How Search Ads will appear on the advertising market: expert opinions
The other day, Apple announced the imminent introduction of advertising in the search in the App Store. We talked with Russian marketing companies about how this innovation can affect the market.
But first, a few facts about the format itself. So far, it has been stated that advertising in search will only work in the USA. They are going to introduce it in the fall, and beta testing will take place in the summer.
Advertising in search is not something to be afraid of. We are talking about an analogue of contextual advertising in Google Play. Roughly speaking, now before the search results, users will see a color-marked strip with the advertised application.
Obviously, only the advertising that meets the request will be shown. The user will not see ads for those applications that have already been downloaded. The advertiser will be able to target the user by the location of the device, as well as by the group of interest.
Apple will withdraw money only for taps. The cost will be calculated according to the auction scheme. There will be no restrictions on the advertising budget. Advertisers will be able to pay in the volumes they have.
Representatives of the leading marketing companies in the Russian market: Appodeal, WakeApp, DataLead and Unilead told us about how this innovation will affect the market situation.
How will the appearance of ads in the App Store search affect the app market?
Stepan Soloviev, Director of Appodeal Russia
The appearance of advertising in the search results of the App Store is, on the one hand, good news for indie developers who have a limited budget and do not count on the application feature on the main page of the store. You can redistribute part of the budget for promotion in favor of advertising in search results and get guaranteed installations from an interested audience.
On the other hand, it is obvious that Apple cannot place more than one ad block on the search results page – the smartphone screen is too small for this. The ad will probably look like a carousel, similar to the one that Facebook and Twitter are using now. But even with this format, fierce competition will unfold for these places, which means that they will cost a lot, especially in highly competitive categories like games.
Eduard Lebedev, CEO of WakeApp
Most mobile budgets are now spent on advertising on Facebook, Google and video. If Search Ads is really beneficial, it will significantly affect the market. Now everyone is looking for good media buyers. Search Ads will require agencies to strengthen expertise in ASO and new skills for purchasing installations from search.
Evgeny Marchenkov, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at DataLead
New advertising opportunities will arise: more techniques will appear on the application market to attract an audience.
Yulia Denisova, PR Manager at Unilead
We think it will not affect in any way. Those applications that dominated will continue to dominate. Perhaps if search advertising works on the principle of contextual advertising in Google AdWords, then application developers will have a new way to attract an audience.
Is it worth waiting for serious changes in the advertising market (withdrawal of players from the market)?
Stepan Soloviev, Director of Appodeal Russia
By launching app ads in the App Store search, Apple is creating something like its own advertising network, which is likely to work according to the CPI model. As I said, this format claims to be part of the budget that publishers allocate for marketing and audience engagement. Now many applications receive traffic through in-app advertising – it is likely that developers will redirect these costs to advertising in the App Store.
However, the question of marketing children’s apps remains open – after all, advertising in search will be unavailable for children under 13 years old. Children’s games, books and entertainment applications cannot be advertised to children directly, so developers of such products will have to look for other ways to reach their audience.
Eduard Lebedev, CEO of WakeApp
There shouldn’t be any major changes among the current market players, but I think there will be new directions, departments and new agencies that will specialize only in this. The mobile market is very dynamic in itself, and in general it should be easy to adapt and learn new ways of promotion.
Evgeny Marchenkov, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at DataLead
There will be an additional large source of traffic, which is very important, because at the moment such sources as Facebook, Google and networks make up a significant percentage of all traffic in the world. Definitely, it should be very high-quality traffic without fraud, which will make all the players in the market happy and will not provoke their departure.
Yulia Denisova, PR Manager at Unilead
Not worth. I think that these changes will affect the first ASO, and many agencies will adopt this product. In general, this situation was predictable, many players have been waiting for the opportunity to offer ASO to customers on an ongoing basis for a long time.
What will happen to the price of advertising apps?
Eduard Lebedev, CEO of WakeApp
The installation cost is likely to remain the same, just change the list of channels to attract paid traffic. If the new source could replace all the others, then the price could change significantly.
Evgeny Marchenkov, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at DataLead
In general, the price is likely to be close to the prices on FB and Google, because the traffic in the App Store is unlikely to radically differ from the two aforementioned sources.
Yulia Denisova, PR Manager at Unilead
The price of advertising applications, as well as advertising sites, largely depends on the auction. The main advertising channel is banner and video advertising in other applications. I don’t think anything will change with the price due to the appearance of search ads in the App Store. It may be worth waiting for the revision of budgets, but the main players will not revise anything.
How do you assess the effectiveness of the new format (if compared, for example, with similar contextual advertising on Google Play)?
Eduard Lebedev, CEO of WakeApp
The format should shoot well, since all studies confirm that the traffic from the search is much better than the traffic that came from external advertising.
Evgeny Marchenkov, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at DataLead
The new format was long expected, and with its appearance, Google should prepare for good competition. In general, this is a very useful novelty that will allow you to get the highest quality and highly targeted traffic.
Yulia Denisova, PR Manager at Unilead
From the point of view of purchasing targeted traffic, it is very effective. For now, the question will remain with the price, since due to the high competition, not every developer will be able to afford top search queries.
You will be able to learn about the latest trends in the gaming industry first-hand, personally meet and discuss working issues with leading companies in the game development and publishing market at White Nights St. Petersburg 2016, which will be held on June 28-29.
