Pinch Media App Store Secrets

‘AppStoreSecrets’(WhatWe’veLearnedfrom30,000,000Downloads)

AzeemAnsarBusinessDevelopment

[email protected]

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

mailto:[email protected]


30,000,000Downloads?!(Actually,it’safairbitmorethanthatbynow.)

• PinchMediaprovidesdeveloperswithananalyJcslibrarytomonitorappusage–uniqueusers,sessions,usageJme,etc

• SinceAppStorelaunchwe’vealsobeencollecJngeverybitofdetailpossiblefromtheAppStore–rankings,pricechanges,younameit–andtyingitbacktoouranalyJcs

• Ourstuff’sinhundredsofapplicaJonsrightnow–it’sbeeninthe#1freeandpaidapplicaJonseveralJmeseach,andhasbeeninatleasttenofthetop100freeapplicaJonsforawhilenow

• Withallofthisdata,youlearnafewthings


• HowdoIgetranked?• DoIhavearecurringuserbase?• Howlongaretheyusingmyapp?

• SoshouldIgiveitawayornot?

Whatwearegoingtocover(AndmaybealiUlemore)


HowdoIgetranked?(HowdoestheAppStorework,anyway?)

• iPhoneAppStore–applicaJondistribuJonplaVormforiPhoneapplicaJons

• GeXngranked=moreexposure=moredownloadsintheAppStore


HowdoIgetranked?(cont’d)(HowdoestheAppStorework,anyway?)

Everyrankedlist(‘top100’,‘top25’,‘top20bycategory’)ontheAppStoreisbasedonashortrollingwindowofunitsdownloaded.

Howshort?Ithasvariedinthepast.Sincelaunch,24hours,3days,and5dayshaveallfitourdatabest.

Currently,tomaximizechanceofranking,assume:

24hours(Inotherwords,bunchupyourpublicity.)


Whatdoyougetbyappearingonalist?

• Appearingonatop100listincreasesdailynewusersbyanaverageof2.3x

• Greatergainsresultfromappearinginthetop25andtop10lists–morevariable,butobenanorderofmagnitude

• However,it’snotpermanent;Apple’sAppStoreisstructuredformaximumturnover

• Let’sgothroughafewcasestudies:


CaseStudyA:Well‐TimedPriceCut

Here,apricecutgotthedevelopermuchmoreexposureintheAppStore,andbecauseofthis,alotmorerevenue


CaseStudyB:Not‐So‐WellTimed

Here,thedevelopercuthispriceaberachievingalotofexposure,andithadliUleimpact


CaseStudyC:CounterproducJve?

Thisdeveloperneverranked;hispriceincreasedidn’tincreasehisrevenue,andmayhavelosthimsomeexposure


Ingeneral…

• Decreasingpriceisobenworthwhile,duetotheresulJngincreasedexposure

• Aberyou’vebeenbroadlyexposed,experimentshavelesseffect

• Don’tmesswithaposiJvedownloadtrend

Theaveragepricecutincreaseddemandby130%Theaveragepriceincreasedropsdemandby25%


WhatdoIneedtogetonalist?

(downloadsperday) Top25 Top100

sixmonthsago 10,000 1,000threemonthsago 11,000 1,500thismonth 20,000 5,000

ForfreeapplicaJons:

(ApplehadabigChristmas!)

ForpaidapplicaJons:Roughlyone‐tenthofdownload#’sforfreeapps


CaseStudyD:HappyHolidays

Notehowtheslopeof‘totalusers’issteeperanddownloadsarehigheroverChristmas,yetrankingisconstant





DoIhavearecurringuserbase?(aka‘Howmuchismyappused?’)

• Soyou’vegotamilliondownloads–congrats!ButwhatpercentageuseyourapplicaJonthenextday?Thedayaber?

• ThebiggestapplicaJonsinoursystemhave+3MMdownloads–butwhatkindofacJveuserbasedoesadownloadtranslateinto?


Users

Retu

rnin

g (

% o

f D

ay 0

)

0

5

10

15

20

Days Since First Used (c) Pinch Media 2009

0 20 40 60 80 100

Free Applications ! Usage over time


Use

rs R

etu

rnin

g (

% o

f D

ay 0

)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30


0 20 40 60 80 100

Paid Applications ! Usage over time


Users

Retu

rnin

g (

% o

f D

ay 0

)

0

5

10

15

20


0 20 40 60 80 100

Applications By Category ! Usage over time

Entertainment

Games

Sports

Lifestyle

Utilities


Inotherwords…

• UsersusetheaverageapplicaJoninfrequently• Long‐term,1%oftotaldownloadsusetheaverageapplicaJononanygivenday

• PaidapplicaJonsgenerallyretaintheiruserslongerthanfreeapplicaJons,althoughthedrop‐offissJllpreUysteep

• SportsseemsbeUeratretainingusersovertheshortterm;entertainmentatretainingusersoverthelongterm





Howlongaretheyusingmyapp?

• ForcertainapplicaJons,thelengthofJmeusersusetheapplicaJonisimportant.

• BrandedapplicaJonscaredeeplyaboutengagement

• ApplicaJonsshowingadsperiodicallyalsocareaboutsessionlength,forobviousreasons

• Ingeneral,everysecondtheapp’sopenisaseconditcanbeseenbyorrecommendedtoothers





Again,summingup‐

• UsageJmedeclinesbyalmostathirdinthefirstmonthaberuse,stabilizingatjustunderfiveminutes

• PaidapplicaJonsseeslightlymoreusesoonaberinstallaJon,andareusedforslightlylongerperiods

• ThebiggestusagedifferenJatoriscategory–gamesareusedforlongerperiodsthananyothertypeofapplicaJon





SoshouldIgiveitawayornot?

• AnyonebrowsingthetopfreeapplicaJonsknowsthatadverJsingisanopJon

• ThebiggestplayerisAdMob,butPinchMediahaspartnershipswithadnetworksthatalsosupplysomeoftheseads

• DeterminingwhetheranapplicaJonshouldbepaidorfreecanbedifficultinadvance.


Paidvs.free–howweevaluate• Step1:Wedetermine,asbestwecan,thenumberofJmesauserwillrunafreeapplicaJonoverthecourseofitslifeJme.

• Step2:Wedetermine,asbestwecan,theraJooffreeapplicaJonuserstopaidapplicaJonusers.

• Step3:Weusetheabovetofigureoutthenumberoffree‐userapplicaJonrunsyou’dgetinsteadofapaidsale.

• Fromthat,wefigureoutwhatadrateyou’dneedtobeattherevenuefromapaidsale.


Tota

l applic

ation r

uns

0

2

4

6

8

10

Days since first use (c) Pinch Media 2009

0 20 40 60 80 100

Total Application Runs Since First Use

Step1:HowmanyJmeswillusersuseafreeapplicaJon?


Average‘freevs.paid’raJos:• fortotaluniqueusers:

7.5to1• fortotalnumberofJmesused:

6.6to1• fortotalJmespentusingtheapplicaJon:

3.9to1

Step2:HowmanymoreuserswillafreeapplicaJonget?


• FromStep1,weseefreeapplicaJonsarerun,onaverage,adozenJmesperuseratmost

• FromStep2,weseefreeapplicaJonshave,onaverage,7.5JmesasmanyuniqueusersaspaidapplicaJons

• Doingthemath:12x7.5=90sessions/user• Soinsteadofonepaidsale,whichbringsinatleast$0.70,thedeveloperhas90sessions

• Cantheaverageapplica6onmakemorethan$0.70offadver6singin90sessions?

Step3:HowmanyfreeapplicaJonrunsdoIget?


Answer:No–notwithoutharddata!

Toearn$0.70in90sessions,youneedrevenueof$7.78perthousandruns

Ifyoucanshowoneadpersession,that’san$7.78CPM

DifferentparJesmakedifferentclaims‐butinthecurrentadmarket,thisisdifficulttoachieve

Theidealstrategyistoreleasepaid,installanalyJcs,understandyouraudience,andthenmakeaninformeddecisionaboutadverJsing.


AdverJsingisn’talwaysabadidea.

• SomeapplicaJonsbenefitfromnetworkeffects,andgetfarmorethan7.5xtheusersthey’dgetiftheycharged

• SomeapplicaJonsareexcepJonally‘sJcky’–usersusetheappfarmorethanadozenJmesonaverage

• SomeapplicaJons–generally,onescateringtopeoplewithmoney–cancommandbeUeradverJsingratesthanusual



<$2.00

CPM

~$7.00

~$15.00

~$35.00


Tosumup…• Onlyafew(<5%)high‐performingapplicaJonsaresuitableforadverJsingrightnow,andyoudon’tknowifyou’vegotoneunJlaberlaunch

• Unlessthere’ssomethinginherentabouttheappthatscreamsfree,startoffbysellingit

• InstallanalyJcsinyourapplicaJonandwatchyoursessionsperuseroverJme.Withinafewweeks,you’llknowifyou’vegotasJckyapplicaJon

• Onlyreleaseanad‐supportedversionwhenyouhavedatastronglyindicaJngsuccess


Thiswasactuallyasneakpreview

• AppStore‐widereportsarebeinggenerateddailyandwillbeincorporatedintoPinchMedia’sreporJngsiteinthenearfuture

• AnyapplicaJonusingouranalyJcslibraryandacJvelysendingindatagetsaccesstoallecosystem‐widereporJngforfree

• PinchMediawantstoknowwhatelseyouwantbakedintothisreporJng


QuesJons?

Youcanalwaysreachmeat:[email protected]

215‐837‐3447

Ifyou’vegotatechnicalquesJon,[email protected]

enJrecompany.

Youcanseeademoatdemo.pinchmedia.com,orjustgetstartedatdeveloper.pinchmedia.com.






Pinch Media App Store Secrets

Technology

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