Ad Supported iPhone Apps?
This is a question I've been asking myself a lot recently. With the release of my (iTunes link) third casual game for the iPhone/iPod touch I am starting to get a feel for what the market is like for casual games.
The number of downloads for Riddle Racer Lite (iTunes, the free version of Riddle Racer) is in the thousands a day, despite it's really bad average rating, while the $1.99 games get far fewer. Honestly I'd prefer it if Riddle Racer Lite would fall off the chart and get no downloads because people really don't get the app and I don't really like having an app with 1.5 stars average rating on my resume. But it continues to be in the top 15 or 20 of family/puzzle games. If we were to put ads into the app we could probably make some money on the download count despite the bad rating.
But, is this what we should do? I don't think so, and there are 2 reasons why. First free games require no investment on the part of the purchaser. Even if the app is horrible and the user deletes it after one use the developer still gets credit for the download. That encourages developers to crank out apps without regard for usability or even usefulness. Having a huge number of really bad apps on the store is bad for users and developers because it becomes impossible for the users to find good apps in the sea of bad ones. It also has the potential to dilute the brand as pointed out here in an article on Forbes.com.
Second big reason is that general advertising does not work, users totally ignore ads. Why should I put stuff into my applications that annoys my users. Why should we as users put up with stuff we just ignore? Does anyone not ignore ads? When ads come on TV we go get a drink, when ads show up in a popup we turn on the popup blocker, etc etc. Some argue that relevant ads are not annoying. I might agree with that but, how do you choose ads that are relevant to someone playing the Dot Game, chances are it can't be done. So if I were to put ads in that game they'd just be ignored. That would irritate my users and I would hate that.
My $0.02 worth.
Does anyone not ignore ads?
Usually I do. But it depends on the targeting. I never thought I'd say it but ads that actually promote something I'm interested in sometimes get my clicks. Usually I ignore them because they completely miss the boat and promote stuff I'd never want at any price ever. I'd say that the effectiveness of iPhone ads will depend on how well they can address this.
I've talked to some people working on this, and they all seem to think that the phone's location awareness will be key in supplying ads that will actually get responses. I'm not sure it'll work, but I can't write it off either.
Posted by Tom Harrington on September 04, 2008 at 11:42 AM MDT #
Bill, this is a timely post for me. This is something I am seriously considering for one of my iPhone apps. I really want to experiment with what works, and what doesn't. Many folks seem to think ad driven content is the future. I don't like this idea, but if they are right I don't want to be left behind. I have been trying out the various ad SDK's out there trying to find one that I can live with. My apps have pretty good ratings, so I am some what worried about cannibalizing downloads of the "full" version. At the same time, the full / lite idea may also drive downloads of the full app if there is enough added benefit to the user. Either way, it is a gamble at this point. I would love to see some more independent analysis of this.
Posted by Pelted on September 10, 2008 at 08:12 PM MDT #
Ads in games are distracting and ruin the flow of the interface. The only ads I'd use in a game would be before or after gameplay and they'd need to be highly relevant. Mostly they need to be for other iPhone games or content related to the game. I do like when free editions have an easy to find link for the full edition. Not including such a self promotion is just shooting yourself in the foot.
I think ads are the wrong way to think about mobile apps. Shareware is the model to look back to for success. Give a good taste for free and make it easy to find the full thing for a price people can afford.
Posted by MikeFM on March 05, 2009 at 06:50 AM MST #