Thereโs a lot of money in apps. Billions of dollars. But most of this money is earned by certain kinds of apps, and many apps make no money at all. The top-grossing apps in the world may not be the ones you suspect. If you want to ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ ๐๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ ๐ ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป earnings, an app development company will tell you what you should, and shouldnโt do. In the meantime, this article will explain the ins and outs of how freeย apps make money and will discuss ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ ๐๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ ๐ ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป strategies and tools through which your app can become an earner.
If youโre new to the market, looking to enter it, or just have a cool idea for an app, one of your first questions is likely to be profit-related. Building apps is a difficult task and you will want to be rewarded for all of your hard work. The following overview of mobile app earning potential should give you a clearer picture of how much you can make off your app.
Our agency, ๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ง๐, has experts that can help you determine how to earn money from your app, and how much it can potentially make.
First, we are going to discuss a fewย Key app monetization strategies.
Using ads to monetize the app is quite simple, all required is to display commercial inside your mobile apps and get paid from the ad networks.ย Mobile advertisingย is a form ofย advertisingย viaย mobile(wireless) phones or otherย mobileย devices. It is a subset ofย mobileย marketing. It is estimated thatย mobileย app-installedย adsย accounted for 30% of allย mobile advertisingย revenue in 2014, and will top $4.6bn in 2016, and over $6.8bn by the end of 2019.ย Mobile advertising remains the most profitable app revenue model. 7 out of 10 app providers used it in 2018.
In-app purchases provide an ability to sell a variety of virtual items directly from your app โ including extra bonuses, premium content, game currency, and goods or unlock game levels.
The strategy falls into categories:
Sponsorship placement within the application can be a ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ ๐๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ ๐ ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป model if the provider builds the right niche app for tailored users and launch it on behalf of another company. The main challenge is to find a funder with similar or the same target audience and white label an app or adapt its design to match the sponsorโs brand.
The main types of sponsorship deals:
The strategy is also lucrative for developers to generate and expand user audiences and promote an app, as most sponsors already have good website traffic and loyal customers.
For free apps with restricted content or features available for a limited time, the user can pay a subscription fee to get full access and unlock it. This revenue type is often used for cloud services, video and audio streaming, online newspapers, or magazines. The developer can provide users with a free trial period and charge the subscription fee for access without restrictions.
Google and Apple provide an ability to handle subscription transactions through their platforms, making it easier for developers to implement it. Apple takes 30% for the first year of any subscription, and then 15% after one year of paid service. Google introduces better terms, taking 15% of subscription revenue even during the first year.
The News app likeย The Guardian &ย The Economistย has many online subscribers.
Even though Email Marketing is a comparatively old technique, it can be quite powerful when it comes to monetizing apps. This strategy works best when you kindly ask user emails during sign-in. And, as a result, get a possibility to consequently reach them with email notifications.
In the meantime, mobile applications offer a new opportunity to collect email addresses. This makes email marketing one of the most effective strategies on the web, which also has its pros and cons.
One of the comparatively new ways of making money through Amazon App Store is Amazon Underground. Although it does not require ads or in-app purchases, letโs see how it works. Being a relative newcomer in the word of the mobile apps, Underground offers its users to access an unlimited number of solutions that contain premium features for free. Instead, Amazon Underground pays application devs 2 cents per minute of use, per every single user.
Amazon Underground is an independent app store, with its mobile app that has to be used for getting access to the store. To use this innovative strategy, app publishers are not allowed to implement ad or in-app purchases inside their apps.
If you prefer to get users to enjoy your app for free rather than make them see your ads, some tools can help you improve UX and support the freemium model of app monetization. In case you have your app developed with no digital storefront integrated into the code, youโll find these tools useful:
Android takes care of its developers and offers its solution to freemium called the Androids In-App Billing tool. Meanwhile, Appleย also has its native system that offers users to purchase your in-app content or subscriptions. But shows it as a software download from the store. Well, yes, it takes 30% of the revenue but manages the transaction instead.
Another type of tool worth mentioning works with in-app video ads. Well, video ads may suit your app. It is a fact. Specifically, if they reflect an expected type of content. The following tools may easily help you monetize your free app:
Interactive combines innovative ad units with perfect reporting and analytics. This allows ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ ๐๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ ๐ ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป without actually sacrificing UX. At the same time,ย YuMeย is also on the list. It uses PQI, a proprietary real-time inventory grading algorithm to bring campaigns the best inventory.
Meanwhile, Adcolony is there to use their Instant Play HD technology combined with buffer-free video playback, Vungle is the only one who features SDK suitable for iOS, Android, and Windows. At least they say so.
When it comes toย in-app advertising toolsย the first thing you will face is finding an ad network. So: The first to mention is Googleโsย AdMob, which lets users use Google Analytics to better understand the audience, improve their advertisements, and gain new customers/consumers.
InMobiย is a tool that helps you focus on creating better UX. It is more visually appealing than the majority of ad platforms.ย InMobiย allows users to leave feedback about the ads, and, consequently, increase the value of targeting for the advertisers.
Facebookโs app advertising system offers to display its advertising inside of your app, making targeting more exact and conceivably better for revenue. Apple does also have its ad tool for apps, which integrates the desired ads into your app and one platform.
Among other popular and effective in-app advertising app monetization tools that work best for free apps are Amazonโsย ad systemย (that still pays per impression), an automation tool with predictive analyticsย Tapjoy,ย Appsfire that tries to choose ads that blend best with the app’s design,ย StartAppย (that prioritizes ads and increases click-through rates), etc.
Because game apps are one of the most popular app categories these days, some ads systems are keen specifically for them. So, the list of in-app advertising for game applicationsย starts withย Unity, as itโs completely focused on games and targets ads only for gamers. In a word, the tool allows monetizing apps entire player base with ease.
Chartboost is the biggest mobile games-only ad network, that offers free cross-sales and a Direct Deals Marketplace making game app monetization and user acquisition easy and successful.
There areย lotsย of effectiveย ways in whichย toย monetize free apps,ย however,ย itโllย take someย coming up withย andย comprehensiveย promotingย strategy. Advertisingย continues to beholding the leading position as an app monetizationย technique,ย withย 70%ย of all apps on the market.