How many types of advertising there are in total and which of them proved to be the most effective in the first quarter of 2013, the research company AppsFlyer said in its report. We offer a short version of it in Russian. 

Table

In the first quarter of 2013, the most used advertising channels were: advertising networks, application search platforms, cross-advertising, “friendly” traffic, search and social advertising. 

Conversion rate = clicks/installsThe quality of users was calculated by analyzing the number of sessions, in-app events, purchases and retention levels

Number of installations (bubble size) = number of new users

Dictionary

In order to clarify how the types of promotion differ from each other, AppsFlyer offered its own small dictionary:1. Advertising networks (Ad Networks)

Advertising networks place your ads in mobile and web applications

2. Application Search Platforms (App Discovery Platforms)Advertising networks that specialize in increasing visibility

3. Cross-advertising (Cross Sell)Placing ads for one of your apps in your other app

4. “Friendly” advertising networks (Incentivized Ad Networks)The advertising network offers users any bonuses (game currency, free apps) for downloading certain apps

5. Search (Search)Users search for apps using search

6. Social networks (Social)Social media marketing (Facebook and Twitter).

This is the promotion of application pages, “word of mouth” and the like. 

Conclusions of the work

Also, AppsFlyer, based on data for the first quarter, highlighted several main results of the study:

  • Social marketing turned out to be one of the top tools while taking into account three main criteria: the quality of users, the conversion rate and volumes. 
  • Advertising campaigns of games go very well in the case of using social marketing.
  • Along with the increase in the “social channel”, the cost of conducting social advertising campaigns will increase.
  • In terms of the quality of users, search is out of competition. But at the same time, he has big problems in terms of the number of users and especially conversions. 
  • If you are interested, first of all, in the number of downloads, then it is best to contact advertising networks. There are a lot of them now. The problem is that they have problems with the quality of users, and therefore the conversion leaves much to be desired. However, in some cases, advertising networks show themselves very well (although it is impossible to predict when advertising will work and when it will not). But many advertising networks can optimize campaigns for conversion, installations, and even IAP. 
  • The market is now experiencing an increase in CPA offers
  • “Friendly” traffic shows a good conversion rate, but its user quality is very low. However, a lot depends on the type of application. In the case of programs with a high K-factor (organic downloads), “friendly” traffic shows itself very well

The full version of the report in English can be found here.

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