Mobile App Deep Linking

Fred Wilson on Twitter’s new Cards platform and “mobile app deep linking”:

Twitter announced some new functionality in its Twitter Cards platform yesterday. At the top of the list is “mobile app deep linking”. Here’s how Twitter explains it: With mobile app deep-linking, users will be able to tap a link to either view content directly in your app, or download your app, depending on whether or not they have your app installed.

Fred is right. This is a big deal.

There is no doubt that this is the next phase of mobile app advertising. Deep linking opens up so many possibilities for app developers. Deep linking to specials on in-app purchases for games, that one photo in your favorite photo sharing app, a box score in ESPN, a specific product page in e-commerce apps, etc. The list goes on.

And app developers will pay up for these deep link capabilities because it will allow them to drive more real transactions and monetize much better.

It’s still early but good to see more being done here. Props to Twitter for pushing this forward.

3 Charts That Show Where Mobile Advertising Is Going in 2013

I came across two great decks on mobile this week. One from Flurry’s Source13 conference, Mobile Outlook 2013. And the other from MoPub’s Q4 2012 Marketplace Report.

Here are the two charts from each that jumped out to me:

The takeaways for app developers are clear:

1. As more brand dollars switch over to mobile (mostly at the expense of print), the CPM rates are going to go up. If you’re doing paid user acquisition, be prepared to pony up higher rates to get users. Especially on tablets.

2. It’ll be worth it. There’s never been a better time for freemium business models on mobile, especially in gaming. ARPDAU levels are breaking new highs constantly. (e.g. Supercell pulling in $1mm per day)

2013 will be a big year for mobile advertising. And a huge part of that will be from app developers. This week Gartner released their annual forecast for mobile advertising, revising their projection for mobile ad revenues upward to $11.4 billion for the year. But as I mentioned to Eric Friedman over on Twitter, I think the potential is even larger. I think 2013 will be the year that mobile ad spends finally make big inroads to catch up on consumption time, a $20B opportunity in the U.S. alone according to Mary Meeker:

Come back in twelve months to see how wrong I am.

App downloads hit record 1.76 billion over holiday week

Remember when I said if you’re an app developer you absolutely need to be active during the holidays?

Here’s Flurry on mobile app downloads over the holiday week:

- App downloads increased to 1.76 billion, up from 1.2 billion a year ago
- 65 percent over the weekly baseline
- 50 million iOS and Android devices activated
- For the first time daily tablet activations eclipsed daily smartphone activations


Also: Thanksgiving Mobile Traffic Surges 48%

Chartboost: Thanksgiving Mobile Traffic Surges 48% in the US

Note that the higher supply from the holidays actually pushed average CPIs down. This is similar to what we’ve heard from others like App Annie.

What’s the lesson? If you’re an app developer, you HAVE to be active during the holidays. It’s simply the best time to acquire new users.

Behind Mark Pincus's Bid to Save Zynga

Mr. Gordon said Zynga had failed to prioritize mobile development and found that its online games didn’t easily translate to smartphones’ smaller screens. “Mobile turned out to be more different than anyone expected, in terms of monetization and also user experience,” he said.

Zynga has done pretty well with mobile, all things considered. They were just very late to the game. I think with these latest moves Mark Pincus is starting to right the ship correctly though.

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Highly recommend this podcast for anyone interested in mobile apps and moble gaming.

BYOT Episode 5: The business of mobile gaming

Looks like Facebook is doubling down on driving app installs to monetize their mobile inventory. I think they have a lot of potential here. The sheer volume together with social endorsements will be hard to beat. This new design with more description, social proof, and ratings is a huge improvement too. Interested to hear how they work out for app developers.
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Looks like Facebook is doubling down on driving app installs to monetize their mobile inventory. I think they have a lot of potential here. The sheer volume together with social endorsements will be hard to beat.

This new design with more description, social proof, and ratings is a huge improvement too. Interested to hear how they work out for app developers.

Glu Mobile and other app developers betting on iPhone 5 gamers to score big

Glu, and lots of other app developers.

I’ve written previously that we can expect app developers to quickly adapt to the iPhone 5. The game developers that will win on iOS in Q3 and Q4 will be the ones like Glu that can take advantage of the higher CPU and graphics for better gameplay.