Business of Apps Podcast

We passed the Equinox a couple of weeks ago - the spring is here and, in kind of celebrating spirit, I want us to take a look back at 2023, a bird-view on the app industry via the one and only State of Mobile report from Data.ai. The app industry is on scale of millions of apps used by billions of people, apps permeate the entire world economy. By now, you just can’t find an industry that hasn’t been influenced by mobile. Competition is high, new technologies emerge and from time to time we all need to take a step back and take a holistic view on the industry to check out on the trends and understand how well we fit into this picture. Today’s Topics Include: Lexi Sydow's background Big data points from the State of Mobile 2024 report How much time people spent in mobile apps in 2023 How much money people spent in mobile apps in 2023 Apps vs. games - where do people spend more time? Mobile advertising growth year over year AI & Mobile - the increasing popularity of ChatGPT4 The influence of Generative AI on top apps growth Top Apps & Games of 2023 Links and Resources: Lexi Sydow on LinkedIn The State of Mobile 2024 report Data.ai SensorTower Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry Quotes from Lexi Sydow: "We saw 257 billion app downloads in 2023 alone, which is a roughly flat year on year. And that's sort of what we'd expect to see given more maturity in the market. These are completely net new installs. And it equates to about almost  half a million downloads every minute is what that equates to you globally" "$171 billion being spent across iOS, Google Play and third party Android stores in China. So the top five markets are China at $52 billion being spent alone. That actually is down 10% year on year. Number two is the U S, up $45 billion, and that's up 6%. Japan at 18 billion is our number three kind of market on mobile, up a modest 1%. " "And in 2023, we saw $64 billion annually being spent in the non game sector, and that has grown roughly 6.5 X from 2016, where it was only $10.3 billion. So just a huge growth in like the last seven or eight years there. "  Host Business Of Apps – connecting the app industry since 2012

Learn about TikTok app marketing best practices with insights from Inna, Senior User Acquisition Manager at Hily. Discover Hily's framework, influencer marketing on TikTok, ad targeting strategies, and creative approaches. Dive into the evolution of AI in smartphones and find out what features Inna can't live without.

This week we have another bonus episode for you, this time it’s the recording of our recent webinar with Colin Contreary, Head of Content at Embrace, app performance analytics platform. Right now we use and rely on so many apps in our daily life, we don’t even register when you use all those apps - it’s just how you connect with your family, do your banking, getting around in a city, shop for a variety of things and so on. When all those apps do work we are happy, when they crash they drive us nuts. Sponsor This episode is sponsored by Perform[cb], leading outcome-based marketing company. Perform[kb] targets marketers' ideal audience and promotes brands with AI-powered, high-value placements on a pay for performance model. Get in touch with their user acquisition team today! In this episode: ✅  Identifying pain points ✅  The battle against app crashes and ANRs (stands for Application Not Responding) ✅  Case studies Links and Resources: Colin Contreary on LinkedIn Embrace website The 2024 Mobile Developer Pain Points Report Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry Quotes from Colin Contreary: "And so once they were started using Embrace, when they got user complaints, they were able to immediately look up the full user experience and see what exactly the issue was." "They're able to put out a hotfix for deep linking issues and hotfixes if they surface new crash patterns, which understandably happen when you have such a surge in interest during that big event. And so the end result of being able to immediately dive into those user experiences is that they were able to maintain 99.99% crash free rating, which is already incredible outside of a big event like Black Friday." Host Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry since 2012

Learn about the evolution of SKAdNetwork with insights from Pablo Pérez González, discover common mistakes in marketing strategies, and hear about Admiral Media's approach. Explore the role of Generative AI, Pablo's wish list for SKAN, and his thoughts on Android vs. iOS. Find out what features he would miss if he left his smartphone at home.

Discussing the potential of AI in mobile advertising with Günay Aliyeva, co-founder of Gamelight. Topics include AI in app marketing, the impact of generative AI, and the future of smart technology. Also, insights on smartphone preferences, app store evolution, and desired smartphone features.

Learn how to boost app growth with ad creatives as Jessica Gotti shares insights on mobile ads, creative production, and app marketing strategies. Explore the importance of visuals, in-house creative teams, KPIs, and the impact of ad creatives on the bottom line. Discover the role of social media creators, building a creative efficiency framework, and the future of app development. Dive into screen time monitoring, user engagement, and performance marketing in the app industry.

User experience. This term has become so widespread and significant for business because we all use so many products and services and if you think about it - your interaction with those products and services can make your day or ruin it. Our smartphones and mobile apps have become our life companions and chances are your first thought in a morning can be about your experience with a mobile game the previous evening or watching something cool on Netflix or chatting with ChatGPT-4 on the OpenAI app and going philosophical about something. And if those apps worked flawlessly you had a great user experience, if they were buggy - you know what it feels like. In this episode, Eric will tell about common technical issues apps have, the evolution of users’ expectations for app experiences over the years, unique challenges for mobile product and engineering teams, and more. Today’s Topics Include: Eric Futoran's background What is Embrace The most common app tech issues developers encounter The evolution of app users' expectations for app experiences over the years Unique challenges mobile product and engineering teams face App categories that have the biggest problems with app quality The impact of unresolved app performance issues on app marketing metrics What Eric would like to change about mobile tech the most Android or iOS? Leaving his smartphone at home, what features would Eric miss most? What features he would like to see added to his smartphone? Links and Resources: Eric Futoran on LinkedIn Embrace website Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry Quotes from Eric Futoran: "One of our customers actually got threatened recently. A voice-to-chat app, which has millions of users got threatened recently that their app would be pulled by Google because they were below or above the threshold that you would see in the Google Play console. We help with all those things, and then we help you prioritize." "And then they're throwing an alert which is really reactive. It's too late on mobile, your users are gone. And then because the release cycles, you're waiting a week, two weeks to a month. And then you're trying to get an approval cycle from Apple or Google, which is getting faster. That's not perfect. But you're still waiting. And like, even a week is too long for a lot of these issues, even the smaller ones that you seemingly don't think that are a big issue, but they can pile and so the pain is getting all these pieces to work together, but also getting your teams to talk a common language." Host Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry since 2012

Learn how Luisa Zuleta scaled subscription apps for kids, faced marketing limitations, built partnerships, redefined audiences, and optimized LTV. Discover challenges in compliance, adapting to industry changes, and reworking marketing channels. Explore reflections on smartphones, features, and Apple AirTags disappointment.

There is this joke in Silicon Valley “US tech companies are great in software, Chinese ones are cool in hardware and EU make laws and regulations” Of course, there is always a kernel of truth in every joke and I would say that this one has a pretty big one. Big Tech has been in a free fly mode since the inception of Google. There have been very few regulations for which you don’t event need fingers on your both hands to count. But things change and right now regulations are coming. Today Michael will tell us about the EU’s Digital Markets Act - what it is and what are its implications for app developers and publishers. Today’s Topics Include: Michael Bilotta's background What is Worldline Digital Markets Act: definition and implications for app developers and publishers Third-party payment systems providers response The advantages of implementing third-party billing for mobile app developers and publishers Trialing alternative payment systems with customers in South Korea, implications for the US What Mike would like to change about the mobile teach the most Android or iOS? Leaving his smartphone at home, what features would Mike miss most? What features she would like to see added to his smartphone? Links and Resources: Michael Bilotta on LinkedIn Worldline website Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry Quotes from Michael Bilotta: "So the Digital Markets Act is multifaceted, and essentially what it's looking to do is regulate the way that big tech can operate in the EU really from the perspective of ensuring that there are not these monopolies that are created because of the fact that these big tech companies are so expensive. " "So when a payment goes through the traditional app store, it goes into kind of a black box that nobody is super familiar with, nor do we really understand exactly how that payment is being processed. But through a third party payment provider, we can do things like smart routing, where if a transaction fails initially, we can try and route it to another financial institution and see if we can get an acceptance. " Host Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry since 2012

Another week another bonus episode for you, this time it is the Boosting User Engagement and App Retention panel discussion from our App Promotion Summit Berlin that we hosted back on November 30 last year. Every app marketer would agree that App Retention is absolutely crucial for a mobile app project to become sustainable. To address a number of questions about app user engagement and retention we had: Ioana Iordache, Head of Retention at Blacklane Tobias Lüder, Head of CRM at Delivery Hero Isabelle Matuschka, Senior CRM Manager at Blinkist Niklas Henckell, Head of Community Development at Jodel Jon Genovard, CRM & Retention Manager at ShareTheMeal, United Nations World Food Programme. The focus of this panel was on: ✅ real life case studies for retaining app users ✅ measuring app user retention ✅ how of app users habits fit in their usage of apps regularly Host Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry since 2012