Secrets to the success of top applications iFunny

On April 6, in the Mediametrics.ru studio, Ruslan Kuvaev, founder and CEO of the BYYD mobile advertising platform, conducted an interview with Denis Litvinov, Director of Business Development for FunCorp.

It was about the secret of the success of the famous project iFunny, the main tools and channels of promotion, as well as the reasons for the popularity among users. Theses of the conversation - in our today's issue.
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The history of the creation of the company FunCorp, the idea of ​​creating an application iFunny

The story begins even before the appearance of top mobile devices. It is believed that the company started in 2004, and was immediately focused on mobile, which is not typical for Western and Russian projects. The quite popular flagship product of the SMS Box company was “sharpened” under Java phones and distributed throughout the CIS. Initially it was an archive of SMS jokes that could be sent to friends. When smartphones appeared, the first mobile apps rolled out.

How long did it take to develop an application? What difficulties did you encounter?

It all started with the iDaPrikol application :) (in Russia now it has several hundred thousand active users), the creation of which in 2011 spent a month. A couple of weeks later, iFunny was adapted for English and “rolled out” into the American AppStore. The total development period is 1.5 months.

How does the technology of the application work, what are the sources of the content? Who is engaged in content moderation and application updating?

Our content is completely user-generated. We do not create anything ourselves - all are brought by our users. There is a special department of customs, which deals with the screening of poor-quality content. The editorial department creates issues.

What was due to the orientation of the application to the US market?

The highest achievement for an IT company is to capture the US market. It is the richest and most “understandable” market in the world. American inventory is very valuable. Even today, there are two markets - the US and all the rest, and there are two options for development: either you have all your inventory in the USA, or your inventory is “spread” around the world. It is logical that buying inventory a little bit in each country is inconvenient.

The second reason is that the American market is quite “understandable”. The behavior of users in Russia and the United States is similar. Asian countries are generally an alternative world, developing in their own specific vector, which is difficult to enter. Therefore, the choice fell on the United States.

An example of iFunny as an application that has achieved success by entering a foreign market. What difficulties did you encounter when entering the market?

The first 1.5 years the main problem was the community management, because at the time of the release of the service, none of the employees and founders had ever been in the United States. Initially, the need of users for content was formed by one editor from Penza (then the American moderation appeared). Often there were user misunderstandings.

“Due to the fact that at the initial stage irrelevant content appeared or some“ drops ”of the service appeared, users concluded that the application is made by monkeys - now our logo is a monkey, as self-irony”.


The main components of PR and marketing strategy FunCorp

We have no PR strategy, we do not deal with it at all. Our focus is on the community and on the product - we are building up the community and constantly improving the product.

Milestones in the history of the application since its inception iFunny

Initially it was a regular viewer. The most important decision in promoting the project is the creation of a community: comments, shores - a kind of competitive environment for users. This gave the project virality, ensured growth.

Differences in approaches to promotion in Russia and abroad

The approach is the same. The difference is in user behavior. In the US, competition is for technology, in Russia - for the right to be first. In the US, everything changes quickly. For example, on Facebook you need to change banners daily. In Russia, everything works as standard.

The share of audience distribution in Russia and the United States. Trends and forecasts for the development of the Russian mobile market and applications.

IFunny in Russia has less than 0.3% of clients in Russia, the rest are in the USA. The idaPrikol :) app is 5-7 percentage points from iFunny in classroom terms.

Prospects for the development of fun-applications and their content

Content in the fun-applications “eternal”, therefore, it is necessary to focus on the development of technology and distribution channels.

For a more detailed version of the interview, see our YouTube channel:





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