"Most of them are engaged in resale" (interview about the conflict between Supercell and Appia)
We talked about possible contradictions between Supercell and Appia with Kirill Tyufanov, director of Mobile Advertising Solution at i-Free.
Kirill Tyufanov
The official version, which got into the press, sounds like this: the authors of Clash of Clans and Hay Day paid Appia for screenings at the company's sites, and then found out that their order was then resold to a third-party company. And what happened from your point of view?
Supercell spends a lot of money to buy ads, buys up almost all traffic indiscriminately. For example, our platform aggregates advertising networks and sells them traffic on behalf of the publisher. We study the demand and choose the most profitable sales channel automatically. It does not matter to us which network the purchase will go through. It is much more important to maximize profits for our publishers, and Supercell often pays the most. Despite the fact that there are several channels (i.e. networks) through which we buy traffic for Supercell.
I mean, now everyone is reselling traffic and, unfortunately, because of this, there is complete confusion in the market.
If we talk about Appia. Once we worked with them to attract users. As a result, we received downloads of very poor quality. It seems to me that this was the main problem for Supercell, and the fact of resale simply overwhelmed the cup of patience.
Is reselling ads a bad thing or a good thing?
At the moment, there is a very large imbalance in the mobile advertising market. Networks cannot buy 100% of advertising space from publishers, and on the other hand, they cannot provide the amount of traffic that advertisers need. And there is always something missing, then demand, then offers. The resale of advertising is a kind of crutch that helps to temporarily regulate the market.
Is everyone reselling advertising campaigns today?
Few networks that live off large investments and take care of their image can afford not to do this. But most of them resell it, otherwise they will miss out on profits.
Now each more or less large network allows you to set up mediation with other networks, market players work in very close conjunction with each other. It is very difficult to understand whose traffic, who is actually selling. Many networks generally just buy traffic from Google and Facebook and sell it to advertisers as their own.
Is it possible to change the situation in any way, to regulate the market, without resorting to reselling advertising campaigns?
Now everyone who is not lazy is starting to make their own advertising networks. As a result, the market is flooded with low-quality offers.
They live only because of the high demand for traffic and poor understanding of the market by consumers.
The situation will change only when the market matures, when the consumer becomes aware of what is happening.
In fact, what an advertising network is now is a platform that works on two flanks, sells and buys traffic. She needs to sell cheaply to advertisers and at the same time pay dearly to publishers. Obviously, this concept contradicts itself.
The next stage of market development will be the division of the traditional advertising network into two different systems. The first system will work only with advertisers and sell them traffic at the best price, the so-called Demand Side Platform (DSP).
The second system (Supply Side Platform) will work with publishers and trade traffic on their behalf, choosing the best channels among the many DSPs and guaranteeing the greatest profit to the publisher (approx. App2Top.ru : Moneytapp, which Cyril is creating, refers to itself as such).
The advantages of such a separation are obvious, and this is a big risk for those networks that do not want to admit it. Soon, developers and marketers will understand all the prospects for these changes, and then especially slow market players will have no chance.
Why did Supercell “slam the door” just now?
I think they just weren't up to it before: with their volumes, they just didn't want to waste time on proceedings. Perhaps something has changed in the company itself, perhaps Supercell has begun to take a more thoughtful approach to buying traffic. I wouldn't be surprised if they break off their relationship with someone else soon, if they haven't already.
How will this scandal affect the fate of Appia?
I don't see any particular scandal. Appia, if it grew before that, it was only due to the general positive market trends. They don't offer anything outstanding or unique. I think it will be hard for them, there will be cuts. My opinion is that the future of Appia is vague, but this is far from Supercell's fault.
