Mobile application developers and Appodeal - three examples of collaboration

Today , Appodeal presents interviews with developers who will share their experience with application monetization. Accordingly, the interview is divided into three parts, each of which is a separate dialogue. Everyone has different applications, different number of users and different incomes. One thing unites the developers - they all decided to use our service. A conversation will help many, especially those not yet involved in building applications, look around and look at other people's experiences.

The interview is structured in this format: “Q” are the questions of the main interviewer, and “I” are the answers of the interlocutors. We hope that this material will be useful to our readers in their daily work.

Part 1. Interview with BartWell (Artem Bazhanov)

Q: Please tell me what applications you have, what is the traffic rate?
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I: Well, let's go in order. Initially, I had a google account, there were about 8 or 10 applications. Of these, the largest were two. On one was about 265 thousand downloads, on the other - about 250 thousand. The rest of the little things, not so much - in the region of 10 thousand, some smaller. Actually, these two applications are the chat game Mafia and the application for transmitting content via Wi-Fi.



Q: Sorry, I did not try to play this "Mafia". How long has it been released?

I: "Mafia" for two years and a half. Here, in general, what is the feature? In the fact that last year, at the end of July, I, too, came under a big sweep from Google - I was also banned on Google Play. For a very long time I tried to agree with them somehow, to explain the situation. He spent probably about six months on this, but did not achieve anything.

Q: What is banned, if not a secret?

I: They said that I use third-party billing in Mafia. I actually did not use it, but there was a link to the site and something controversial on the site itself. I did not plan to violate, before that I read, I was looking for information - is it possible to do this, the information was affirmative. After they banned me, they introduced an additional rule for Admob: if the application was banned on Google Play, then they started to ban it in Admob. That is, I also lost advertising. Then I was forced to look for some solutions - how can I continue to live without Admob?

Q: Was it this winter?

I: It was October 2014. I started thinking towards Mopub-based mediation. Went through a large number of various affiliate programs. And, let's say, if this application gave around two dollars or even tens of dollars, if the app is in the top, then after switching to these all different affiliate programs, the result was about 20 cents. And I went through a lot, found a few that gave more than 20 cents.

AdBoost, AirPush, InMobi, MobFox, Revmob, TapForTap, Smaato, Millennial Media after the ban on Google Play were given about $ 0.20.

Q: 20 cents - for what period?

I: It's over 24 hours. I always use the CPI (pay per install) model in these applications, as well as CPC - pay per click. There it was the most profitable: advertising was hidden after the click and users somehow got used to it. Click - for several days they have no ads, the user is satisfied. This is not contrary to the rules.

Well, and then just somewhere, probably in February, I saw the first post from Pavel Golubev, but for the time being he wrote only about interstitial advertising. Until May, I waited, tracked down, until they released an SDK with a banner, so that everything would be built in as usual for users. Well embedded. The result was higher than on this system, which I did with mediation. Now Appodeal gives about $ 1.5-2.5 per day.

Of course, the old results are no longer there, but the reason is not in Appodeal, but in the fact that the application on Google Play is not in too good positions.

Q: You say that earnings amounted to a dollar a day. It turns out the total earnings from the application - about 30 dollars a month?

I: It was 70 bucks. On average, about 230 from two applications came out. And there were moments when the app went to the top, and I earned more than a hundred in a day. Generally speaking, Admob before the ban gave ~ $ 230 per month (from 200 to 900 in fact).

Q: It's good that Appodeal does the optimization, but is there something that is not yet implemented for you?

I: You know, I actually already wrote to Paul personally about everything that I would like to do better. Basically, I miss two things. The first is integration into App Annie, a statistics system. And second, I would like to add user feedback when they view ads as it is organized, for example, in AdColony. Essence what: the user has looked through advertising and the server of advertisers notifies our server about it. And we on our server add him virtual money for it. And if there is no feedback, it is impossible to add a virtual reward to users.

Q: Is everything OK with withdrawal?

I: Yes, it all works great, without any problems. I like the possibility of withdrawing to different payment systems, it is very convenient.

I also made a widget for the AnyBalance application for tracking earnings on Appodeal. Pleasant to see the oncoming numbers. On the screen - the balance and earnings for today. Small numbers - change per month and per day. The widget turned out to be done due to the fact that Appodeal provides the API, so that data can be pulled into the widget, program, service anywhere.

Part 2. Interview with the head of AK Games Alexey Khripkov

Q: Hello, please tell us about how your projects developed.

I: I sat and worked in the office, then only the first "Android" came out. I decided to pick something up. My first thought was that there are no scanwords here, I want to ponder on the subway. Searched, searched - no. I decided to do it myself. Did, laid out. Then why not try to make money? Here, sales did not go, generally by zeros. Then I decided to put the advertisement. Well, so quietly, little by little, it all began to develop, the income grew, from some half a cent to a day to more or less decent amounts. At a certain point, when the profit was equal to the salary, I decided that it was time to leave this business. Now on Google Play my applications are laid out on behalf of AK Games.



Q: You probably have been working with different ad networks and services for a long time. How did you switch between them?

I: In those days there were few such advertising firms. Admob was, "Klater" was, but it was literally not for long, he gave some very good money, I think Apple bought it. Admob gave a good price at first, in general it was possible not to grieve. But over the years, they came up with some schemes, introduced the minimum payment to one cent per click. As a result, it all fell, fell and eventually fell altogether. Then, respectively, there were different grids that initially gave a good income, but literally in two or three months they were blown away. Admob kept at some level, since a large advertiser. But income is still declining. Recently there have been many grids, two or three sentences per day have arrived, that is, we have super CPM there, we have super there, super it. As a result, I didn’t pay attention anymore, I don’t know why I reacted to Appodeal. I read the advertisement, then put it aside, I met it on the “Habré” - let me try.

Since I had a fee for CPMs, I had to get, say, a higher price from Appodeal. I put the floors on all of my minimum grids and first request from Appodeal - if there is more expensive advertising there, then, accordingly, I give the impression in Appodeal. Such a scheme is very convenient in the sense that I'm not worried at all. There is expensive advertising - well, generally cool. No - well, I'm not losing anything, so to speak. At the same time, they helped me in Appodeal - they added some things quickly, corrected the SDK, and now everything works so well for me: first there is a request for Appodeal, exhibited floors to different countries, depending on my settings of other grids.

Q: What month was it? Lucky, apparently, to be one of the first?

I: Apparently, yes. After reading the article on “Habré”, I immediately signed off with Appodeal. Immediately all set up, and it all worked. And the main thing is that CPM has grown very much. Admob at that time gave something around $ 0.5 per thousand - somehow weak. And then they crossed, and immediately he jumped - two, three.

Q: But, as I understand it, not all Appodeal displays were processed, right?

I: No, no, not all. I have two offices with which I have agreed directly. Assume that Russia is being redeemed from me for one euro CPM. There are more guys there, they periodically have ads, they buy CPM for a hundred rubles. They have it, that is, that is not, that is, that is not. And I first have Appodeal, and already in the settings of the Appodeal itself I expose all these floors, separately for applications for countries.

Q: Does Appodeal suit everyone now? Maybe it can be seen that he could have done better, which is not yet?

I: Hard to say. There are some technical issues, but I solve them with support, online. There is an update - I, as a rule, do not update immediately after all, because some changes are accumulating. Since the applications are already old, updates are not very frequent. I wish that there was nothing fundamentally changed in the SDK, so that it would not have to drastically update everything, change it.

Q: Good. Now a big trend and the integration of video advertising, and the integration of native advertising - as I understand it, is it irrelevant for these applications?

I: irrelevant. I tried the video - people do not like it. Because it is heavy, because ... well, I don’t know, maybe the contingent is like that - basically scanwords, people are sitting in the subway, the video isn’t going at all. With the native is more difficult, because it is necessary to deal specifically. In general, hard work, and, frankly, I don’t know if I’m going to make sense of it until I want to try. But in general, everything suits now. Appodeal, those settings that I have - I do not even know that here you can squeeze more at the moment. I wish he would not blow off any further.

Q: Is everything in order with the documents, with the integration, with such formal questions that frighten? With the withdrawal of money, for example.

I: No, everything is cool. This, of course, is convenient, that the withdrawal is immediately beyond 2%, the withdrawal at the moment when I need to. Generally speaking, Appodeal does not pay out commissions, but if money is needed urgently (and usually is), then you can immediately withdraw amounts from $ 20, with a commission of 2%.

Part 3. Interview with Alexander Agrinsky

Q: Hi, tell me a little about your applications?

I: We started with the development of mobile applications for businesses - for cafes, restaurants, gas stations and many other organizations. Our startup paid off very quickly. Literally in a month, we made a pretty good profit for our city. We were able to hire a good staff - more than twenty salespeople and seven designers-artists. This was necessary in order for them to prepare for us a plan-project of the application itself, what should be there and how it should be drawn. It was and remains one of the main areas that bring profit.

We started playing games, probably five months ago. And since professional programmers have not yet been hired on the staff, they decided to try to assemble games by collectors such as Scirra Construct 2, 2D games, to see at all, to understand this market, how it is formed, what is needed so that it can develop and gain experience, in the future to hire professional developers who will create not only 2D games, but also 3D, online shooters and much more.

Now with regard to advertising sites. We started working first with Admob, because everywhere, in all forums, it’s written that this is the highest fill rate, the biggest payouts, and there are no problems with it. But we are faced with such a problem that the filreyt began to fall to 86%. Payouts - the minimum threshold is $ 10, despite the fact that we have a small test application, 7,000 hits were from the first game in two weeks. It was just flooded in the Play Market to see what would happen if it was not unwound.

Q: Can I have a little more detail about the games themselves? How many are there now?

I: We have four of them, but we can consider them on three, because we will be shooting the fourth one, since there are practically no installations. This was the first attempt and not very successful. The games are simple, an example is “The Beaver”. This, as they are now saying, is a time killer. The essence of the game is as follows: I have a character - a beaver. He stands on the island. In order to complete the game, or rather to score a certain number of points - the maximum, you need to move from one island to another. When clicking on the screen, a log appears, which rises up to the moment when the person releases the finger. Made in 2.5D.

Q: What were the results without promotion?

I: According to the first application of 450 installations, 147 users are active. The second game "Duck Marshes", the analogue of the old game on the "Dandy". There are 28 installations. This is about the number and comes without advertising.

Q: And as I understand it, you immediately tested and advertising in applications, right?

I: Yes, right away, at the time of the calculation. The first point, which did not suit immediately in Admob - the figures were not very high. CTR was about, probably, 0.5%. And there was a moment when a man from St. Petersburg appeared who clicked on an ad, and Admob couldn't do anything about it. They do not have an anti-clipping system. If you do not click on your fault, you are guilty anyway. This made us very alert and not satisfied with the fact that we cannot track each person or write to each person “sorry, friend, you can be asked not to click on an advertisement”.

Q: What could be the motivation of a user to click an ad?

I: Most likely, there are similar games even for this person as an indie developer.

The second option - in order to avoid advertising. Some people understand that if he clicks on an advertisement a couple of dozen times now, it will be lost.

In general, after the test Admob decided to try Appodeal. First of all, they immediately connected the video, the yield immediately increased. Another important point - the withdrawal of funds. With Admob is a whole story, especially in Russia. Bank employees gathered in crowds to try to do something for us and open this account, it was a whole hemorrhoids. We spent a whole month on trips to banks in order to be able to attach Admob ads and receive money earned from advertising. Honestly, this is complete nonsense.

Q: By the way, why Appodeal? Often they come to us, first stuffing bumps on several separate solutions.

I: Just typed in the Internet "installation of advertising", went to the site w3bsit3-dns.com, accidentally saw the reviews. After reading user reviews and employee responses to questions, they realized that the likelihood of cooperation with Appodeal is 99%. We went to the site, tried to contact technical support, it turned out. The answer came very quickly - our employee did not even expect that it would be so ultrafast. We received the answer in literally five minutes. We talked through Skype, I explained to the company’s representatives what the point was that we were interested in cooperation, but we needed a plug-in for Scirra Construct.

The answer came that Appodeal employees are ready to develop this plugin, and that development takes time, about a month. Instead, the plugin was developed in just two and a half weeks. Now the plugin works like a clock. No failures, no problems at all, the result struck us. It was very cool, because the plug-in appeared quickly, quickly and quickly. If we made a similar request to the same Admob, we would be sent far away, we would not even consider it as customers.

And just at the c2community forum, people asked me questions about how I was able to attach a video to my game.

Q: And when was the Appodeal installed? Judging by the screenshot - July 8, right?

I: No, even earlier. In general, the Appodeal plugin was installed in July. We had about 11 dollars for the period from June 8 to July 4. Despite the fact that no promotion, no action, we did not commit.

Q: And what has changed on July 8? I am now looking at the screenshots - there is a strong surge.

I: We left a few articles in different forums: on foreign forums, on Russian forums, at w3bsit3-dns.com we updated our little article about the game. In addition, posted an article in some print media. Hence, most likely, the performance of video views. Also, the advertising platform was slightly changed.

Q: I see. Now, if you go to the indicators that were before and after installation in Admob and Appodeal. I see that Appodeal has a filrate somewhere between 70 and 80. Which is the right one now?

I: Here is a moment. Filrayt why 70, 80, 60? This is because we set the display of video ads separately and banners separately. If you now reveal statistics on the indicators of banners, then the filrate is 100%. A minimum of 97, happens, slips on any particular day. Filrayt on video - about 23, 22. True, this is the June statistics, usually filrayt higher.

Q: They alternate, yes?

I: Yes. Here he calculates the total - from 100 and of these 23 - he considers the average between them. Therefore, the filrate is 63, and in fact, if you set a pop-up banner, then the filrate is 100%. In another way.

Q: I see. Did Admob have 86 before?

I: Yes, 86. Weaving was, but very rarely. On Monday, basically, when no one seems to be playing, they are ready to show ads to the maximum.

Q: I see. How did the CTR and CPM change when changing from Admob to Appodeal?

I: The CTR has changed just colossally, because on Admob it was about 0.10%, even less. Now the average is about 4%. The result is quite interesting. We like.

We hope that the interview community liked this interview, and someone found something useful for themselves. Generally speaking, we at Appodeal are always very happy when developers share with us information about their achievements - it helps to understand how effective the service is and where to go next.