Dive Brief:
- Video ads are integral to fueling mobile app interest, buzz and downloads, according to a new study from VB Insight titled "App store optimization – a practitioners' guide to ASO."
- The report highlights that a video trailer promoting the mobile game Angry Birds improved conversion rates by 60% and cut costs per impression in half. Angry Birds developer Rovio Entertainment also found app users drawn from the video trailer were especially valuable because they were highly engaged, with a 20% higher retention rate than users gained through other ad formats.
- The report is based on 35 interviews with app store optimization (ASO) professionals and an informal survey of more than 500 ASO users.
Dive Insight:
App developers are facing countless hurdles to gain the attention of potential app users. Customer acquisition costs are high, there are millions of choices on the market, making it difficult for people to unearth the apps they want, and Americans are spending more time on fewer apps. Taking into account those headwinds, VB Insight singled out video ads from a pool of ad possibilities including display, keyword boost campaigns and search ads as effective and efficient for building app brands.
In addition to the results of Rovio's video trailer, the VB Insight report shared thoughts on video ads from Andrew French, who leads the EMEA office for AdColony, and Victoria Trofimova, CEO of casual game developer Nordcurrent. French said video ads help keep user acquisition expenses down. He elaborated the reason is that they draw users "who are aligned with the app from the get-go and more likely to spend more time (and money) to savor the full experience."
Trofimova detailed consumers downloading a Nordcurrent game after watching videos were 50% more likely to convert to paying users than users watching display ads.
App marketers aren’t the only ones discovering digital video ads are worthwhile — mobile video ads are surging overall. Per eMarketer, mobile video ad spending in the U.S. increased 80.6% in 2015 and is expected to register double-digit growth through 2019. Business of Apps underscored, though, that success from mobile video ads isn't guaranteed and requires deft targeting and non-obtrusiveness.
