Business of Apps Podcast

At the heart of any sustainable business is knowing how much money you actually make with each client. When you launch a mobile app project, your hope is to sustain this business for years to come, not just months or weeks, right? This is a header level 1 Google said it’s going to extend billing choices for users of its Play Store to India, Australia, Indonesia, Japan and Europe. Google said it’s going to extend billing choices for users of its Play Store to India, Australia, Indonesia, Japan and Europe. How do you achieve that? For starters, you absolutely need to know what revenue each of your app users generates for you. Here comes the notion we’re going to spend on the next half an hour or so - Live Time Value, aka LTV. Today’s guest is Levi Matkins, CEO of LifeStreet—a programmatic marketing platform for app developers. He talks about lifetime value (LTV) in mobile, which is a measurement of how much money a user will generate. Today’s Topics Include: Levi's career spans 20 years in digital advertising, half of which he's spent in mobile. From founding a company with his brother while he was still in college to the leading mobile marketing platform. What is LTV and how it is different from ROAS The significance of LTV How to acquire app users with a higher LTV How to increase LTV App categories it's hard or impossible to measure LTV Moving forward, does LTV become harder or easier to measure? Android or iOS? Android only What features would Levi miss most? Google Maps to get around everywhere What’s missing from mobile app technology? Pretty much all good, perhaps except a holdable display would be nice Links and Resources: Levi Matkins on LinkedIn LifeStreet Business Of Apps Quotes from Levi Matkins: “Generally speaking, it's a measurement how much money the user will generate for an app at given amount of time.” “Having a good LTV in an app is the difference between success and a failure.” “You can't impove what you don't measure. It's critical to track and measure LTV.” “LifeStreet’s belief is that return on ad spend is the most important thing to optimize for in a successful campaign. By paying the right price for a user, allows a campaign to scale more effectively.” Brought to you by Business Of Apps App industry marketplace Insights App Growth videos App Data App Events A message from App Promotion Summit Discounted ticket prices are currently available on all of our 2024 summits https://apppromotionsummit.com/   London - 25 Apr 2024 NYC - 27 Jun 2024 San Francisco - 26 Sep 2024 Berlin - 5 Dec 2024

At this very moment, somewhere on the planet app development teams are working on new mobile apps. Some of them are thinking through features of those apps, others are ready to launch them on an app store, yet other teams are already marketing their apps to acquire users. It’s non-stop and you bet all those teams believe their apps are only capable of bringing good to this world. Let's try AppTweak. Now, did you watch the “Black Mirror” TV series on Netflix? Can you guess the connection between this movie and the app development process? Well, patience - on this episode - among many things - you’ll get the answer :-) Today’s Topics Include: Emily started her career managing software solutions for airlines before taking her experience to the traveler’s side of the journey as the product manager for a leading travel management app, TripCase. She spent 5 years working on TripCase, where her first major project was to redesign the mobile app from the ground up. Then as the app grew, she worked on wearables, including a launch app for the Apple Watch and two different Samsung Gear watches. The app project Emily loved the most Challenges of working on apps for wearables Mobile apps versus web apps Optimism, negligence, and short-sightedness in app development What do you do when your app has externalities you didn't anticipate? How do you break through on the app market? Android or iOS? iOS What features would Emily miss most? City Mapper app to navigate and Apple Pay to pay everywhere Links and Resources: Emily Tate on LinkedIn Mind The Product Quotes from Emily Tate:  “It's one of those fun things where you can have a problem that looks similar and the tactic you used to solve it the time before will not work this time.” “Where was one of the launch app for the Apple Watch when it came out.  And it was a really fun project, both from the perspective of obviously getting to play with new shining technology. But really starting from the ground level of figuring out what is the use case for a smartwatch in the context of travel. ” “Admitting that you've made a mistake is step one. And I think we're so hesitant to do that, you see it all the time.” Brought to you by Business Of Apps App industry marketplace Insights App Growth videos App Data App Events A message from App Promotion Summit Discounted ticket prices are currently available on all of our 2024 summits https://apppromotionsummit.com/   London - 25 Apr 2024 NYC - 27 Jun 2024 San Francisco - 26 Sep 2024 Berlin - 5 Dec 2024

It’s been a while since we talked on this podcast about App Subscriptions - the latest business model for mobile apps that powers revenue generation for so many apps today. It all started with video and audio streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify but then….it turned out that the model actually works for so many other apps. But popularity doesn’t necessarily mean that app brands actually know how to make the most of it. In this episode, we have Tobias Boerner, Co-Founder at Admiral Studio talking about the best practices for App Subscriptions. Today’s Topics Include: What is Admiral Media/Studio all about? Connecting Web3 world with NFT space NFT: Non-fungible token concept is out of this world and over the heads of most App Businesses: Rely on three models—app ads, purchases, and subscriptions Switch to subscriptions? Tobias recommends adding not switching revenue streams App Subscription Mistakes: Not enough or no A/B testing in place for conversion rates App Subscription Successes: Duolingo uses a world-class gamification approach Pay Subscription Plans: When 1 revenue stream doesn’t meet financial needs to grow Future of App Subscription Model: More flexibility and creativity for app businesses Android or iOS? iOS What features would Tobias miss most? To be connected What’s missing from mobile app technology? AR and VR: Connect with the real world Links and Resources: Tobias Boerner on LinkedIn Admiral Media Quotes from Tobias Boerner: “To be very good in things, it’s very important to have a very deep understanding of how this world is working.” “We believe here, in the studio, that very soon in the near future, a lot of companies need help with marketing approaches and make that happen. We will very soon release a lot of new activities in Web3 space.” “Apps, they monetize through ads, only start along the journey of thinking, ‘Oh, how can we implement subscription or how is it possible to switch to subscription?” “I’m a very big fan of subscriptions, but I would not recommend to switch the model. I think it’s an additional revenue stream.” Brought to you by Business Of Apps App industry marketplace Insights App Growth videos App Data App Events A message from App Promotion Summit Discounted ticket prices are currently available on all of our 2024 summits https://apppromotionsummit.com/   London - 25 Apr 2024 NYC - 27 Jun 2024 San Francisco - 26 Sep 2024 Berlin - 5 Dec 2024

Expectations versus reality. This theme is as old as this world. In so many walks of life, we set our expectations high, we’re driven by optimism, which on itself is a great quality but sometimes it may lead you to a very frustrating experience. Mobile app development and marketing can be one of the brightest examples, especially when venture capital is involved and the expectations that app projects will deliver quick returns are high. Today we have Amrick to tell us the story of expectations versus the reality of developing and launching the app called Which?. Today’s Topics Include: Amrick's career spans Financial Times, Sainsbury, KFC, Guardian, and now Which? - the UK's consumer champion, the non-profit organization that protects consumers. Which? app development key lessons learned How app development teams can avoid making common mistakes What app categories are the hardest to develop apps for Android or iOS? iOS longtime user Amrick's first mobile phone. Nokia 3010 What features would Amrick miss most? Apple Pay What’s missing from mobile app technology? More AR and VR capabilities Links and Resources: Amrick Chauhan's LinkedIn profile. Which?'s website. Quotes from Amrick Chauhan: ”It was quite interesting to me because I had a chance to reflect on the journey of building and then launching an app." "So that first assumption about product features was really us having an expectation we knew what we needed to build. We thought we did." "I think a lot of it comes down to the culture that you have within the company. There are some obvious mistakes that you should avoid doing, things like choosing the right text style..etc. But I don't think anyone should really be afraid of making mistakes." Brought to you by Business Of Apps App industry marketplace Insights App Growth videos App Data App Events A message from App Promotion Summit Discounted ticket prices are currently available on all of our 2024 summits https://apppromotionsummit.com/   London - 25 Apr 2024 NYC - 27 Jun 2024 San Francisco - 26 Sep 2024 Berlin - 5 Dec 2024

If you app marketer, one of the things at your job that rises your pulse and eyebrows is the mobile churn. This is the KPI that measures the percentage of users who have abandoned your app, the logic goes – the smaller the number the better but unfortunately in real life, this number is always bigger than you would want it to be. So people leave apps, in some cases to some glitches but in some cases because their interests change. From a technical perspective, the app may be fine but it just doesn’t deliver the experience they need.  In this episode, Fabien will tell us the story of chasing app users’ rapidly changing interests. Today’s Topics Include: Fabien’s career spans the famous PC console gaming company Ubisoft, the industry-leading mobile data analytics company Data.ai (formerly known as App Annie), and now Smartnews – the award-winning news app. Product-driven vs. Consumer-driven culture What changes SmartNews team introduced to strengthen their business Segmentation Chosen segments to scale Product-Marketing alignment Adaptation The right technology stack Proactive vs. reactive Trying unusual ideas Android or iOS? Android Fabien’s first mobile phone. What features would Arthur miss most? Apps to read news 🙂 What’s missing from mobile app technology? Live translation capabilities Links and Resources: Fabien-Pierre Nicolas’s LinkedIn profile SmartNews’s website. Quotes from Fabien-Pierre Nicolas:  ”Typically, a lot of people are comsuming news in the morning time, just as you wake up to catch up with what happened or what might happened when you’re asleep. And there is as well a phenomen of consumption right before going to bed.“ “I will probably compare it to the dart board is essentially your marketing budget. And you should say “hey, where should I throw my darts and whom should I aim this budget?” “When we looked at all Japanese market, we asked ourselves – “which segments are we underindexing, especially when it comes to preferences and what do they want?”

Let me ask you something, do you watch TV? Sem Nexus, Apptweak Depending on your age, when you hear a question like this, you may get a mental picture of a TV set or your Roku box, your Apple TV, or even your iPhone, if watching movies and TV series on a smartphone is your thing. Now, remember all those never-ending commercial breaks on your TV set?  Well, you may also remember how people began watching video content more and more on their computers and then, especially on their beloved mobile devices. So, naturally, businesses followed people and so desktop and mobile advertising began to squeeze ad dollars from the traditional TV ads. Well, by now you would think TV ads are about to go extinct completely? Not so fast. Enter Connected TV and the advertising on it. Today’s Topics Include: Graduated a decade ago University of California, Berkley, Arthur was Co-founder & CEO of the mobile playable ad units company, Chief Mobile Officer at Adikteev before launching Vibe in January 2021 Unpacking what is OTT How advertising on CTV works CTV ads' competitive advantage App categories that fit the best CTV advertising The future of advertising on the Connected TV Android or iOS? iOS Arthur's first mobile phone. Nokia 3310 What features would Arthur miss most? WhatsApp and email What’s missing from mobile app technology? Brining more AAA quality game titles on mobile Links and Resources: Arthur Querou's LinkedIn profile Vibe's website. Quotes from Arthur Querou:  ”At tech we hvae this strange addiction to acronyms." "OTT stands for Over The Top and it means any content that goes over a standard channel." "I think the most important thing is to think about, when you are marketer and you want to leverage CTV - can I capture my audience on TV in an effective way?" Brought to you by Business Of Apps App industry marketplace Insights App Growth videos App Data App Events A message from App Promotion Summit Discounted ticket prices are currently available on all of our 2024 summits https://apppromotionsummit.com/   London - 25 Apr 2024 NYC - 27 Jun 2024 San Francisco - 26 Sep 2024 Berlin - 5 Dec 2024

Ok, a quick experiment - try to recall apps on your smartphone, that you’ve been using since the inception of the App Store? And now, I am not talking about the native iOS apps, no-no, apps developed not by Apple. Can you think of any? If you do have some, at least one, it means the app hasn’t lost your trust and the trust of so many other people. It just works for you all and that’s why to this day it is still on the market. Today, we’ll be talking about one of the apps from the early days of Apple’s App Store, that is still out there and has more than 2 million people using it regularly. Today’s Topics Include: Erin's background is in the biotech company in Boston and was involved in a wearable product development 7 ingredient recipe to stay afloat for years and years and grow your app's user base to millions of users Ingredient #1 - Maintain an Effective Product Ingredient #2 - Prioritise User Experience Ingredient #3 - Active Free USer Base Ingredient #4 - Empower & Encourage Ingredient #5 - Key Promotion Times Ingredient #6 - Data-Driven Decision-Making Process Ingredient #7 - Stay Selective & Nimble Android or iOS? iOS Erin's first mobile phone. Pink Nokia Razor What features would Erin miss most? Spotify What’s missing from mobile app technology? Software and hardware feature to adapt the smartphone to different use case, based on the time of the day and location. Links and Resources: Erin Webster-Shaller's LinkedIn profile Erin Webster-Shaller's Twitter handler. Lose it! website. Quotes from Erin Webster-Shaller:  ”Since then the company has grown sustainably, we've remained really small and nimble, which really differentiate us in the fitness app space." "We have over 50 million people downloaded the product, collectively they've lost over 120 million pounds." "When you look at the competitive landscape of companies that we've been competing with for the last 14 years, we all have taken very different approaches for the free versus paid landscape. Where do you draw that line? And for Loose it! I think the early team saw the value of  having a really robust free product." Brought to you by Business Of Apps App industry marketplace Insights App Growth videos App Data App Events A message from App Promotion Summit Discounted ticket prices are currently available on all of our 2024 summits https://apppromotionsummit.com/   London - 25 Apr 2024 NYC - 27 Jun 2024 San Francisco - 26 Sep 2024 Berlin - 5 Dec 2024

By this time you’ve heard about TikTok countless times, on some occasions, you heard about it from your children, and on others when tech pundits were arguing that TikTok is the first solid rival for Instagram & YouTube & Snapchat video market empires. But you may get this impression “well, this is not for me, it won’t work for my business, because I have no clue what to do with it”. Well, in this episode we will do our best to change your mind. Today’s Topics Include: Mike's career spans sports, trading, and now being CEO of the leading home design app with 2 million users TikTok's competitive advantage How TikTok is different from other platforms conceptually TikTok content creation best practices How to approach the right Influencers and Creators What Mike didn't like about TikTok Android or iOS? Actually both iOS and Android Mike's first mobile phone. Motorola Razor What features would Mike miss most? Audible / Spotify / Google Maps What’s missing from mobile app technology? Suggest what you get for dinner. Links and Resources: Mike Cimmarrusti LinkedIn profile Mike Cimmarrusti's email address. Realize website Mike used these channels to reach out to influencers and creators to run an ad campaign for his app: LinkedIn Post Open Source Creator List Quotes from Mike Cimmarrusti:  ”That when I realize that I want to spend the rest of my life helping people communicate visually." "We landed on TikTok because it was really easy to create. We spent some time on it ourselves obviously to use the platform and realized this is really to consume and really easy to create." "What I realized it was way less work and more likely to get viral if you just copy what is on the platform and tweak it toward you message" Brought to you by Business Of Apps App industry marketplace Insights App Growth videos App Data App Events A message from App Promotion Summit Discounted ticket prices are currently available on all of our 2024 summits https://apppromotionsummit.com/   London - 25 Apr 2024 NYC - 27 Jun 2024 San Francisco - 26 Sep 2024 Berlin - 5 Dec 2024

How do you get your app users’ attention and communicate something to them? Well, if you could just be next to them, if you could just live in their neighborhood that would be easy to do. But you can’t live next to tens of thousands, even millions of people who use your app at the same time, right? So what do you do? You use digital communication channels like email, in-app messages, and yes-push notifications. The latter is the topic of my today’s conversation with Nicole. Today’s Topics Include: Nicole’s 10-year journey spans telecom, real estate, and today it’s media & publishing How push notifications stack up against other digital marketing channels How many push notifications do people get on a daily basis and their attitude toward them From what kind of apps people don’t mind getting push notifications Types of push notifications Challenges app developers and brands face when it comes to pushes Nicole’s wishes for what to change in push notifications tech Android or iOS? iOS What features would Nicole miss most? Google Maps What’s missing from mobile app technology? The tech will allow the balance between using your smartphone for so many things and yet not being addicted to it. Links and Resources: Nicole J. Castillo  LinkedIn profile News Corp Business Of Apps – connecting the app industry Quotes from Nicole J Castillo: ”I think it’s obvious for push notifications as the way to leverage the economy of scale. You have push notifications, people are aware how they work. Anybody who has a phone for any number of years they know how to turn them off when they become annoying. But there has been a lot of rise in opt-in and opt-out options, Focus Time and the newest stuff with Apple’s lock screen.” What we’re seeing is that one average we’re talking about 46 push notifications a day, like almost 50 a day and probably more depending on your type of apps” I’m really interested to see the evolution, so I’m not necessary interesting in seeing a new standard, I really want to see where push notifications can evolve to.” Brought to you by Business Of Apps App industry marketplace Insights App Growth videos App Data App Events A message from App Promotion Summit Discounted ticket prices are currently available on all of our 2024 summits https://apppromotionsummit.com/   London - 25 Apr 2024 NYC - 27 Jun 2024 San Francisco - 26 Sep 2024 Berlin - 5 Dec 2024

Every app marketer would love for their app marketing campaign to go viral. Spending less by getting your potential users’ attention to spread the message about your app is pure gold. Today’s guest is Jonathan Maxim, CEO at HeyPal and former marketing strategist. He talks about how to make your social media campaign go viral. Today’s Topics Include: What is HeyPal? Social language learning platform (no affiliation to PayPal) Countries: HeyPal’s biggest blessing and downfall is supporting them all  What is growth hacking? Where organic and paid campaign meet to play nice together  KPIs: Measure click-through rate, downloads, cost per install, and retention Going Viral: Cost per acquisition drops exponentially; growth is used to gauge success  Common Mistakes: Are you going for reach, downloads, sales, or spread a message? TikTok: How valuable are dance videos to society? Very powerful, free, relevant content Android or iOS? iOS - Jonathan is an Apple fan, but admits Android is getting better What features would Jonathan miss most? Voice notes feature What’s missing from mobile app technology? Delegate and trust, not micromanage Links and Resources: Jonathan Maxim  LinkedIn profile. Jonathan Maxim on Instagram HeyPal website. Quotes from Jonathan Maxim: ”We just crossed the million downloads mark, and it’s been an awesome ride. We had some viral moments with HeyPal, no doubt."> "It makes it really easy to speak with somebody from another country if you’re trying to learn a language. The whole idea is to build a gap between curriculum learning and practice." "It’s really the social glue on the language learning space." "Social media is one component of the marketing strategy to make things go viral." "The ads that have an influencer or a real human in them, they convert better. They have better click-through rate, better conversion rate, even though they cost less and the production quality is lower.” Brought to you by Business Of Apps App industry marketplace Insights App Growth videos App Data App Events A message from App Promotion Summit Discounted ticket prices are currently available on all of our 2024 summits https://apppromotionsummit.com/   London - 25 Apr 2024 NYC - 27 Jun 2024 San Francisco - 26 Sep 2024 Berlin - 5 Dec 2024