A report from research firm Dscout claimed than an average mobile user touches their phones a staggering 2,167 times a day. Mobiles are our go-to for those ‘I want-to-know’, ‘I want-to-go’, and ‘I want-to-buy moments’, and in these intent-rich moments, we often turn to apps to get what we need. For instance, runners may search for a ‘mileage tracker’ app as they start training for a marathon, foodies may look for restaurant related apps to check out popular eateries in town, and frequent fliers may search for ‘top games’ to play before a long flight. In fact, search is one of the biggest drivers of app installs in the Play Store.
In 2016, Apple announced that they were opening Search Ads For The App Store to all publishers and developers in the US, UK, New Zealand and Australia. The Paid Search Ads will show up when users search for a new app (e.g. Uber could pay to show up as the top search result for ‘taxi’ or ‘car services’).
Apple recently announced that Search Ads For The App Store will be expanding into Canada, Mexico and Switzerland from October 17 2017.
So, what does this mean for advertisers?
The App market is booming, with 2.2 million apps available in the App Store alone as of March 2017. On Average, 90% of time on mobile devices is spent within apps.
Brands need to find effective and efficient ways of reaching potential app users that are growing in value in an ever-increasing competitive market. There is fierce competition for the one available ad slot at the top of the results page, so make sure you’re making frequent daily bid adjustments, and closely monitoring performance metrics to ensure you aren’t missing out on installs. Additionally, keep a close eye on retention and engagement data – it’s not just the install that’s important, but how you keep the user re-opening your app.
It will be great to see Apple Search Ads continue maintaining its strength as a simple and flexible platform, allowing advertisers to continue to see powerful performance through campaigns. As a result, this will allow agencies to continue to drive value for clients, and advertisers themselves to continue to drive their app promotion activity forward.
Contact our Paid Search team today to start taking advantage of Apple’s Search Ads.