The following is a guest contributed post from Samir Addamine, Founder and Chairman of FollowAnalytics.

Starting on May 25th, the EU will be enforcing its General Data Protection Regulation, otherwise known as GDPR. The regulations apply to any business that has access to or collects information from EU citizens, even if that business is located in a country outside of the Union. Companies who don’t comply face heavy fines: up to €20 million, or 4% of their annual revenue worldwide, whichever is higher. To say GDPR will have an impact on the future of mobile apps and data privacy would be an understatement.

In many ways, the passage of GDPR anticipated the current debates around privacy that we’re having now, in the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Mobile apps have been collecting our information for years, but now people are starting to push back and demand measures to ensure their privacy. GDPR addresses these concerns by enshrining the “right to be forgotten”, which allows EU citizens to demand that companies erase any data on them that is not vital to their business, as well as the right to see all of the information that a company has collected on them.

Nor are the concerns around privacy that GDPR is meant to address limited to the EU. A survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2016 found that a majority of US citizens have concerns over the information they share online. According to the survey, 86% of Internet users have taken steps in the past to minimize their digital footprint, with another 61% saying they “would like to do more” to protect their online privacy. In addition, younger people are more likely to take measures to safeguard their online privacy – a development that companies would do well to note, as it could define the way that people of younger generations interact with one another online.

Investors, too, are becoming interested in data privacy – and when investors get interested in something, that means that they see a future in it. After all, they are the ones who spend so much time with their ears to the ground, looking to see what the “next big thing” will be, so the fact that startups that deal directly with issues of data privacy are receiving funding is revealing. Similarly, multiple investors are now suing Facebook over their mishandling of user data, a development that comes on the heels of a precipitous fall in stock price.

Mobile app providers need to stop seeing GDPR as an impediment that they need to overcome, and start seeing it for the opportunity that it is. In order for any business relationship to be successful, whether it’s between business and investor or business and consumer, there has to be an element of trust. If a person feels that they cannot trust a company with their personal information, then that company has lost a customer – and if many consumers feel that way, then investors will lose faith in the company as well.

Because GDPR requires mobile apps to be transparent with their users, it can help to restore consumer trust, which then strengthens the relationship between them and the company. In other words, it can be used as an advantage, a way of indicating that one company is more trustworthy than another. However, as of yet, relatively few companies appear to be taking this route; a report by Gartner finds that most companies have spent the lead up to GDPR enforcement merely to meet the requirements of the legislation, and ignoring the potential that GDPR creates for their business.

As the report notes, not only does the regulation force mobile apps to be more accountable (and therefore more transparent), it also is a good opportunity for them to think about the best way to get value from their data. Contrary to popular belief, GDPR doesn’t mean that mobile apps are prevented from collecting data; rather, they need to be able to show a reason for collecting it, which then requires a detailed strategy for how to get the most value out of customer data. Gartner points out that “there is great potential to obtain consent to increase data access, use and sharing rights – in line with the goals of a wider organizational data and analytics strategy”, which can in turn lead to a competitive advantage because it prioritizes the value of the data rather than the process of data collection itself.Somewhat surprisingly, while many mobile app companies I speak to are (rightly) proud of the fact that they’re GDPR compliant, or that they are taking steps to become compliant, few seem to have thought about the impact that GDPR will have on their existing product designs. After all, so many mobile apps come laden with SDKs that collect user data, and it seems shocking to me that hardly anyone is considering the impact that GDPR will have on product development.

It’s early days yet, and it remains to be seen how smoothly the process of GDPR enforcement will go. Nevertheless, it’s time for companies to stop being so defensive, and to start thinking about how they can turn GDPR into an advantage for their organization.

The post How Mobile Apps Can Turn GDPR into a Competitive Advantage appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Alarmingly, the report shows that ,obile app marketers were exposed to 30% more fraud in Q1 2018, reaching $700-$800 million worldwide.

Other key findings of the report include:

• The share of fraudulent installs has grown by 15%, tainting 11.5% of all marketing-driven installs.
• Bots have replaced device farms as the most popular form of attack, responsible for over 30% of fraudulent installs.
• Shopping, gaming, finance and travel apps are the hardest hit.

To learn more, check out the full report here.

The post New AppsFlyer Report Points to $700-$800 Million Lost to Fraud in Q1 2018 appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

In addition, custom send times for these notifications based on when the user is most active raised retention rates by over 400%.

Modern marketing expert Nick Kohlschreiber predicts that as developers continue to understand how customers interact with their favorite apps and integrate more automation tools using artificial intelligence, these “Smart Apps” will come to define mobile advertising strategies.

Driven by new marketing centric technologies including chatbots, predictive analytics, and intelligent automation, these innovative applications are creating a fundamental shift in how consumers interact with their mobile devices.

Modern apps already have the ability to personalize content down to the individual user, as opposed to broader segments. With advanced predictive analytics, a customer’s desires will soon be anticipated before they are even expressed.

Thanks to complex algorithms of previous user choices and interactions, Kohlschreiber predicts that smart apps will soon be able to suggest relevant content at the precise time the consumer is most likely to engage.

According to Kohlschreiber, customization – backed by powerful data – has the potential to touch every key mobile marketing metric. Launching personalized campaigns with approachable content will improve user conversions, reduce acquisition spending, and drive ROI across the board.

The post Nick Kohlschreiber Predicts Smart Apps to Lead Advertisement Sales in 2018 appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

According to the official media release, the acquisition comes after a successful period of cooperation between the two companies and is a natural next step on Calldorado’s path of accelerated growth.

“By acquiring CIAmedia and its portfolio of high quality apps, we are extending the Calldorado value chain. Calldorado and CIAmedia have been in cooperation before, and CIAmedia’s focus on Android apps within the Communication and Tools categories is a perfect fit with our mobile advertising technology,” says Claudia Dreier-Poepperl, CEO and Founder of Calldorado. “Calldorado’s vision is to be the world’s number one provider of call-based advertising technology, and by owning and operating a portfolio of relevant apps we are better positioned to realize this vision.”

CIAmedia was established 2013 in Vienna, Austria.

CIAmedia owns and operates the highly successful app acquisition brand Appsbuyout.vc and has built up a strong portfolio of 80 high quality apps with high user engagement and very good LTV (life time value). Appsbuyout has a proven track record of efficient app M&A, and app portfolio management.

The post Ad-tech Company Calldorado Makes Key Acquisition in App Publishing Space appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Ionic Pro is a cloud-based solution that makes it faster and easier to design, build, test and deliver apps.

Launched in 2013, the Ionic Framework has acquired a community of more than five million developers around the world. Ionic’s approach streamlines mobile development with one code base that runs everywhere – on any device or operating system – using the web as a common platform. This efficiency is critical to enterprise teams, as demand for mobile apps is growing five times faster than IT can deliver. With the launch, Ionic Pro extends the power of the Framework to address the entire app lifecycle.

“The Ionic Framework has become popular with enterprise teams because they can target native mobile apps, as well as progressive web apps, all from a single codebase – using languages that are familiar to their in-house web developers,” said Max Lynch, co-founder and CEO of Ionic. “With Ionic Pro, we’re taking it even further by helping teams address the entire dev lifecycle – from design and testing, to tracking errors and shipping hot code updates.”

To learn more, click here.

The post Ionic Brings App Development Suite to Teams and Enterprises appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

According to the official word, click injection fraud is the process by which a non-human actor, such as a bot or malware installed on a mobile device, attempts to steal attribution credit and advertising dollars for a genuine app install. This happens when scripts or bots inject fake ad clicks between the time a person downloads and first opens an app.

It’s estimated that in 2017 $139B of all paid media advertising worldwide will go toward mobile with an estimated $7.5B spent by marketers in the United States on mobile app install advertising. TUNE estimates that click injection accounts for 30-40 percent of all mobile app install fraud and costs marketers $500-$700M.

To counter this growing issue, Google has recently launched the new Play Install Referrer API that enables measurement providers like TUNE to significantly reduce click injection fraud in the app ecosystem. TUNE is one of the mobile measurement solutions providers to integrate new Google Play referral data that provides the exact time an app download began, directly into the TUNE Marketing Console.

This newly released anonymous data detailing app install start time, coupled with TUNE’s leading app attribution analytics, captures initial app open time and all clicks or events that take place between app download and the initial open, enabling marketers to precisely measure and remove fraudulent app installs driven by click injection. Marketers who use TUNE to measure app downloads on Google Play have a new tool capable of identifying and ultimately ending fraudulent click injection without impacting real customer downloads.

“Over the last two years, we built new tools for fighting mobile ad fraud by enabling marketers and ad partners to work together, and we now lead the industry with the most granular approach,” said Peter Hamilton, Chief Executive Officer at TUNE. “What was still missing in this fight was the direct cooperation with the platforms themselves, which is why this step with Google is such a powerful one. This data connection with Google is exactly what the industry needs to completely stamp out the practice of fraudulent click injection which will immediately eradicate nearly a third of mobile ad fraud. We look forward to continued collaboration with the brilliant teams at Google to making marketing more accountable.”

The post TUNE, Google Team Up To Help Stop App Install Fraud appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

There are several well-known methods of increasing adoption and retention for mobile apps. Ensuring the onboarding process is as simple as possible and using push notifications are two well-known techniques to improve engagement. The following are a few of the more creative methods app marketers and developers can use.

Gamification

Turning an app into a game is a great way to leverage the network effect. People love to be part of a community and people love to compete. If you can create a game within your app, you can reward users for referrals and for information that makes the app more useful. For example, CallerSmart is an app that helps users avoid unwanted calls and messages by providing information on unknown numbers. The information is crowdsourced, and users are rewarded for their info with points and badges. Not all users will want to share information, but many will – and that makes the app more useful and more valuable.

Use a website to complement the app

Some products are just too complex for all the features to be included in an app. In that case, the website and app should complement one another. For instance, brokers have realised that clients like to use the website to do research but use an app to follow the market and trade. For example, IG offers a spread betting demo account to allow prospective clients to get to know the website and app, and focus on what each of the two platforms can do for them. Demo accounts are also a great way to let users get to know a product without committing to a funded account.

When it Comes to Monetisation, One Size Doesn’t fit all

A one-size-fits-all approach can cut out valuable revenue and slow adoption of an app. While some customers will never pay for an app, they may still use a version supported by ads. On the other hand, some customers will happily pay for an app but will uninstall the app if they see one too many ads. Others may be prepared to share information in return for free access to an app.

Broaden Your Horizons

Always be aware that you may be overlooking an important market segment. You may be so focused on the market you are targeting that you forget about other potential users. The digital world has no boundaries and sometimes your biggest market might be on another continent. Or it may be a different age group from the one you are targeting. This often becomes true as an app iterates and morphs into something different.

Focus on the Right Metrics

There are several metrics that can be used to measure engagement, including installs, registered users and daily active users. These are often known as vanity metrics, as they can often be a distraction. The number of installs and registered users is irrelevant if no one actually uses the app. There’s a saying that goes: “Revenue is vanity, profit is sanity and cash is reality.” Work out who your ideal, profitable users are, and then work out which metrics really give you an indication of the engagement of those types of users.

Sometimes app marketing can become a little too formulaic, and it’s worth thinking creatively to grow the user base. These are just a few ideas, and it’s worth looking at case studies of other successful apps to find others.

The post Creative Strategies to Increase Mobile App Adoption appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The workshop will focus on app monetization strategies for publishers, with case studies from Baidu’s mobile advertising platform DU Ad Platform. Other topics will include findings from DU Ad Platform’s H1 2017 regional trends white paper, and an overview of Baidu’s AI strategy.

DU Ad Platform is Baidu’s mobile ad platform for developers and publishers worldwide. Its core technology, called “Peak Selection Algorithm,” uses machine learning to automatically maximize ad performance and ensure a reliably stable revenue stream. DU Ad Platform currently has a global base of more than 1,800 app developers and 2 billion users around the world.

During the workshop, Baidu will also present original data from DU Ad Platform’s first ever white paper, including the platform’s regional eCPM rates and its global revenue growth. Current and future trends in mobile ads will also be discussed. The white paper, titled “Mobile Ad Performance: Regional Trends Report,” will be made available for download on the Baidu Global website.

The Mobile Leap workshop will take place at Baidu’s Silicon Valley AI Lab in Sunnyvale, California on November 6, 2017, and is organized in coordination with developer relations agency BeMyApp.

To learn more, click here.

The post Baidu to Hold ‘Mobile Leap’ Workshop for App Publishers Next Month appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

MMW has learned that marketers will now be able to leverage Pinsight’s carrier-level demographic, interest and intent data via PushSpring’s self-serve Audience Console.

This agreement marks an expansion of audience targeting capabilities for existing customers of the PushSpring Audience Console allowing marketers to build custom audiences including app ownership data from PushSpring combined with carrier-level Pinsight data.

The Audience Console will also include more than 20 curated Pinsight Personas, making it easy for marketers to execute a campaign based on a specific target audience. Unlike other segments, Pinsight Personas are built upon a foundation of verified, first-party mobile data. These audiences are continually updated to reflect the genuine, real-time lifestyle and intent of mobile consumers.

“The real advantage for marketers is the ability to expand targeting beyond audiences who have downloaded an app,” a provdied release explains. “For example, in the beauty category, audiences of women who have downloaded a makeup app can now be enhanced with the Pinsight “Fashionista” data set. These Pinsight Personas can also be accessed across PushSpring’s vast network of integrated destination platform partners.”

The post PushSpring Teams with Pinsight to Expand Audience Targeting Data appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The company has just announced the launch of a Holistic Demand Management Platform for publishers.

Fueled by increased publisher adoption of the VertaMedia’s video ad technology platform, the company has developed a unique solution to fulfill direct publisher needs in a unified, holistic sell side technology solution.

Recognizing the advertiser community’s recent calls for a more transparent and direct supply chain, VertaMedia brings a new thinking and product design to the market that returns control and significant lost revenues to media companies which have seen growth in programmatic demand via a highly intermediated marketplace model that has leveraged many resellers to create demand. This announcement comes after months of development in partnership with top-tier demand and supply partners.

So how does the offering work?

The platform provides media owners with a suite of solutions for conducting programmatic direct deals via client and server side points of access, connecting platform buyers with omni-channel media sources without a need to involve business mediators into the workflow.

“The innovation we are bringing to the market establishes a new standard for the sell side technology workflow. It is time for publishers to take back the control of their monetization process and realize the benefits of developing technology independence via direct buyer and seller integrations. These innovations are the inevitable outcome of a marketplace that has undergone a significant transformation in the last decade,” says Chris Karl, VertaMedia’s CEO.

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