4 ms·

One thing I'm always curious about when I see revenue from mobile applications is: does advertising on a mobile device really work? I'm hesitant to sell anythin

by Smerity 14y ago

One thing I'm always curious about when I see revenue from mobile applications is: does advertising on a mobile device really work? I'm hesitant to sell anything unless I'd be confident selling it with my name attached to the label and I'm not sure mobile ads are something I'd consider valuable. The two primary issues are that 1) mobile devices slow down / severely discourage any online form entry and 2) the age old question of "how many clicks are misclicks". 1) is the killer for me. It's rare for me to actively click on an ad and even if I'm drawn to an ad whether I'm on laptop/desktop or a mobile device makes quite a large difference on the ultimate decision. I guess you could argue that it's up to the advertiser to ensure their ad money is well spent but unless you're just spreading awareness (or possibly other applications?) I'd personally not feel happy selling mobile ads. Thanks for sharing your numbers though! This sort of openness is something I quite enjoy seeing. Best of luck hitting your $2k goal next month and I hope the $4k goal is reached soon after :)

deleted 14y ago
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DenisM 14y ago
You are right to wonder. Mobile ads largely do not work. I tired admob as a publisher and a as an advertiser, results are poor. As a publisher I saw ad revenue on the order of $5 for 1000 active monthly users. As an advertiser I sunk in a few 100 bucks and saw I think one purchase of my apps that I advertise. Mobile ads are destroying value. I have once met a person at a conference who said he was making money in mobile ads. Turns out he knew peopple at abig companies willing to spend money on brand advertising. I still run the admob ads In my app, and I see that most ads are brand ads, and ads from companies willing to buy their way into minds e.g. Google or Microsoft.
- drone 14y ago
  It leads one to wonder if the mobile ad payment argument is simply a problem with Google. That is, Google's strength is in advertising, and it works for Google due to their size and reach, but that capability may not expand to their app developers. Certainly, some are making the argument that there's more money to be made by pushing your app through a traditional retailer than a traditional advertiser. (Erm, that last word may be a poor choice there... I just can't think of a better one.) e.g.: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/31/flurrys-analytics-apple-app-store-amazon-appstore-android-google-play/ http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/31/flurrys-analytics-apple-a...
androidoka 14y ago
A while ago, the madvertise SDK had a bug which resulted in ads not being scaled. This resulted in very small ads that were clicked by accident almost all the time. After a while, this bug was fixed. When looking at the conversion rate for my house ads, it was totally obvious that the non-accidental clicks resulted in a respectable conversion while the accidental clicks had almost no positive effect. I think the google AdSense for mobile do a good jobs here because the user has to click them twice before anything happens.

by Smerity 14y ago

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

DenisM 14y ago

You are right to wonder. Mobile ads largely do not work. I tired admob as a publisher and a as an advertiser, results are poor. As a publisher I saw ad revenue on the order of $5 for 1000 active monthly users. As an advertiser I sunk in a few 100 bucks and saw I think one purchase of my apps that I advertise. Mobile ads are destroying value. I have once met a person at a conference who said he was making money in mobile ads. Turns out he knew peopple at abig companies willing to spend money on brand advertising. I still run the admob ads In my app, and I see that most ads are brand ads, and ads from companies willing to buy their way into minds e.g. Google or Microsoft.

drone 14y ago
It leads one to wonder if the mobile ad payment argument is simply a problem with Google. That is, Google's strength is in advertising, and it works for Google due to their size and reach, but that capability may not expand to their app developers. Certainly, some are making the argument that there's more money to be made by pushing your app through a traditional retailer than a traditional advertiser. (Erm, that last word may be a poor choice there... I just can't think of a better one.) e.g.: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/31/flurrys-analytics-apple-app-store-amazon-appstore-android-google-play/ http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/31/flurrys-analytics-apple-a...

androidoka 14y ago

A while ago, the madvertise SDK had a bug which resulted in ads not being scaled. This resulted in very small ads that were clicked by accident almost all the time. After a while, this bug was fixed. When looking at the conversion rate for my house ads, it was totally obvious that the non-accidental clicks resulted in a respectable conversion while the accidental clicks had almost no positive effect. I think the google AdSense for mobile do a good jobs here because the user has to click them twice before anything happens.