is left behind when marketers choose to only utilize SANs. Here we’ll address the reasons app marketers should be leveraging SDK networks, as well as the common misconceptions that lead app marketers not to do so, and the impactful resources left on the table when choosing not to diversify UA marketing channels.

Capturing untapped growth opportunities

Scalability is the measure of app success, and effective scaling requires access to as wide a pool of users who can be converted as possible. While there’s no doubt that social ad networks offer substantial growth opportunities, they are not, or even close to, the totality of the market. In other words, limiting marketing channels to SANs means losing out on the untapped scale that is available through SDK networks, and as a consequence limiting your app’s growth potential. Using SDK networks in tandem with SANs mitigates this loss of scale.

Resiliency to market and channel policy changes

Expanding beyond social networks also has the added benefit of resiliency to market and channel policy changes. SANs operate under a set of requirements different from SDK networks, needing to conform to standards unique to them. While your app may be currently compliant with these guidelines, they continue to evolve and update. When changed, your app would need to quickly adapt or stop running UA. Diversifying your marketing mix enables you to create a buffer with additional avenues for growth. And that’s just at the regulatory level. On a business level, the companies behind these social networks frequently change their policies. A change in policy could mean extensive work to meet the new requirements, which could then result in a loss of growth. By adding SDK networks to your marketing mix you can create a more resilient UA strategy that isn’t totally reliant on one set of policies that are subject to change.

A bigger toolbox for optimizations

A significant benefit to a diverse UA marketing mix is having multiple processes for reaching high-quality users. Each SDK and SAN has its optimizations for finding you the right user for your app. But, with differing solutions come differing results. This is a weakness when marketing channels are siloed from one another, or used in isolation. However, used as a part of a comprehensive and diverse marketing strategy, this means you get access to more tools to reach high-quality users at the right price. Each network prioritizes users differently. So while SANs may miss the users you actually want, SDK networks could help you fill in those gaps, and vice versa. The larger your toolbox of algorithmic solutions, the better you can optimize and the more likely you’ll be able to find the right users for your app.

Common misconceptions: Implementing SDK networks

While there are many clear upsides to integrating SDK networks into your UA mix, some app marketers have been reluctant to do so. A large part of this reluctance is connected to the higher investment needed, both in terms of personnel and capital. But, this reluctance is for the most part based on two common misconceptions: Misconception 1: SDK network implementation and optimization is highly manual A common myth around SDK network integration and optimization is that it requires a lot of manual management in order to drive results. While this was true in the past, the industry has since become far more efficient and automation driven. This is particularly true for optimizations. Thanks to advancements like automated bid optimizers, much of the manual heavy lifting has been taken out of the equation. The ironSource Ads tCPA optimizer, for example, uses machine learning functions to optimize bids based on certain actions. In the past, this would all be done manually, but it’s now a streamlined process that only requires the setting of which action and price you wish to optimize for. Misconception 2: ROAS is difficult to solve for An important metric for utilizing SDK networks successfully is return on ad spend (ROAS). This is the measure of revenue generated in relation to the cost of running the campaign. To effectively leverage SDK networks, app marketers need to know what ROAS goal they should be solving for. Without it, spending could exceed revenue, meaning that your UA could cost you more than it earns you. A common concern is that efficient ROAS is tough to identify and that generating a reliable ROAS benchmark requires a deep understanding of SDK networks and their optimizations. While this was historically the case, the industry has evolved to account for this difficulty. Most SDK networks offer account managers to assist marketers in calculating their ideal ROAS. Plus, solving for ROAS is now an established science – with the correct formulas and tools, it’s now far easier.

Diversify your marketing mix for better UA performance and more resiliency

While SANs offer performance and scale and should be a part of your UA channels, there is significantly greater growth potential in adding SDK networks into your marketing mix. On top of this, having a diverse marketing mix gives your app a more resilient UA strategy that can adapt to changing policies, both on the regulatory and business levels. Combined with easily accessible automated optimizers and comprehensive account management, app marketers can now easily integrate SDK networks into their marketing mix for a more diverse and efficient UA strategy. Let’s get you started. Talk to a Unity account manager today.

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Addressing addressability: How brand marketers can adapt their mobile programmatic strategy

Unity — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 11:43:07 +0000

ATT and cookie deprecation signifies more than just a technological shift – it’s a game-changer for marketers who are looking to reach engaged consumers where they are spending the most time. So how can marketers adapt their mobile advertising strategy and continue to ensure they reach their consumers where they are? In short, as the mobile advertising landscape changes, so should the way advertisers run digital campaigns. Let’s break down how advertisers adapt their mobile strategy accordingly (spoiler: all signs point to in-app advertising where more than half of users are still addressable.)

Brief history of privacy changes on mobile

Traditionally, to advertise on web browsers or apps, marketers have utilized cookies and mobile ad IDs (MAIDs). That means marketers utilize unique user identifiers for tracking, retargeting, frequency capping, audience segmentation, and attribution. But following privacy changes over time, addressability has become significantly more challenging.

September 2017: Apple released ITP 1.0 to limit the use of cookies on Safari and prevent cross-site tracking.
May 2018: The GDPR became applicable in the EU.
January 2020: CCPA gave California residents rights over their personal information.
April 2021: Apple introduced App Tracking Transparency (ATT) on iOS.
2024: Chrome plans to disable third-party cookies for all of their users. They’ve already started with 1% of their global users, and plan to expand to 100% of users by Q3.

You know the history. Now, here are some tips for tailoring your mobile strategy to maximize your impact with both addressable users, users who have a unique identifier, and non-addressable users, users who do not have a unique identifier.

Addressability strategy of advertisers in the industry

Here are some commonly used practices that marketers use to get ahead of their competitors before the last cookie falls.

Embrace first party data: Without third-party cookies, first-party data has a key role to play. Marketers invest extensive resources in building user trust, encouraging opt-ins, and building a robust data infrastructure.

Collaborate with industry players to explore alternative ID solutions: Some marketers explore alternative methods to cookies and consider testing with partners like The Trade Desk or Liveramp, who offer other ID solutions to address these cookie-based challenges.

Optimize in-app advertising: Mobile users only spend 10% of their time on web, so 90% of mobile time is spent in-app, particularly social media and gaming apps. The best part: the majority of supply in apps is still addressable. Marketers are optimizing in-app strategy with more personalized ad experiences, retargeting, audience segmentation, and strategic placements to engage users.

Getting even more granular, let’s discuss how marketers can better understand non-addressable users.

How advertisers segment non-addressable users

Non-addressable users are still very valuable – marketers are getting more innovative with how they market to them. While marketers may not be able to get specific-user level information, some contextual data is still available:

Contextual information: The type of content users are engaging with (e.g. what they are reading, mobile games they are playing, how long they’re engaging with this content, how the app is rated, etc.)
Contextual demographic information: General demographic information can be inferred based on the content users are engaging with
Technical device information: Device type, model, OS, connectivity
Geographic location: Country, city, time of day

By adapting to this constantly-evolving advertising landscape, you can continue to make sure you’re in the best position for growth – just make sure you’re using the right approach. And with users spending 5 hours a day on their mobile devices and 90% of that time happening in-app according to data.ai – building a comprehensive mobile strategy is crucial to long term brand success. That’s why it’s also essential to have the right partners – and at Unity, we can help connect you with premium demand sources, offer full data transparency, and much more. Get started with Unity’s programmatic solutions and get ahead of the game.

The post Addressing addressability: How brand marketers can adapt their mobile programmatic strategy appeared first on ironSource.

Unity Expands Direct Brand and Agency Support in EMEA

Unity — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 13:20:12 +0000

Unity is excited to announce its expansion in the European (EMEA) market for its Programmatic Exchange, following four years of exponential growth for direct brand and agency sales in North America .

Growing Opportunities for European Advertisers

Many of the largest brands in Europe are already utilizing supply from both the Unity and ironSource Exchanges on the open market, indicating the significant value the supply holds for European advertisers. In fact, Unity has established preferred supply partner relationships with major agency holding companies, laying a solid foundation for its expansion into Europe. By establishing direct relationships, Unity can now better support global brands’ marketing efforts and drive mutual success in the EMEA market. In addition to existing partnerships and supply relationships, Unity is excited to introduce our programmatic solutions and support to EMEA brands and agencies. Leading the charge for our work in sales in the EMEA market will be Katya Kornilova. With her proven track record in the mobile gaming and programmatic industry, Kornilova will spearhead the initiative to establish and nurture direct relationships with brands and agencies across the European market, further solidifying Unity’s commitment to delivering unparalleled support and innovation.

Commitment to Programmatic Excellence

As part of our expansion strategy, select demand partners connected with the ironSource and Unity Exchanges can now receive consent signals, per IAB’s Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF) 2.2. By supporting the transmission of TCF consent signals, Unity reaffirms its dedication to supporting demand partners in their efforts to comply with data protection regulations for a more ethical, sustainable advertising ecosystem. Unity’s expansion into the EMEA market signifies more than just a geographical growth; it represents a commitment to redefining the future of mobile gaming and programmatic advertising in Europe. By leveraging its success in North America and combining it with strategic partnerships and industry expertise, Unity is poised to lead the way in delivering innovative solutions, exceptional service, and measurable results to brands and agencies across Europe. For any inquiries or further information about our expansion into Europe, please contact Katya Kornilova.

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