Thinking Outside the (Ad) Box with Native Advertising
Mobile advertising has come a long way and native advertising will take us into the next decade.
BERLIN and BEIJING and SAN FRANCISCO, June 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- In 2009, Lichi Wu was working for one of the major pioneers of mobile marketing and monetization. At the time, mobile advertising mostly consisted of lead generation of premium SMS subscriptions. The two major app stores were barely a year old and the app ecosystem was still settling down. Mobile advertising networks were taking the easy way out and borrowing from the relic of web advertising by porting banner and interstitial ads into mobile apps.
The full article can be read on the glispa blog at: http://www.glispa.com/blog/thinking-ad-box-native-advertising.html#.VYgdbVpSzzI
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At the same time, the world was going through the smartphone revolution. Device sales and adoption were off the charts and when the tide rises, it floats all boats. Many mobile ad networks grew their businesses riding this wave, but most were sticking with moderately successful banners and interstitial ads without innovating on ad formats.
Fast forward to today, where a new wave of companies has emerged to address this inefficiency with what the industry collectively calls 'native advertising'. The dust is far from settled on the topic, and the IAB has attempted to standardize the definition of native advertising by providing some guidelines on what it does and does not constitute. However, to most people, native advertising is about making the look and feel of an ad fit its surrounding content. It's about giving developers and publishers the ability to share ideas about how and where the hosting app should present ad content for optimal results.
As an app developer, what can you do to take advantage of the many benefits of native advertising?
Exploring non-intrusive ad monetization
The mobile advertising ecosystem is a vast and complex machine, and the constituting pieces, such as DSPs, DMPs, SSPs, exchanges, app trackers, analytics, retargeting solutions, are constantly evolving, making expertise from just a few years ago outdated and inefficient. Because of this rapid evolution, the majority of mobile advertising budgets today are still being spent on intrusive banner and interstitial ads that disrupt our content consumption.
A sizable portion of glispa's publishers take advantage of the flexibility we provide as an opportunity to rethink advertising as a seamless experience, from form (how the ad appears within the natural stream of content), to function (how the style of the ad fits with the surrounding content), and all the way to integration (how the behavior of the ad mirrors that of the host app).
What exactly is the content of your app?
In the context of native advertising this can be almost anything. For example, an Android launcher is an app and its content includes other apps installed on the phone; a system utility app such as anti-virus scanner can make recommendations for other apps that could help secure the phone, improve its performance, or enhance functionality. And where there is content, there are opportunities to present ads in non-intrusive yet entertaining and helpful ways, provided your monetization solution offers such flexibility.
Working with vendors to maximize revenue
As a developer looking to better leverage your ad inventory, you need to work with your vendor to understand where their ad demand is strong and match that to where your audience is. Some networks are strong in the US, while some are better in Europe or in BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries. Understanding your ad inventory assets and working closely with your vendor is the key to maximizing your ad revenue. One of the common monetization pitfalls is the temptation to treat all countries as equals. It is vital to realize that markets have different monetization maturity, whether from IAP (in-app purchases) or supported by ads, meaning that your monetization strategy must be adaptable to different regions. You can take advantage of this by leveraging your vendor's knowledge and expertise in addition to the myriad of available tools to maximize your revenue potential.
Success is within your reach
Ultimately, you, as the developer, are the content creator who draws an audience. You have your own vision for your app and business and know best how monetization fits into that plan. We encourage all app developers to explore different options, different monetization models (IAP vs ad supported), different ad networks, and invest in available monetization tools that give you actionable insights. It's not easy to become a breakout success in the crowded app space, but by being methodical and exploratory, you can build a profitable app business that successfully monetizes for years to come.
If you'd like to know how glispa can help you get involved with native advertising, get in touch with Robert Wildner or Lichi Wu at [email protected] for more information.
SOURCE glispa
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