Dive Brief:
- Google announced at its I/O conference that it’s expanding Universal App Campaigns to iOS developers for the first time.
- At the same event, the tech giant shared that the app install ad program that allows for campaigns that reach across multiple Google properties and beyond have driven more than two billion app downloads so far.
- In separate news, Google also announced at the event it is making artificial intelligence a key part of voice search that will power its new Home device – a competitor for Amazon’s Echo – as well as become a digital assistant that users can interact with across devices, as Google CEO Sundar Pichai put it.
Dive Insight:
App install ads are a popular, and lucrative, format for both Google and Facebook. And the Mountain View, Calif.-based tech giant has said its Universal App Campaigns as being 30% to 50% less expensive than app install campaigns on Facebook.
Sissie Hsiao, Google's product management director for mobile app ads, told Adweek the format is about more than just driving app downloads and will allow developers to target audiences likely to take specific actions meaningful to their app’s goal. "It really moves the product beyond just optimizing for install volume and allows the developers to also optimize for in-app actions that are important to them," Hsiao said.
As for Google’s ongoing foray into AI, marketers will be watching to see how that tech impacts searches – especially as mobile searches are becoming more popular than desktop searches. It’s likely voice-driven mobile searches aided by AI tech will require some tactical adjustments, such as making natural language keyphrases more valuable in paid search and even content marketing strategies.
