Today, an ever-increasing number of modern casino-gaming websites, platforms and applications are making the world smaller by facilitating global accessibility. These platforms are breaking down barriers relating to geography, physical ability, local regulations and language proficiency, making the world of entertainment truly inclusive. Let’s unpack some of the modern realities facilitating this positive trend.

Navigating Legal Landscapes

Regulatory hurdles often limit access to specific content based on location. However, tools like VPNs and location-spoofing technologies are empowering users to get around these restrictions and access a wider range of international entertainment options. While legal and ethical considerations remain, the use of these tools clearly showcase the growing demand for borderless entertainment access.

Many modern apps and platforms have also made their services accessible to global audiences without forcing individuals to make use of VPNs or similar work-arounds. This is perhaps most clear within the world of online casinos, where local restrictions often prohibit operators from running legal online casino operations within specific jurisdictions.

Because fewer laws exist to prohibit residents from playing at offshore casinos, some online casino platforms will open up their digital doors to these players. It can be difficult to find trustworthy offshore operators however, but there are plenty of safe and reputable platforms like those included in a guide for Missouri players where locals can have reliable and accessible means to play casino games with real money. Currently, Missouri’s laws only allow ‘floating’ casinos, and not online ones, so this is a viable alternative for gamblers in the state. As well as this, crypto casinos are also a decent alternative for players in states like Hawaii which don’t allow any casinos at all within their borders.

Demolishing Geographical Boundaries

The days when international entertainment or a visit to a world-renowned casino meant costly flights and cultural isolation are truly over. Today, avid gambling enthusiasts can simply open up an app to access near infinite varieties of casino entertainment and streaming services like Netflix have become global entertainment gateways, offering vast libraries of content from far-flung corners of the world.

With worlds of entertainment at everyone’s fingertips, the sky is the limit. Virtual reality and augmented reality experiences are pushing the boundaries of entertainment further than ever before. Today, gamblers have a wealth of international AR and VR casino options to choose from. These technological innovations are also transporting users to historical landmarks, exotic destinations and fantastical worlds – all from the comfort of their living rooms.

Accessibility for All

The casino entertainment landscape is no longer restricted by physical limitations. Apps and websites are increasingly incorporating features like screen readers, voice controls and fully-adjustable interfaces, ensuring everyone can participate and enjoy casino content as well as other forms of entertainment. Even though a recent report on digital accessibility revealed that digital experiences still alienate around 1.3 billion people with disabilities around the world, many sites are working to make their platforms more accessible.

Language barriers are also less of an issue today. Remember struggling with subtitles or missing the nuances of a foreign film? Advanced translation features are now being built into all kinds of entertainment websites and apps are changing the game. This can be seen at online casino platforms, where real-time translation of text, audio and even live dealer streams allows gamblers to immerse themselves in gaming content regardless of their native language.

These advancements in language accessibility makes web-based platforms more user-friendly, which is a big deal for casino operators who wish to maintain a strong online presence. It also opens up a world of possibilities for users. Today, almost anyone with a reliable connection to the internet, regardless of their mother tongue or ability, can easily participate in the digital entertainment landscape.

The Positive Impact of Accessibility

The impact of accessible websites and mobile apps on global entertainment goes beyond simply providing thrill-based casino enjoyment. It can also encourage more cultural exchange, understanding and empathy. It can empower creators, celebrate diversity and ensure that everyone, regardless of their background or limitations, has the opportunity to be both entertained and inspired.

These innovations are just the beginning of a transformative journey towards a truly inclusive entertainment experience. As technology continues to move forward and artificial intelligence starts to speed up processes, the world can expect even more groundbreaking solutions that further dismantle barriers and connect people across cultures through the shared language of entertainment.

It’s likely that new platforms will mitigate legal limitations further as well by allowing users to access diverse content regardless of their location. Ultimately, accessible websites and apps create a more inclusive and equitable digital landscape. When it’s time to settle down and enjoy a casino gaming session online, take a moment to really sit back and appreciate the fact that accessibility innovations are here to make the world a more interconnected and inclusive space for all.

The post How Apps and Websites Promote Global Accessibility to Casino Entertainment appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The two operating systems dominate the market, with figures from Q2 2018 suggesting that Android OS accounts for an 88 per cent share and iOS holds around 11.9 percent. While the likes of Microsoft and RIM once had a place in this world, they have fallen by the wayside as Google and Apple’s unstoppable creations have marched to the top.

A number of differences

While the pair are now truly out on their own in terms of their performance in the market, they are different in a number of ways. For example, as this VPNbase article on the best Android VPN services outlines, Android devices are seen as less exclusive and arguably more flexible than Apple’s iOS-based alternatives. While the site states this is a “wonderful thing”, it does also warn that this can open Android systems up to a range of risks.

On a more technical level, another key difference is how apps for the two systems are created. While iOS apps are stored on a file type known as an IPA, Android apps use the format known as APK. This issue, in particular, has caused a headache for many businesses in recent years, as this has meant it is not necessarily easy for them to quickly adapt apps for one OS to another.

However, could a major new toolkit created by developers at Google be about to change the game in this regard?

Introducing Flutter

At the start of December, Google announced the launch of its first stable release of the UI toolkit known as Flutter. The company describes the system as a way to build ‘beautiful, native experiences’ for both iOS and Android systems using a single codebase.

While this does not replace the traditional way of creating apps for the two operating systems, it is an engine that can be added to an existing app or used in a completely new one. Google said that Flutter’s set of widgets would ensure a “pixel-perfect experience” on both OSs, ensuring designers are able to achieve their vision without having to “water it down” due to any limitations.

The key benefits of Flutter were highlighted in comments from Capital One’s senior director of engineering Michael Jones, who said the service would mean the company can now think about features “not in an ‘iOS or Android-first’ fashion, but rather in a true mobile-first model”.

Exciting new development

The release of Flutter is an exciting development which could change the game for everyone involved in mobile marketing, with hopes being high that it will make it easier for developers to create apps for both iOS and Android.

While the two biggest mobile operating systems in the world have fundamental differences, Google’s new toolkit has arguably brought them closer than they have ever been before.

The post How Flutter Looks Set to Transform Android and iOS App Development appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The following is a guest contributed post from YouAppi Chief Revenue Officer, Leo Giel.

Reaching the right audience is a constant challenge for app developers, publishers and advertisers. Simply amassing a large audience isn’t easy – but more importantly, it isn’t strategic and doesn’t drive business growth or revenue. Without the right customers – those who will actively engage – a brand’s mobile app is doomed to get lost in the marketplace clutter.

The Price of Acquiring the Wrong Audience.

Acquiring an audience of any kind can be challenging, but acquiring the right users who will download a mobile app, engage frequently and make in-app purchases is even more difficult – not to mention expensive. Across iOS and Android platforms the average business cost per app download is $162.22. Encouraging the download itself, user registration, in-app purchases and retention each come with costs of their own.

Just when mobile app developers, publishers and advertisers think they’ve figured out how to reach their ideal audience, the market shifts and expectations rise. If they neglect or simply lack the skill to cater to the new needs of their target audience, they’re left with hundreds of app downloads that float in the ether and are meaningless to their Return on Ad Spending (ROAS).

One in five users will open an application only once and then abandon it all together. While this is an improvement from 2017, it still poses a noteworthy threat to app developers and advertisers. Why do some users lose interest after just one interaction with certain content? Is your brand securing the right audience for your app(s)? The challenge is to narrow focus and efforts on the right individuals who will be motivated not just to download the app once, but also to re-engage.

Delivering Content that Drives Engagement And Re-engages.

User acquisition is on the minds of mobile app developers and publishers around the globe, and with the high cost of acquiring users – including the wrong users – it’s critical that mobile app marketers know exactly how to deliver engagement-driving content. On average, users in the U.S. spend about 2.3 hours on their mobile device every day. This represents a significant window of time to insert your mobile brand into their minds.

A recent survey found that 85 percent of marketers plan to increase their investment in video in 2018, up a whole 10 percent from 2017. The digital landscape has shifted and video continues to grow in popularity year-on-year. Video is the future of mobile marketing and is projected to claim more than 80% of all web traffic by 2019. Investing in video can help your brand stay relevant in this mobile-first world.

Digital video marketing became a $135 billion industry in the U.S. in 2017. It’s a competitive, but also very effective space. With an audience’s ever-shortening attention span, video is top-of-mind for successful mobile marketers. Video caters to the needs of our mobile-first world and makes your brand memorable.

Attracting the Most Valuable Customers.

Data offers valuable insight to the minds of users and AI and machine learning open up possibilities to learn how and when a user is most likely to engage. Still, these elements are ever-changing. Brands need to focus advertising efforts on those they believe will truly benefit from or enjoy their application – things like App Store Optimization (ASO) efforts and social media utilization can be effective. Using a variety of resources can give you a leg up on other app marketers who focus solely on optimizing their app for the Apple App Store and Google Play. One in four app users discover apps through simple online searches unrelated to apps – well-timed ads and download offers can be highly effective as they relate to someone’s initial online search.

User acquisition is imperative to mobile application success, but it’s not the only element to drive growth. Engagement and re-engagement are the most important factors in forming a competitive growth marketing strategy. Once a user has already downloaded the app and shown interest, capitalize on this first act of engagement and motivate them to do more in the future. Upon app installation, the last thing a new user wants is to be bombarded with a myriad of questions, requests and verifications. Timing is everything, as the saying goes. Keep in mind the user experience and let it be a top priority – conversion rates will be greater as user experience becomes of utmost importance

Investing in user acquisition is necessary for any marketing strategy, but engaging and re-engaging with users is the key for premium mobile apps to see better ROI. And, given that users spend 30 hours per month in mobile applications, accessing the right people at the right time has never been more attainable.

The post The Laws Of Attraction In A Mobile-First World appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The following is a guest contributed post by Pat McCormack, Vice President, Publisher Sales Americas – Oath

True in-app header bidding is finally here. This is the year that developers finally begin to bring the benefits of header bidding — a way to have a unified, simultaneous auction from all of the advertisers bidding on in-app inventory — into the monetization stack for their apps.

 Over the last several years, the mobile app ecosystem has had a front row seat to header bidding’s impact and evolution across desktop and mobile web. They saw  savvy publishers achieve a greater level of control and efficiency from their ad stack by pulling demand partners out of the waterfall and calling all of them at the same time. They saw the market respond with off-the-shelf  “wrappers” to get rid of the added latency from having so much additional partner code on the page. And, most recently, they saw header bidding evolve server-side.

 This perspective has helped developers learn how to be successful and start with a more advanced solution on day one. And for developers considering header bidding “container” solutions, which manage all header bidding partners a developer wants to use, their decisions need to be built around a few guiding principles. Here are three of the most critical.

Middleman for the Tech, ONLY

On a basic level, the role of the container is to help developers run a more efficient ads business. The container is a framework. It’s responsible for paving a road between demand partner and publisher.  But publishers should be able to have direct commercial relationships with the SSPs and ad networks they choose to sell to without the container taking a cut of it — unless there is value being added to the request (for example in the form of data). Otherwise, the road shouldn’t carry a fee. Think of a freeway rather than a tollway. Further, the container should not impede how the developer sells their data. Want some of your partners to be able to store/decision upon your data for 180 days? As the technology pipes, the container should let developers have freedom to do the deals they want. Too many solutions don’t do this.

Connect to Everyone

In pursuing the goal of making it easier for a developer to run their ad business, the container should focus on maximizing the channels that the inventory can be sold through. This means a commitment to building connections to the SSPs and ad networks that a publisher chooses to work with. When choosing the right container partner, it’s in the developer’s best interest to consider not just the connections the container has built today, but also those that may need to be built in the future. Given how quickly new players in the space can pop up and make an impact, there will almost certainly be a need to add a connection down the road. On average, the 500 largest publishers in the U.S. use about six vendors to sell their inventory. I encourage all developers to dig a level deeper in their diligence on prospective container partners and understand HOW the downstream connections are made from the container to the other SSPs/ad networks. This way, when the day comes that the developer wants to do a deal with a hot new ad network, they know the work will be minimal and can start working with them ASAP.

Transparency is the Default

There is a level of trust inherent to any strategic partnership. In this case, the developer is trusting that the container will be conducting the unified auction in the developer’s best interest. Now, I believe you should trust — but you should also verify. Does your container partner have ways for you to audit the auctions? How do you confirm that the impression is always going to the highest bidder? Or that the container is not advantaging their own demand, which happens too frequently? Asking these questions and understanding how the container is thinking about them can provide valuable insight into the philosophy guiding their product and should be part of the overall diligence. More transparency is always be better — and those vendors willing to be open about their practices are always the better option.

App developers are ready and excited to capitalize on the yield-maximizing benefits of a unified auction the way desktop publishers already have. Having seen the evolution of header bidding, app developers are now armed with information on exactly what to look for as they evaluate potential partners. The future here is bright.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Pat McCormack is Vice President, Publisher Sales Americas, at Oath, a Verizon subsidiary and the parent company of Yahoo, AOL, HuffPost, and other dynamic brands that serve a combined billion global consumers. Prior, Pat was Vice President of Publisher Sales for ONE by AOL: Publishers, at AOL Platforms, the advertising technology division of AOL. Before AOL, Pat was Vice President of Publisher Sales at Millennial Media, which AOL acquired in 2015. He held the same role at Nexage, which Millennial Media acquired a year earlier. Pat has also driven mobile ad sales strategies in senior roles at The Weather Channel and National Football League.

The post Mobile Developers: 3 Keys to Picking the Best Header Bidding Partner appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The following is a guest contributed post from Sudha Reddy, VP Product Innovation at Sabio Mobile.

Marketers have essentially become data scavengers, gathering various scraps of information on potential customers and stitching them together in order to get a better picture. The big issue they contend with on a daily basis is where they should be getting their data from. Should it be coming from someone’s cookie trail, left behind as they peruse various sites, or should they rely on 3rd party vendor data or insights coming from a brand survey? Or, better yet, is the information coming from a source that you know people spend a great deal of time on, and that is able to keep up with a marketer’s constant need for updated, near real-time information (ie. mobile phones)? After all, why waste time piecing together a data quilt when you can simply examine people’s behavior on a much larger and more accurate scale? App science allows you to do exactly that, giving you the ability to examine the behavior of smartphone users and then using that information to give you a better, more comprehensive picture of your potential consumers – which in turn will make you a better advertiser.

There can be a big difference between what people say and what they do. App science removes the guesswork, and allows the customer to be seen exactly as they are.

Think about how much of your daily life occurs through the lens of your smartphone. When you commute, do you stream music using Spotify or Pandora? Maybe you scroll through The Guardian’s app to catch up on the latest news. Perhaps, when you’re at a coffee shop waiting for a friend to arrive, you order that pair of sneakers that you’ve had your eye on for a while. Every single interaction you have with an app says something about you, about the way you respond to certain stimuli.

Not only that, every action that someone takes on their smartphone constitutes another data point, a data point that can be used to map out consumer behavior and build models capable of predictive analytics. Let’s say, for example, someone is looking to get fit in the new year. They decide to download a few apps to monitor their diet, count their steps and log exercise. Based on that information, an advertiser might conclude that this user is more likely to respond positively to an ad for a nearby gym, or a meal subscription plan, or exercise clothing, and be targeted accordingly.

It seems shocking, then, that so few marketers are looking directly to smartphone data to provide a window into their customers’ lives, especially considering what that data can tell you about people’s habits and buying tendencies. Consider how many millions of people, in the US and around the world, use their smartphones and/or tablets on a daily basis. Using app science, all of the information from those interactions can be collected and analyzed to discover patterns that will help marketers reach their consumers at the right time, in the right place, and with the right product.

For those who might be skeptical about what new insights smartphone data can offer, I would offer several statistics. First, there’s the fact that over three-quarters of US adults say they own a smartphone, which is a sizeable source of information to begin with. Second, Mobile usage has not only long surpassed desktop but 90% of consumer’s time is spent in apps. Third, it’s important to keep in mind the fact that more and more households rely solely on smartphones as their primary way to access the Internet, both in the US and abroad. So, if one were to focus only on data from desktops, one would not only leave out the experiences of a considerable slice of the US population (around 12%, according to some estimates) but also miss out on measuring several advertising metrics.

The great revolution that app science promises, then, is to give voice to a larger percentage of people than ever before, and make sure that their experiences are taken into account. There are so many different sources of data, but few that are capable of providing as holistic a picture as smartphone data. By understanding how and why people use apps, brands will be able to market their products to the people who need them, and ensure that they are able to reach people where they are and with the message they’re looking for. Using app science allows marketers to take into account such factors as a person’s location, demographics, purchase behavior and interests, which in turn will enable them to better understand their audience and the people most likely to respond to their ads. App science no longer remains a value add but a necessity for marketers if they truly want to capture the right audience at the right time.

The post How App Science Will Revolutionize Advertising appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The following is a guest contributed post by Danielle Levitas, SVP of Research at App Annie

In 2018, both the Apple App Store and the Android app market will be celebrating their 10-year anniversaries. Since they launched, apps have taken over the world in a huge way, transforming industries and evolving from smartphone-only experiences to platforms controlling homes, TVs and even cars. The momentum for apps has been steadily growing, and this is only the beginning.

By the end of this year more than 40 countries will generate over $100 million consumer spend across both iOS and Google Play app stores. Growth is massive already, but the decade ahead will be even bigger as technology advances, markets mature and infrastructure is built for the next generation of networks and devices.

In 2018, the app economy will enter a new era, predicted to surpass $110 billion in app store spend and characterized by emerging markets and innovation. As we look forward, here are some of the trends we expect to see at the forefront of the app industry.

The New Reality Will Be Augmented

Pokemon GO and Snapchat introduced augmented reality (AR) to the mainstream, but so far we’ve only seen a glimpse of AR’s full potential. As we look to the year ahead, anticipation is building for Niantic’s launch of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, which will take AR in gaming to new heights. And major companies are identifying business use cases to take AR a step beyond the existing consumer applications. For instance, retailers like Ikea, Nordstrom and Pottery Barn have AR-driven app features to help shoppers visualize how a product will fit in their home. Additionally, Strava and BMW have also enhanced their mobile apps with AR features to create more immersive, visual experiences for their users — whether for tracking a run or buying a car.

The tech titans Apple and Google announced AR initiatives at their 2017 developer conferences, and we expect to see the fruits of these efforts become more defined in 2018. Glance-centric use cases in particular will rise from app publishers looking to enter this market as early AR adopters. Consumer interest in these apps is already spiking, and we expect the excitement, and downloads, to climb as further AR applications continue to emerge.

Apps for the Internet of Everything

The past decade has seen tremendous growth in mobile- and touch-centric apps and their varied use cases. Looking ahead, a hallmark of the coming decade will be the extension of apps into everything — leveraging new UIs, especially voice, for interaction. Amazon drove the charge towards a voice-controlled future with its Echo device, first launched in 2014 and this past holiday season we saw the Alexa app drive more than 2 million downloads on Christmas Day alone. Today there are several voice assistants on the market, and thousands of apps have been developed to help consumers take advantage of their many use cases.

Existing voice agents are being reinvented, and new entrants are building their own tools, to capitalize on the interest and opportunities these devices present, especially for entertainment and the home. Cable providers have integrated voice recognition into TV remotes to help consumers more easily find the shows and channels they seek. Philips has developed smart light bulbs that respond, via a mobile app integration, to voice commands that dim, brighten and turn on and off. The coming years will see not only higher adoption rates, but also deeper integration of voice command features into touch-based apps for a world where the internet and apps control just about everything.

Global Consumer Spend to Soar

As we pass the ten-year app store anniversaries, don’t expect a slowdown in their revenue-driving capacity. The iOS and Google Play stores reach record levels for consumer spend — nearly $17 billion in Q3 2017 alone. Continued growth in mobile users, time spent in apps approaching 3 hours per day, subscription revenue and in-app purchases will keep apps accelerating and boosting bottom lines. In fact, app monetization will reach new heights globally as China outpaces the world in consumer spend growth in 2018 — building on its already established ranking as the top market for iOS App Store consumer spend.

On Android devices, emerging markets Brazil and India saw significant growth in time spent in mobile apps this past year, and they’re nowhere near done yet. Both of these countries, as well as major markets across southeast Asia still have large populations without smartphones today. As this shifts and mobile devices penetrate these markets more deeply, we expect to see further increase in time and money spent in mobile apps. And apps’ monetization potential isn’t limited to consumer spend; in-app advertising and expanding mobile commerce mean the growth opportunities are limitless. Only time will tell what heights the next decade will bring.

The years ahead may hold much uncertainty for the world, but for the app industry there’s a clear indication of growth. We’re looking forward to more innovation, new use cases and global expansion in key markets as the app industry continues its domination path.

The post The Future of Apps: What to Expect in 2018 appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The following is a guest contributed post by Oisin Lunny, Chief Evangelist at OpenMarket.

We often hear companies describe themselves as ‘customer centric’ and ‘obsessed with customer satisfaction’, but when delving deeper into what this actually means to them–the reality deserves a much different description. Most are stuck in a customer experience (CX) rut, doing the bare minimum to avoid upsetting their customers and calling it good service.

The reality is, customers are no longer willing to accept mediocre experiences. In fact, overall tolerance for bad CX is fast approaching zero. Eight years ago, Harris Interactive polled customers to find out how many would be willing to go back to a company after a bad experience, the answer was a fairly forgiving 41 percent. Just four short years later, that figure plummeted to 14 percent. Want to take a stab at what it is today? All signs point towards zero tolerance. This means that brands don’t get a second chance after delivering a bad CX. And what does good CX mean today, from a customer’s perspective? It’s the last best experience they had, with any company.

The Anatomy of Phono-Sapiens

Customers have evolved with the times and now maintain an entirely new set of expectations from businesses. The best way to understand the modern customer is as an evolution of our species to “phono-sapiens.” This means they live and breath by their mobile device, and expect to be able to interact with any business on it. In fact, that’s the main expectation of the  phono-sapiens, for businesses to meet their needs wherever they are, and give them the same experience unilaterally as they go from their mobile, to their tablet, to their laptop. They want to be able to browse on one, and seamlessly complete their purchase later on another.

It has been a slow climb for brands to evolve with the modern consumer’s expectations, and technology has moved faster than many brands using it. Eight years ago web traffic from mobile devices was a fraction of one percent, while today most web traffic is from mobiles. Accordingly, between 2010-2015 there was a massive dip in customer satisfaction, as brands initially ported their online experiences to mobile web and apps, but luckily brands are recovering by designing their CX from the customer’s needs outwards, rather then their own business agendas. Customer satisfaction has increased in the last couple of years as brands begin to understand what a planet of phono-sapiens truly means to their business philosophy and processes.

Empathy in Action

The ability to have a one-on-one relationship with all of your customers on a global scale is still new to most brands, but it’s easier than it seems. It all comes down to one thing: empathy.

These days, businesses can know a lot about their customers, thanks to the sheer quantity and quality of data collected, analysed, and turned into business insights. This makes it entirely possible to anticipate what will make a customer happy, and how to meet their needs at exactly the right moment —which is empathy in action.

A problem frequently encountered today is brands confusing empathy with personalization. Using a customer’s name in an email isn’t the same as having a personal interaction. The difference lies in understanding their needs, and preempting what will make them happy.

CX Tools for Success 

Many businesses can’t do personalized marketing because their existing lines of communication are broken – they’re simply not using the right tools in the right way.

Let’s take email as an example. While businesses tend to flood customers’ inboxes with all forms of messages, the reality is that email has a very weak open rate of just 20 percent, on a good day. Furthermore, its click through rate is a mere two percent, meaning that almost nobody is interacting with it. As for mobile apps? Their numbers aren’t much better. Twenty-five percent of all apps are never used, and a further 26 percent are only used once. Phono Sapiens is also exhibiting distinct signs of app-fatigue, with 17 of the top 20 apps in the US declining in installs. And what about the notorious call center? Does the following interaction sound like good CX? ‘Your call is very important to us, please enjoy this 40 minute flute solo.’

Email, apps and voice channels all have their moment to shine, but in terms of delivering empathetic moments, one needs to use a communication tool with an open rate you can depend on, and a timescale you can accurately predict. For example, 83 percent of millennials surveyed stated that they open text messages within 90 seconds. This means that enterprise CX journeys built around intelligent automated mobile messaging are reliable and predictable in a way that doesn’t exist anywhere else. With the global ubiquity of mobile devices, text is opening up new vectors for customer engagement. A brand can know when its message will be opened by a customer, and how quickly. From there, they can design a CX that preempts and give customers value at precise times and in exact places. Today, SMS is essentially the sleeping giant of business to consumer interactions. Tomorrow, Rich Communication Services (RCS) will replace most of the brand to consumer interactions currently within apps. There has never been a greater imperative for brands to establish meaningful connections with their customers using the mobile text channel, in preparation for our shift to a post-app economy, empowered by RCS. Investigating this stunning technology should be at the forefront of every company’s new year’s resolutions.

The key to empathy is all about businesses seizing these countless invisible opportunities to proactively provide value and thus stand out from the crowd. According to Forrester, in five years time the only differentiator for any business will be their customer experience, meaning there’s no time to waste. We are approaching a Golden Age for phono-sapiens, where customers demand greater levels of satisfaction and seamless omnichannel interaction with the brands they love, and will tolerate nothing less.

Where does your brand stand on this evolutionary timeline?

The post 2018: Can Brands Survive the Post-App Economy on a Mobile First Planet? appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

That’s according to a new study from Tapjoy, which further notes that a majority of gamers are also now more likely to engage with rewarded ads.

Findings from the study were released in a research report titled “The Modern Mobile Gamer: The Marketer’s Guide to Holiday Gaming Trends.”

All told, the report suggests, this holiday season should be a busy one for mobile gamers.

Nearly three-quarters of mobile gamers (72 percent) said they intend to download at least one new game during the upcoming holiday season, while 80 percent reported that they expect to spend more time playing games during the holidays.

“This study validates why the the mobile gaming audience presents such a great opportunity for performance and brand advertisers alike – particularly during the holidays,” said Shannon Jessup, chief revenue officer of Tapjoy. “Mobile gamers are already a uniquely engaged audience, but holiday downtime means that they spend even more time in-app, are more curious to try new games, and are more likely to engage with in-app advertising, making it the perfect time for advertisers to drive value for their campaigns.”

Other key findings from the study include:

• Mobile gamers will play more hours per day during the holidays. While 8 out of 10 mobile gamers say they’ll play more often during the holiday season, 30 percent estimate they’ll play an additional three or more hours per day. Eleven percent report they’ll play an additional five or more hours per day.
• Three-quarters of mobile gamers will download a new game. Seventy-two percent of mobile gamers intend to download at least one new game during the holiday season, and nearly half (43 percent) will download two or more games. Twelve percent will download five or more games.
• Gamers are most likely to download Action titles. Gamers said they were most likely to download Action titles this holiday season, followed by Puzzle games, Adventure games, Strategy games, Simulation games and Casino or Card games.

To learn more, get the report here.

The post Tapjoy Holiday Prediction: Mobile Gamers to Install and Play More Games 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.

Engine combines Factual’s industry-leading Global Places data with on-device location information and behavior patterns to help developers understand user context and identify the right moment to engage.

So how does it work?

Its machine learning algorithm takes into account factors including business operating hours, device usage patterns, speed and direction of travel to determine the specific circumstance of a user, beyond their location or place. By understanding and using these contextual factors, Engine enables apps to take the most accurate and appropriate action, ultimately improving engagement and user experience.

“The bar for smart and intelligent apps is rising exponentially, and developers demand solutions that help them provide personalized, effortless experiences to end users,” said Gil Elbaz, founder and CEO, Factual. “Engine is uniquely able to understand a device’s exact location and movement, and using that location intelligence, design customized outcomes for users.”

To learn more about the Engine SDK, check out Factual here.

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