How will the appearance of Android Instant Apps affect the advertising market?

At the I/O 2016 conference, the search giant Google announced the ability to launch applications without downloading them. Read about this opportunity and how it will affect the advertising market in our material.

The new feature is called Android Instant Apps. In fact, it partially solves the problem of conversion from a link to a download (you can safely read it as the problem of ad conversion to download).

This happens due to the fact that applications with Android Instant Apps support remove one of the links when a user purchases – the application page.

How does the acquisition process usually work? The player sees the advertisement, clicks on it, goes to the application page in the store (and here, as a rule, a solid part of the attracted users is lost) and only after that downloads the product.

Android Instant Apps, in turn, will allow you to launch the program from a link – without downloading the main distribution kit. The main limitation is that the module being launched (a component of the full version of the application) weighs no more than 4 MB.

It will already be possible to download the full version of the program from the module, as well as make an IAP.

In connection with the announcement, we talked about Android Instant Apps with traffic companies.

Will the emergence and distribution of Android Instant Apps change the mobile advertising market?

Yulia Denisova, PR Manager at Unilead
There will undoubtedly be changes.

Google blurs the boundaries between a mobile application and a website by introducing the Instant App function, offering the user the most up-to-date information on a search query. And it will not depend on where it is [on the website or in the application], because now the application can be launched in the browser without installation.

The approach to the search itself is completely changing. Now more and more requests are processed through applications. Google returns mobile users to the search, and there, just the same, there is a kind of struggle at the level of various applications that will move ordinary mobile sites in search queries. Competition will increase significantly.

Denis Yudin, Commercial Director of WakeApp
This technology will not change anything in the use of mobile games, since even to use simple (casual) games, you need access to the Internet.

On the other hand, it can significantly change the mobile e-commerce market. Mobile web sites do not have the same user-friendliness of the interface and navigation as applications. Using all the advantages of applications without installation can significantly increase their audience [as opposed to the web].

Google’s main emphasis is on the fact that the application does not need to be installed. But is it a problem to install the necessary application when you have a high-speed unlimited LTE on your smartphone? Nevertheless, this technology will definitely solve the problem of the lack of free memory in phones. The user will not have to delete photos or other apps to make room for a new one.

Installed applications will have an important advantage [over Instant App] – the presence of push notifications, binding to the device (essential for service applications using personal data) and the convenience of authorization (it is unlikely that an uninstalled application will remember your data for re-entry without authorization).

Mikhail Prytkov, VP of Advertising at Datalead
Today we see a very active trend – the desire of sites to make interaction with interfaces the most natural for the user.

This is reflected in everything: redirects in mobile advertising are being removed, Facebook is launching Canvas and Lead ads, and now Google is taking a new step, essentially removing the need for stores as such. Why install something now when you can get the necessary content without breaking the user flow?

In the near future, this should affect the mobile installation market, as it will remove unnecessary steps in the funnel. For example, the user will be able to immediately play the game, go through the tutorial and understand how interesting it is for him to continue further. For us, such trends are very important, because they make it possible to focus more on really important indicators – LTV, Retention and ROI of users, and not just on installations.

How will the arrival of Android Instant Apps affect the mobile app market in general?

Yulia Denisova, Unilead

It’s hard to say yet. In theory, it looks very tempting. If everything goes exactly as the developer promises, then applications will be installed much less often, but at the same time they will be used more actively. Android Instant Apps will allow you to get all the functionality in the same browser window, which is much faster and more convenient. Accordingly, the increase in traffic in applications will eventually affect the prices for the installation, which, in turn, will bring search engine optimization to the first positions in marketing plans.

Denis Yudin, Commercial Director of WakeApp
Instant Apps will make the user experience more diverse, will save space on the phone for “one-time” applications.

As for attracting an audience, the boundaries between sites and applications will be blurred, and there will be no need to promote mobile applications separately. Perhaps the introduction of Instant Apps will scare away many developers, but it’s too early to talk about it. If the applications remain on Google Play, then the installation metric may simply disappear or lose its former power, but more offers will appear on the market to attract traffic with a fee for an action or login to the application.