Google has enhanced its focus on mobile advertising with its latest features targeting app developers and advertisers. The new features will enable them to advertise to gamers on the gaming apps on their smartphones and tablets.
New inventory sources
Google has added new inventory sources to the app campaign platform. App campaigns is an automated advertising feature that runs on Google Search and iOS browsers as well as the mobile display network and YouTube. It will now feature three other sources of inventory. App campaign ads will now be available on the Discover inventory. Discover is the feature that users find on Chrome and the home page for mobile devices. App ads started to feature on Discover in June 2019 in the US but will expand to the rest of the world by the end of the year. App ads will also feature on YouTube search inventory, implying that gamers will find ads when they search the YouTube channel on their mobile devices.
Users will also find display in-stream ads when they play videos on an app or a website on the company’s mobile display network. Display in-stream ads are the clips that play when one opens some sites or click the play button on a video.
New tools for publishers
For publishers who use the AdMob platform, Google has introduced new features that enable them to advertise on their apps. Currently, Google is testing a new feature that will allow app developers to run ads while users are waiting for new apps to open. The ads will cover most of the page with some space at the bottom reserved for app branding. Users will learn how to use the new app even as ads flick on the screen. Publishers who are interested in trying this novel feature can contact their AdMob account manager for further assistance.
Google has created smart segmentation to help app developers monetise their innovations through ads and purchases available on the apps. The introduction of this tool was informed by the realisation that just 4% of app users buy goods advertised on the app. Smart segmentation prevents ads from showing to users who are likely to buy items advertised on the app. Instead, the ads target those users who are not expected to make an in-app purchase.
Google initially added the tool for interstitial ads but has since extended it to rewarded ads. For rewarded ads, the implication is that players who make in-app purchases to power up or improve their gaming profile will not see rewarded ads.
Google has also added a new feature to AdMob called dashboard insights. The feature enables the platform to show alerts when it detects anomalies in the critical metrics of a publisher such as revenue and impressions.
Wrapping it up
The new tools and features are a welcome surprise for app developers as they have more opportunities to increase their income. Meanwhile, app advertisers can now use performance metrics for the new inventories to determine if their impressions and conversions are improving.
