Sponsored search ads will now be displayed on Google Play as it will now be open to advertisers and developers. It had rolled out the pilot for a few in February, and is now officially rolling out ads on the store. The company already mints billions of dollars each year from search advertising on Web/Mobile search and YouTube – adding Google Play is just another cherry on the cake for mobile monetization. Google is not just providing the advertisers with search ads, but also giving them tools to track their return on investment.
A tool called Android first app opens will help Google measure when a user first opens a particular application after clicking on an ad and completing an Android app install. In this way, the company could mint some more dollars by proving their advertising mettle. The tool will be available for all of Google’s app promotion ads, across YouTube, the Google Display Network, and AdMob.
Surojit Chatterjee, Director of Google’s Product Management and Mobile Search Ads spoke on the rollout of the feature. He said, “Google Play reaches more than 1 billion people on Android devices in more than 190 countries. With such an extensive reach, Search Ads on Google Play can provide consumers new ways to discover apps that they otherwise might have missed and help developers drive more awareness of their apps. In a few weeks, Universal App Campaigns will make it even easier to promote your apps on Google Play and across all Google properties, including: Search, YouTube, the AdMob in-app network, and the 2M+ sites on the Google Display Network.”
Google believes that the Search Ads can allow people to discover apps, which they never installed and used. But it would be interesting to watch out for the user feedback, if they’re open to welcoming one more bombardment of ad space.
Remarketing over the Internet has been sucking users whose search data is bombarded back to them in form of advertisements on every damn website, on mobiles and desktops. However in case of Google Play, it has always come under fire for not showing up apps that users are looking for, so probably now, with the association of specific keywords to throw up sponsored search results, we hope search efficiency improves.
Mobile app install ads have are seen to be rising in popularity. In the recent past, observations over Facebook suggest that their app ads are three times more expensive than their we ads. We feel that the Google’s ad format might just in a way make the rich richer, and poor, poorer. Considering how small developing houses wouldn’t be able to afford the ad space and be buried underneath the debris of the moneyed ones!
