The combination of Digital Turbine and Fyber will create the largest independent growth platform for mobile app developers.

“Fyber’s focus on publisher solutions and its position as a top-tier partner for a diverse set of programmatic buyers make it a pivotal piece of the Digital Turbine Growth Platform,” said Bill Stone, CEO of Digital Turbine. “Fyber’s impressive growth over recent quarters shows the power of their publisher monetization suite and strength of publisher relationships as a top monetization partner.  We are committed to ongoing investment in Fyber’s product stack, growing their partner network, and enabling new growth opportunities from synergies throughout Digital Turbine, its customers and partners.”

Digital Turbine will launch a bid to acquire the remaining shares of Fyber in a mandatory takeover offer extended to outstanding shareholders following the expected closure of its transaction with Tennor in Q2 2021. Once Digital Turbine has secured 100 per cent of Fyber’s shares, it will terminate the platform’s listing on the Deutsche Börse Frankfurt stock exchange.

Last month, Digital Turbine agreed to acquire mobile ad platform AdColony from Otello Corp for a fee in the region of $350m and $375m.

The post App monetisation platform Fyber acquired by Digital Turbine for $600m appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

The Post-IDFA Alliance – made up of Liftoff, Fyber, Chartboost, InMobi, Vungle, and Singular – has launched ‘No IDFA? No Problem’, a resource for mobile marketers and app publishers that aims to help to transition seamlessly in the wake of the upcoming iOS 14 update. This will give users the choice to block IDFA at app level and require the industry to adopt the App Tracking Transparency Framework (ATT) and SKAdNetwork inline with Apple’s consumer privacy guidelines.

The resource features a range of videos, articles, case studies, best practices, webinars, and tools to help guide mobile marketers and app publishers through the more privacy-centric mobile advertising environment.

The alliance is also working together to develop techniques and protocols to maximise client success, investing in research into alternatives such as ‘blended LAT traffic’.

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Cheetah names Jones as first CMO
Richard Jones has been appointed chief marketing officer at Cheetah Digital, a cross-channel customer engagement solution provider. He will lead Cheetah’s global marketing efforts of its recently announced Customer Engagement Suite.

Jones was previously chief executive officer at Wayin, which was acquired by Cheetah earlier this year and rebranded as Cheetah Experiences. There, he helped brands to create zero-party data strategies. Brands included Daily Mail Group, NHL, Bauer Media, Vodafone, Priceline.com, Reckitt Benckiser, Air New Zealand, and Manchester City FC. I

In his more than 20 years of marketing, sales, and strategy experience, Jones also co-founded EngageSciences, which merged with Wayin in 2016, and led regional sales for the EMEA team at Eloqua.

“We’re in a new, uncharted era of marketing. With growing privacy regulations and consumers’ oversaturation with marketing messages, brands are looking to cut through the noise and establish more honest, direct and mutually valuable relationships with consumers. However, to do so with authenticity, relevance and accuracy, requires new capabilities,” said Jones. “Cheetah Digital is uniquely positioned to help brands provide a value exchange with consumers through the lifecycle in return for consumer attention, engagement and loyalty. It’s why I was excited to join Cheetah Digital as part of the Wayin acquisition, and continue this mission in my new role.”

Simon to lead revenue at Fyber
Mobile app monetisation platform Fyber has chosen David Simon as its chief revenue officer and global head of revenue operations. He will oversee demand and supply revenues across Fyber’s portfolio of app developer products including Fyber Fairbid.

Prior to joining Fyber, Simon was a partner at Jounce Media, where he focused on developing a blueprint for the programmatic transformation of media companies and marketing organisations. He has also held leadership roles at Verizon Media and AOL, where he led the video syndication business unit.

“The growth opportunity in this industry is truly limitless, but we must remain vigilant against fraud. Brands are awakening to the potential for capturing high-value consumer attention in apps, while also needing assurances on transparency, support and measurement,” said Simon, “I am very excited to work with Fyber in leading this charge – the best-positioned company in the market globally to be able to share data in a completely direct and honest way.” 

Sinch looks to Khandpur on product
Vikram Khandpur has been hired as chief product officer at cloud communications platform Sinch. He will lead his global teams out of Seattle, a location strategically chosen by Sinch to place its product leadership close to some of its largest customers.

Khandpur joins Sinch after spending 13 years at Microsoft. Here, he spearheaded the development and growth of technologies, including Skype and Microsoft Teams. Before that, he held leadership positions at Nokia and Philips Consumer Electronics, as well as founding startups in the mobile apps and gaming space.

“Companies of all sizes across the globe want to deliver smarter and better customer experiences,” commented Khandpur. “There is a massive opportunity for Sinch’s SaaS products to power these interactions across marketing, sales, R&D and customer support departments. The opportunity to work on products that have such a profound impact on the lives of people around the world is a real and rare privilege. I’m excited to get to work.”

Welch hired to direct political clients at SpotX
SpotX, a video advertising and monetisation platform, has recruited Allan Welch to be its director of political & government affairs. Overseeing the company’s political-focused clients, he will report to Geoff Halsema, regional vice president, mid-market, demand facilitation.

Welch will serve as an extension of the Demand facilitation team with a focus on political agencies, super political action committees (PACs), presidential, congressional and advocacy groups, along with non-profit, issues, causes and charity groups.

Before joining SpotX, he held political and government-focused positions at Yahoo! Inc. and Mother Jones, creating advocacy, fundraising, and advertising campaigns.

“As a veteran in the political advertising arena, Im excited to be joining the SpotX team at such a crucial moment in the industry, as we see an exponential increase in advertising on CTV and OTT,” said Welch. “During the 2016 presidential elections, we saw political advertising explode across social media. Today, advertisers are following eyeballs and SpotX, as a leader in online video and CTV/OTT, is particularly primed to advise clients on this shift and support political advertisers to achieve their goals.”

Journey Further selects Burgoyne to take charge of creative
Billy Burgoyne has joined Journey Further, a performance marketing agency, as creative director of its new creative offering. Reporting to managing director Matt Kwiecinski, he will initially be focused on the opportunities with existing clients, providing creative support to increase performance across programmatic, paid social and PR campaigns. 

Burgoyne has previous experience from his roles at B-Reel and Unit9, where he created campaigns for Google, VW, Honda, Three, Adidas, British Airways, Microsoft, Sony, Ford, and Spotify.

“There’s a huge creative opportunity at Journey Further,” said Burgoyne. “Too many creative agencies base their decisions on unsubstantiated opinion and ego, while data-led agencies stifle creativity. Our Clarity at Speed proposition allows us to inform creative briefs with verifiable audience data, delivering high quality, insightful creative that connects on an emotional level.”

Six experts join CAN
The Conscious Advertising Network (CAN) has welcomed six experts from the creative industry to its committee to help its battle against advertising abuse.

The esteemed names that have joined CAN include Ali Hanan, founder and chief executive officer of Creative Equals; Amir Malik, digital marketing expert at Accenture Interactive; Jerry Daykin, head of media EMEA at GSK; Matthew Styles, client services lead at Merkle; Abi Gibbons, internal and external communications expert at ISBA; and Tanya Joseph, a former Marketer of the Year.

“It is truly incredible to have leading voices in the creative industry, from visionary creative pioneers to marketing experts, to communication gurus – brought together by one, clear vision – to fight advertising abuse in the industry they know and love,” commented Jake Dubbins, co-founder of the Conscious Advertising Network. “Our goal at CAN is to battle harmful advertising operations and content in pursuit of making communications that are better for all. The insights and experience our new committee members bring, truly equips the network with tools to highlight these issues and confront them head on.”

Ad-Lib welcomes Abhyankar and Collister
Adit Abhyankar and Patrick Collister have arrived at Ad-Lib, a martech SaaS platform, as chief executive officer and creative director respectively. Both men have joined the company from Google.

Abhyankar, who was head of Google Marketing Platform for Continental Europe and emerging markets, will oversee the next stage of growth and investment in Ad-Lib’s platform, team, and client relationships. Prior to Google, he was executive director at Visual IQ and chief operating officer at SolutionSet.

“Personalising creative the way we personalise media targeting is a huge untapped opportunity, even though it has been proven to drive tremendous value. The reason it is so underutilised is an organisational one – it is simply too clunky and costly to produce high quality, personalised creative across all the profusion of digital formats manually,” said Abhyankar. “Ad-Lib’s AI-driven platform is disrupting the current status quo by making this process faster, cheaper and smarter. I’m thrilled to be joining the stellar team at this pivotal time to further accelerate its impressive growth.”

Collister, who joined Ad-Lib as non-executive director last year, will provide insight and input into the ongoing design of the platform and manage the Ad-Lib design hub. He was head of design at Google Zoo and, before that, held roles as executive creative director and vice chairman at Ogilvy London and chief creative officers at EHS Brann Group.

“Adit and Patrick share Ad-Lib’s vision for saving digital advertising from itself by using AI to both improve personalisation and creative quality,” added Oli-Marlow Thomas, founder and president of Ad-Lib. “We are thrilled to be building out our team with the best talent in the business and the desire of these industry pros to join our company is testament to the true value of the solution we are offering.”

Huettl takes his seat at the CMO Council
The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council has named Manuel Huettl as its senior vice president and regional development officer in Europe. He is asked with collaborating with European advisory and academic liaison boards, as well as developing CMO Council partnerships, relationships, and content distribution channels in the European theatre.

Huettl is currently owner and principal of SugarAndSpice, a digital and content marketing firm, and was previously senior vice president at WE Communications. He is also currently a board member for the European Expert Group for IT Security and has served as a vice president for the German Ice Hockey Federation.

“We are pleased that Manuel is becoming an integral part of the CMO Council,” noted executive director Donovan Neale-May. “He is bringing enormous experience and new perspectives to the table. Manuel served in different influential organisations through his career. With his can-do attitude he will expand the Councils role in Europe.”

MediaSense opts for Bernhardt on strategy
Andrea Bernhardt has been appointed strategy director at MediaSense, an independent media advisor. She will support brands to better maximise media investment and advise on organisational operating models for the consultancy’s global client portfolio.

Bernhardt arrives from Reckitt Benckiser, where she led global media and digital, developing media capabilities and a new integrated media strategy in the areas of media effectiveness, data-driven marketing, and communications. Prior to that, she held director and strategic development roles at WebMD, and drove strategic planning at Mindshare and Zenith. Bernhardt is also a previous member of the World Federation of Advertisers executive committee.

“I’m excited to be joining MediaSense at such a significant and important time in the evolution of 21st century media and marketing transformation,” commented Bernhardt. “MediaSense are leading the way in re-shaping global media operations and I look forward to working across their portfolio of world renowned brands, helping advertisers to future-proof the structure and processes they need to effectively connect with consumers and drive positive impact to their business.” 

Tosi gets a seat on the Skillz board
Skillz, a mobile eSports platform which is backed by the NFL’s investment arm, has added Laurence Tosi to its board of directors.

Tosi previously served as the long-time chief financial officer at Blackstone and, subsequently, Airbnb, where he also led payments, customer service, and corporate development. He is the founder and managing partner of WestCap, which has invested in Skillz.

“Skillz is the disruptive player in the gaming market and is leading a paradigm shift in how mobile games are consumed, developed and monetised,” said Tosi. “With a multi-faceted business model, distinctive for the network effect of its gaming marketplace and proprietary technology platform, Skillz is on track to become one of the great companies of tomorrow.”

SCMP picks Lee to preside over marketing and events
Adrian Lee has been hired as senior vice president of marketing and events at the South China Morning Post (SCMP). Based in Hong Kong, he will lead growth strategies to help build the global brand. His responsibilities include raising brand awareness, increasing traffic to SCMP’s digital platforms, overseeing product and digital marketing, and driving SCMP’s events business.

Lee was previously head of digital client solutions at Wavemaker, where he helped lead the Hong Kong agencys direction, growth, profitability, and people development, as well as directing global marketing campaigns for clients. Before that, he was global digital strategy and innovation director at Vizeum in London, working with clients including Burberry and Honda. Lee also worked at MediaCom in Hong Kong.

“It is an exciting time to join a media company that is leading the global conversation on China, especially with a growing demand for reliable news to understand the global impact of the second-largest economy in the world,” said Lee. “The organisation is full of driven and intelligent people and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to do work that carries real purpose.”

McKenna to head up performance marketing at Blink
Digital health company Blink Health has turned to Gene Mckenna as its head of performance marketing & analytics. He arrives with over 15 years of leadership experience managing marketing, product, and engineering teams.

Most recently, McKenna served as vice president and general manager at Groupon, where he led strategy and oversaw approximately $1bn in annual sales. Prior to that, he was co-founder at Uptake and has also served as vice president of product at Acxiom Digital.

“Blink Health is doing amazing work to ensure that everyone can afford the medications they need to live safe, healthy lives. It’s my job to help spread the company’s message so that every American has an opportunity to lower their drug prices,” said McKenna. “Nobody should struggle to pay for their prescription drugs and I look forward to helping Blink Health make that a reality for everyone.”

The post Movers and Shakers: Cheetah Digital, Fyber, Sinch, SpotX, and more appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

The partnership enables publishers to calculate user LTV based on in-app purchases and ad revenues. Publishers are then able to use this to ‘model profitable users’ and optimise their user acquisition campaigns.

The machine learning aspect of the partnership means that the combination of user-level advertising and in-app purchase revenue can be used to automatically tailor experiences to individual users.

“Our combined solution allows publishers to maximise yield and optimise the experience of each individual user, which is game changing. For the first time, they’re in full control of their destinies,” said Offer Yehudai, president at Fyber.

Doron Kagan, co-founder and CEO at Game of Whales, added: “With this partnership, we deliver a cutting edge, holistic LTV optimisation platform that takes into consideration both in-app purchases and ads to assure the right action is taken for every specific user.”

The post Fyber links up with Game of Whales to help app developers identify profitable users appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

App Annie reports that by 2020, in-app ad spend will top $201bn. Clearly, marketers have stepped up to the plate and are ready to invest in this channel. Of course, it is in their best interest to do so, as apps are where prospects and customers spend most of their mobile time, and 57 per cent of all digital time, according to comScore.

While mobile app publishers will certainly welcome your influx of cash, many still have their work cut out for them. Too many publishers still rely on waterfalls to fulfill their impressions, a setup that prevents advertisers from being able to compete for their ideal audience.

To earn that $201bn, buyers need equal access to consumers using a mobile app the moment an impression becomes available. This is why we believe that brand advertisers are about to invest heavily in the channel and should advocate for true in-app header bidding. Let’s review why.

In-App monetisation is largely built around waterfalls
In-app publishers largely rely on waterfalls to monetize their inventory. A waterfall is the sequence in which buyers are offered the chance to buy an impression. A buyer’s position in the waterfall is based on historical bid data; if the bid was low for a particular user in the past (perhaps because the user wasn’t your ideal audience), you will be lower in the waterfall. And that, in turn, means you might not be able to compete for users you really do value, even if you’re willing to pay more than your historical bid average.

Moreover, to optimise their monetisation strategies, app publishers often set up separate waterfalls for the various ad formats, ad placements and even geographies of their inventory. If you’ve never worked on the sell side, then let me assure you that managing even a single waterfall is tedious, time consuming, and far from real-time. At best, publishers can optimize their waterfalls once a day, but only if they have an army of ad ops personnel with time on their hands to do so.

Why is this important to advertisers? Well, if your bids for a user were lower in the past, it may take a long time for the publisher to get around to moving you up in the waterfall.

As an advertiser, you need more fluidity. Initial campaign criteria are merely a best guess of how the market will respond to your ads; programmatic allows you to switch tactics to focus on the users, channels, dayparts, and geos that deliver the best results. A waterfall won’t let you hone in on the best users of the moment if how you buy, or the tier on which you sit, doesn’t allow you to bid.

Header bidding offers unified auctions
In the desktop environment, header bidding has done a world of good for the buy side, because it allows all buyers – direct, RTB, network – to compete for impressions in an auction simultaneously. In unified auctions, price determines who the winner is (as it should).

Let’s say an impression meets all of the criteria of a direct sold campaign. In the pre-header bidder days, that impression would go to a direct sold campaign automatically. But what if that user had recently visited a luxury auto site? What if a retargeter was willing to pay a CPM that was higher than the direct sold campaign? As we can see, header bidding, with its simultaneous auctions among all buyer categories, is a huge benefit to that retargeter because now they have an equal chance to bid on that user and win, if offering the highest price.

As it stands today, can you expect that same level of equal access when purchasing in-app inventory? Sadly, no. Unified auctions are still not the reality.

Why brand marketers should advocate for true in-app header bidding
Although there are plenty of hybrid header-bidding solutions on the market, most are built around waterfalls and still exclude many advertisers, often those who buy via a mediated network. What we need is equal opportunity bidding, where any buyer, regardless of demand type, has the opportunity to compete for impressions simultaneously in a unified auction.

The shortcomings of non-unified auctions in header bidding is a battle that shouldn’t fall to publishers alone. As an advertiser, you should be just as riled. The waterfall and transparency shortcomings prevent you from securing impressions you need for your high-value campaigns to meet minimum frequency requirements and to promote optimal customer journeys through message sequencing. If you’re planning to open your wallet, you have every right to demand that your money be well spent.

This article was originally posted on the Business of Apps

The post Advertisers: true header bidding will save your mobile campaign, if you let it appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

The strong performance of in-app inventory will see it capturing a greater share of the overall ad spend in the years ahead, with survey respondents predicting that in-app inventory will account for 43 per cent of overall digital ad budgets within the next five years, up from 34 per cent currently. 68 per cent of brands are using in-app ads to build brand awareness, while 52 per cent have used such ads to generate sales.

Gaming is a popular category for brands, with 60 per cent of all respondents citing the scale and reach it can achieve, and 59 per cent citing high user engagement. 78 per cent had already placed ads in gaming apps, and 91 per cent of media agencies and 87 per cent of brands had plans to use them in the future. Playable, video and opt-in ads were viewed as the most effective in-app ad formats.

“Mobile devices are the consumers primary means of access to the internet, and close to 90 per cent of time on mobile devices is spent in apps, so its no surprise that the mobile in-app inventory is of growing interest to media buyers and brands,” said Yoni Argaman, senior vice president for marketing and corporate strategy at Fyber. “Its gratifying that agencies and brands are reporting better targeting capabilities, an issue that has long stymied ad spend in the channel. And with higher ROI and engagement levels, media buyers now regard in-app inventory as a key conduit to their target audience.”

The survey found that US-based buyers were most enthusiastic about in-app, with 32 per cent investing 50 per cent or more of their ad budget in in-app advertising. In the UK, the second highest spending country of those surveyed, that figure was 22 per cent. In addition, 39 per cent of US-based buyers include in-app in their media plan 50 per cent of the time or more. 82 per cent of US-based brands say theyve asked their agencies to start buying in-app inventory specifically, as opposed to mobile in general.

The post 77 per cent of brands investing in in-app inventory appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

The mobile ad tech firm commissioned Sapio Research to conduct a survey of more than 500 respondents across eight sectors in the US, UK, Germany, and France. This survey, where half of respondents were from media agencies and the other half worked for brands, found that 77 per cent report they have asked their media agencies to invest in in-app inventory.

As in-app investment continues to increase, the channel is set to account for 43 per cent of overall digital advertising budgets within the next five years.

“Mobile devices are the consumer’s primary means of access to the Internet, and close to 90 per cent of time on mobile devices is spent in apps, so it’s no surprise that the mobile in-app inventory is of growing interest to media buyers and brands,” said Yoni Argaman, SVP of marketing and corporate strategy at Fyber. “It’s gratifying that agencies and brands are reporting better targeting capabilities, an issue that has long stymied ad spend in the channel. And with higher ROI and engagement levels, media buyers now regard in-app inventory as a key conduit to their target audience.”

Among media buyers in agencies, they view in-app ads as more reliable than web browser ads – almost 33 per cent citing better user engagement as the channel’s key benefit. For brands, the top benefit of in-app inventory is better targeting capabilities than mobile web, OTT, and desktop. Meanwhile, 68 per cent of brands use in-app ads to build brand awareness and 52 per cent use them to generate sales. According to both agencies and brands, in-app ads can improve campaign ROI by an average of 41 per cent.

In particular, gaming apps are seen as solid investments, with 60 per cent citing scale and reach, and 59 per cent citing high user engagement as reasons for investing in the vertical. 78 per cent of respondents have already placed ads in gaming apps – a figure that is set to grow to 91 per cent for media agencies and 87 per cent for brands. Playable, video, and opt-in ads are viewed as being the most effective in-app ad format.

Despite in-app advertising being favoured amongst brands and agencies alike, only 22 per cent of UK-based buyers invest 50 per cent or more of their budgets in in-app and just 32 per cent include it in at least 50 per cent of their media plans. These figures grow to 32 per cent and 39 per cent, respectively, in the US.

The reasons for that could be the challenges that in-app advertising presents, with 35 per cent of media agencies citing their ability to measure campaign effectiveness as their biggest challenge and 28 per cent of brands reporting in-app campaign performance and effectiveness measurement as their biggest issue.

The post In-app advertising set for growth on the back of increasing brand demand appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

It’s predicted that by next year, time spent on mobile will surpass time spent watching TV in the US. This makes it evident that mobile is becoming an attractive and strategically important medium for all types of advertisers. And where do people spend time when using their mobile? In mobile apps. Yes, over 90 per cent of time spent on smartphones is spent in mobile apps which means that less than 10 per cent is spent in mobile web (e.g. browsing through the mobile internet browser such as safari or chrome).

Yet, despite these unquestionable trends and promising predictions about further mobile app growth, brand advertisers are still hesitant about placing their ad spend eggs into the mobile app basket, which continues to be dominated by performance campaigns. Why is that so? Let’s explore and perhaps debunk some common myths about the mobile app environment.

Myth 1: Measuring viewability in mobile apps is not possible
Historically, the in-app advertising realm was dominated by app developers advertising their own apps on a cost per install – CPI – basis (aka user acquisition campaigns). With installs being key performance indicator, measuring viewability was not a requirement for these advertisers. In other words, it’s not that measuring viewability is not possible, it’s just that it has never been a priority.

With more brand advertisers opening up to advertising in apps, viewability measurement is becoming more widely available. VPAID formats allowing for measurement are now available in apps, big players such as Moat, IAS and DoubleVerify are working more closely with app publishers and the industry is looking towards the open measurement SDK to further alleviate the measurement pains. Bottom line, viewability measurement is there.

Myth 2: Gaming apps are just for kids or for hard-core gamers
One other misconception is around the gaming vertical – a large vertical within mobile apps – and its audience. Many imagine gaming apps users to be either kids or hard-core gamers and therefore rule it out as ‘not having the right audience.’ There’s also a wrong association between gaming and gambling which tends to give the plethora of popular and casual gaming apps a bad rep. This is all clearly false. 70 per cent of Americans today play games on their phone and over half of game users are female. The audience is broad and versatile.

Moreover, the state of mind of users when they are playing games tends to be more positive and engaged and they are actually 25 per cent more likely to engage with an ad while in these types of apps. Match that with capabilities such as ‘cookie syncing’, which allows to follow users across web and app environments, and you can basically reach the audience you want, when they are most engaged.

Myth 3: Apps have more fraud than mobile web
It’s impossible to talk about the digital world without addressing the topic of fraud. We won’t sugar coat it. The app environment is exposed to fraud just like the mobile web or desktop environments. That said, just like in browser-based environments, there are third-party vendors who specialize in tackling fraud issues in apps.

However, one benefit the app space has over browser is the app store. While no one monitors web pages, in order for an app to be widely available on Google Play or the App Store, it has to go through a screening and verification process. In that sense, the app environment can actually be deemed ‘safer’ for brand advertisers than its web-based counterparts.

The bottom line
With most time spent in mobile apps, a more engaged user state of mind and availability of technologies such as measurement and targeting, it’s time brand advertisers opened up to this world of apps. In a few years, we are going to interact with the internet through different devices. Devices such as Connected TV, smart cars or smart homes all work with an app environment. Advertisers wanting to stay ahead of the game need to start adapting to this app centric environment.

Apps are not only the future, they are already the present and advertisers who are not intentional about incorporating in-app into their media buying strategy, sooner or later, will fall behind.

Welby Chen is president and chief business officer at Fyber.

The post How brand advertisers should be diversifying their media buying strategy appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

According to a new report from eMarketer, the retail industry’s investment in mobile advertising is expected to rise 23.6 per cent in 2018 to $16.3bn (£12.4bn). This amounts to nearly 70 per cent of retailers digital ad spending. Mobile advertising is increasingly being relied upon as a way to reach and engage customers. Part of this growth and investment can be credited to the rise of mobile video, and rewarded video.

Rewarded video, where users have the option to watch ads in exchange for in-app rewards, is changing the relationship between consumers and brands. It’s becoming the new ad currency that provides a two-way exchange, where users receive value relevant to their current experience in exchange for their attention.

A recent report from App Annie found that rewarded video will contribute to in-app advertising spend growth, estimated at 23 per cent CAGR (compound annual growth rate), outpacing mobile app store growth. Both indie game developers such as Hipster Whale (Crossy Road) to large gaming publishers such as Rovio (Angry Birds) and King (Candy Crush), use rewarded video over other ad formats, but the potential extends beyond gaming. For example, Amazon was awarded a patent that enables the price for an item to drop as consumers watch ads.

With this in mind, here are five reasons why brands and publishers will increase investments in rewarded video.

1. Better user experience, stronger customer retention
With rewarded video, the user opts-in to watch an ad. True, they are likely doing it to receive the reward, but the idea of putting the user in control is less intrusive and interruptive compared to banners and static interstitials. Because they’re less likely to find the advertisement annoying, users remain positively engaged during the advertisement and generally continue using the app.

In fact, in-app rewarded video is perceived more positively by consumers than any other ad format. A recent report from AdColony found that 90 per cent of publishers claim rewarded ads provide a positive user experience. Additionally, research from Unity notes 80 per cent of mobile game players are open to engaging with video ads for in-game rewards.

2. Higher Yield
The eCPMs of user-initiated ad units often range into $30+ territory and are higher than the average eCPMs on Android and iOS devices, which range from $0.15-$2.00 for banner ads and $2.00-$5.00 for interstitials. Solutions like Adscend Media’s Offer Wall generate eCPMs of up to $90 with frequent return visits. One reason is the high completion rate which advertisers are willing to pay for. As most user-initiated ads are non-skippable, opting in means full completion.

3. Complements in-app purchases
For publishers who are concerned rewarded video will cannibalize their in-app purchases, it actually proves to be an ideal complement. In fact, viewers engaging with rewarded ads are more than twice as likely to eventually pay for premium content or features they initially accessed through a rewarded ad.

4. Rewarded video is mutually beneficial
Rewarded video ads expand well beyond the gaming space. Music apps such as Pandora and Spotify use rewarded video to give their listeners uninterrupted music. Additionally, Kik, a messaging app, enables users to exchange points earned from rewarded video for stickers, emojis and gift cards. Sworkit, a popular personalized fitness app, uses rewarded video to unlock new workouts, and Duolingo uses rewarded video to enable students to advance to a new language level.

5. More conversions due to a call to action
Marketers have the option to place a specific call to action at the end of a rewarded video ad. Offering users a “click to download” or “click to purchase” button is a way to drive app downloads, increase sales and build on lead generation efforts. Since rewarded video has more views, and more conversions, it will continue to attract a larger percentage of advertisers’ budgets.

Rewarded video is becoming the preferred in-app ad unit, because unlike distracting banner ads or pop-ups, viewers have the power to experience ads on their own terms.The key to their success is the unparalleled capacity for interaction with minimal disruption that engages consumers better. Opt in advertising provides better brand building for advertisers and more revenue opportunities for publishers. In the end, everyone is rewarded not just the viewer.

Welby Chen is president and chief business officer at Fyber.

The post Rewarded video ads will continue to dominate through 2018 appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

We’re living in exciting times in the tech industry. 20 years ago, mobile phones were for crackly calls, 120-character texts, and for many of us, playing Snake. Now, they’re changing the world. Both mobile web and app use is increasing in comparison with all other platforms.

Advertisers have had mobile strategies for a while, but this has often meant merely transferring desktop campaigns to mobile web, completely ignoring mobile apps, which are the real jewel in the mobile crown. It’s something we’ve been saying at Fyber for some time, but little has changed. Whatever the reason, whether habit, a fear of change, or stagnation, it’s important we challenge the status quo and change our behaviour to truly make the most of mobile.

The numbers speak for themselves: average users spend considerably more time on in-app per day than they do on mobile web: three and a half hours compared to less than an hour for mobile web, according to eMarketer.

This means those who are open to the promise of the mobile space, but focus on mobile web, are throwing a whole lot of precious ad spend in the wrong direction. There’s a range of reasons why apps have become so important, not least that mobile video and gaming – some of the most important uses for apps – are booming. In the future, they’re likely to become even bigger with the onset of connected TV and the IoT. So if you’re seeing ‘mobile’ as synonymous with the mobile web environment, you’re missing the point.

Data, IDs and cookies
One of the most fundamental differences between mobile web and in-app is how and where these environments source data. The infamous ‘cookie’ – a small file installed on a device which stores client and website data – has become standard. Apps don’t use cookies, and advertisers have subsequently been trying to find ways to ‘translate’ what they know – cookies and web targeting – into in-app identifiers.

This is a case of forcing a square peg into a round hole. It’s always best to go native, and apps work best with user and device IDs – indeed these are becoming some of the most persistent identifiers nowadays. The irony is that app advertising IDs are actually significantly more reliable than cookies, and allow much more enhanced tailoring, yet advertisers shy away from them as ‘unfamiliar’. What’s more, the permissions around them are a lot clearer, meaning they have not suffered the extensive negative press that cookies have received of late: Apple’s IDFA (Identifier For Apps) and Google’s GAID (Google Advertising ID), for example, have been mostly unharmed. This makes it a lot clearer for both tech companies, who can be sure they have the relevant permissions, as well as for consumers, who can be safe in the knowledge their data isn’t going anywhere it shouldn’t be.

Viewability, transparency, and brand safety
There’s been a whole lot of bad press around viewability, transparency, and brand safety in recent months. They’re omnipresent problems in ad tech, and in-app is no exception. But the specifics of the problem – and the solutions required to beat them – are different. Fundamentally, the app environment is considerably safer than browser-based environments such as desktop and mobile web. Problems usually take the form of things like bots, hidden banners and app-bundle spoofing (this is where apps misrepresent themselves by sending fake bundled IDs).

These can be combatted with state-of-the-art algorithms which detect and cut off fraudsters, as well as prevention in the form of pre-bid verification filters, ensuring your partners use these too. There’s also the added benefit that all apps are accessed via Apple or Google stores – both of which take a strong position in vetting for quality and safety. As for viewability issues, the fight is well and truly on in the in-app space. Measurement solutions have conventionally been desktop-based, but high quality measurement capabilities are arriving to in-app environments, the pinnacle of which is the IAB’s Open Measurement SDK.

Connections with third-party tech vendors
The industry has been seized by a programmatic mania over the past couple of years, and whilst the initial response was primarily desktop-based, programmatic has made its way to in-app – and with consumers spending so much time in-app, it’s crucial to understand the differences between an app and a web-page based environment.

While apps can still integrate via API or a tag, the most common method is the implementation of an SDK or software development kit (a line of code embedded in the app’s code). Different SDKs can give app developers a plethora of functionalities, such as the ability to render certain ads, viewability measurement (as mentioned above), mediation, and others. As they exist separately to the app but are embedded in it, app developers can control and monitor these SDKs in real time, updating them when necessary without having to go in and rebuild a whole new app.

That said, app developers are mindful of making their app too heavy with code, meaning they are picky about which, and how many, SDKs they integrate with. This means that while there are benefits to the SDK being directly on the client (e.g. on the app itself vs. on a server), mobile apps often require a different approach to scale than web-based environments.

Moving forward
The verdict is clear: there’s a whole world of difference between in-app and browser environments, and focusing simply on mobile web in one’s mobile strategy leads to false conclusions, as well as the neglect of an enormous section of consumers. Rather than just focusing on the fact that people spend more time on their phones than before, it’s important that we work on gaining a full understanding of the app world. Then we can make sure that advertising is always on trend with consumers, and not just playing catch-up.

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