Yahoo Gemini Moves Into App Install Ads
Following Facebook, Twitter, and Google, Yahoo has also jumped on the app install ads bandwagon. Will this move help Yahoo reverse its ad slide?
Following Facebook, Twitter, and Google, Yahoo has also jumped on the app install ads bandwagon. Will this move help Yahoo reverse its ad slide?
As of today, advertisers in the U.S. with managed accounts will be able to use Yahoo Gemini to promote their apps across the Yahoo network with Gemini app install ads, potentially reaching more than 550 million monthly mobile users.
The app install ads feature a sponsored post overlaid with an “Install” call to action. They will appear on Yahoo mobile websites and Tumblr, as well as Yahoo apps including Yahoo News Digest, Yahoo Weather, Yahoo Sports, and Yahoo Finance. The ads will also show up on premium content sites through Yahoo Recommends, a technology that delivers personalized content recommendations and native ads to users.
“This is a smart and natural move for Yahoo. The company has such a huge asset in the U.S. to tap into,” says Ran Avrahamy, head of marketing at mobile app measurement company AppsFlyer.
Avrahamy thinks the move is also a signal that Yahoo is catching up with Facebook, Twitter, and Google, three tech companies that “have been doing very well in mobile app install ads.”
App install ads can benefit advertisers in many ways, Avrahamy adds. First, this type of ad can be easily measured. “You can easily calculate your return on investment of each campaign with very basic metrics: how much does it cost you to acquire a user (cost per install basis), and even how much does it cost you to get that user to take an action (cost per action basis),” he explains. “Most important, mobile has great targeting capabilities, especially when combined with social.”
However, in spite of these advantages, the majority of advertisers haven’t yet adopted app install ads, Avrahamy notes. “But when [advertisers] see big players like Yahoo, Facebook, and Google moving to [this ad format], they will jump on the bandwagon as well,” he adds.
Advertising is Yahoo’s prime source of revenue, but reports suggest that its ad revenue is declining. To reverse its ad slide, the company is trying to build up its mobile and native advertising capabilities. Today’s announcement follows a move in November by Yahoo-owned Tumblr that introduced mobile app install ads as well. Will the Gemini app install ads help Yahoo gain back lost ground?