pinch media app store secrets
DESCRIPTION
Azeem Ansar talking about the business of iPhone app dev.TRANSCRIPT
‘AppStoreSecrets’(WhatWe’veLearnedfrom30,000,000Downloads)
AzeemAnsarBusinessDevelopment
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
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
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
• HowdoIgetranked?• DoIhavearecurringuserbase?• Howlongaretheyusingmyapp?
• SoshouldIgiveitawayornot?
Whatwearegoingtocover(AndmaybealiUlemore)
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
HowdoIgetranked?(HowdoestheAppStorework,anyway?)
• iPhoneAppStore–applicaJondistribuJonplaVormforiPhoneapplicaJons
• GeXngranked=moreexposure=moredownloadsintheAppStore
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
HowdoIgetranked?(cont’d)(HowdoestheAppStorework,anyway?)
Everyrankedlist(‘top100’,‘top25’,‘top20bycategory’)ontheAppStoreisbasedonashortrollingwindowofunitsdownloaded.
Howshort?Ithasvariedinthepast.Sincelaunch,24hours,3days,and5dayshaveallfitourdatabest.
Currently,tomaximizechanceofranking,assume:
24hours(Inotherwords,bunchupyourpublicity.)
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Whatdoyougetbyappearingonalist?
• Appearingonatop100listincreasesdailynewusersbyanaverageof2.3x
• Greatergainsresultfromappearinginthetop25andtop10lists–morevariable,butobenanorderofmagnitude
• However,it’snotpermanent;Apple’sAppStoreisstructuredformaximumturnover
• Let’sgothroughafewcasestudies:
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
CaseStudyA:Well‐TimedPriceCut
Here,apricecutgotthedevelopermuchmoreexposureintheAppStore,andbecauseofthis,alotmorerevenue
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
CaseStudyB:Not‐So‐WellTimed
Here,thedevelopercuthispriceaberachievingalotofexposure,andithadliUleimpact
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
CaseStudyC:CounterproducJve?
Thisdeveloperneverranked;hispriceincreasedidn’tincreasehisrevenue,andmayhavelosthimsomeexposure
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Ingeneral…
• Decreasingpriceisobenworthwhile,duetotheresulJngincreasedexposure
• Aberyou’vebeenbroadlyexposed,experimentshavelesseffect
• Don’tmesswithaposiJvedownloadtrend
Theaveragepricecutincreaseddemandby130%Theaveragepriceincreasedropsdemandby25%
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
WhatdoIneedtogetonalist?
(downloadsperday) Top25 Top100
sixmonthsago 10,000 1,000threemonthsago 11,000 1,500thismonth 20,000 5,000
ForfreeapplicaJons:
(ApplehadabigChristmas!)
ForpaidapplicaJons:Roughlyone‐tenthofdownload#’sforfreeapps
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
CaseStudyD:HappyHolidays
Notehowtheslopeof‘totalusers’issteeperanddownloadsarehigheroverChristmas,yetrankingisconstant
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
• HowdoIgetranked?• DoIhavearecurringuserbase?• Howlongaretheyusingmyapp?
• SoshouldIgiveitawayornot?
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
DoIhavearecurringuserbase?(aka‘Howmuchismyappused?’)
• Soyou’vegotamilliondownloads–congrats!ButwhatpercentageuseyourapplicaJonthenextday?Thedayaber?
• ThebiggestapplicaJonsinoursystemhave+3MMdownloads–butwhatkindofacJveuserbasedoesadownloadtranslateinto?
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
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
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Use
rs R
etu
rnin
g (
% o
f D
ay 0
)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Days Since First Used (c) Pinch Media 2009
0 20 40 60 80 100
Paid Applications ! Usage over time
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
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
Applications By Category ! Usage over time
Entertainment
Games
Sports
Lifestyle
Utilities
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Inotherwords…
• UsersusetheaverageapplicaJoninfrequently• Long‐term,1%oftotaldownloadsusetheaverageapplicaJononanygivenday
• PaidapplicaJonsgenerallyretaintheiruserslongerthanfreeapplicaJons,althoughthedrop‐offissJllpreUysteep
• SportsseemsbeUeratretainingusersovertheshortterm;entertainmentatretainingusersoverthelongterm
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
• HowdoIgetranked?• DoIhavearecurringuserbase?• Howlongaretheyusingmyapp?
• SoshouldIgiveitawayornot?
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Howlongaretheyusingmyapp?
• ForcertainapplicaJons,thelengthofJmeusersusetheapplicaJonisimportant.
• BrandedapplicaJonscaredeeplyaboutengagement
• ApplicaJonsshowingadsperiodicallyalsocareaboutsessionlength,forobviousreasons
• Ingeneral,everysecondtheapp’sopenisaseconditcanbeseenbyorrecommendedtoothers
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
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Again,summingup‐
• UsageJmedeclinesbyalmostathirdinthefirstmonthaberuse,stabilizingatjustunderfiveminutes
• PaidapplicaJonsseeslightlymoreusesoonaberinstallaJon,andareusedforslightlylongerperiods
• ThebiggestusagedifferenJatoriscategory–gamesareusedforlongerperiodsthananyothertypeofapplicaJon
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
• HowdoIgetranked?• DoIhavearecurringuserbase?• Howlongaretheyusingmyapp?
• SoshouldIgiveitawayornot?
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
SoshouldIgiveitawayornot?
• AnyonebrowsingthetopfreeapplicaJonsknowsthatadverJsingisanopJon
• ThebiggestplayerisAdMob,butPinchMediahaspartnershipswithadnetworksthatalsosupplysomeoftheseads
• DeterminingwhetheranapplicaJonshouldbepaidorfreecanbedifficultinadvance.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Paidvs.free–howweevaluate• Step1:Wedetermine,asbestwecan,thenumberofJmesauserwillrunafreeapplicaJonoverthecourseofitslifeJme.
• Step2:Wedetermine,asbestwecan,theraJooffreeapplicaJonuserstopaidapplicaJonusers.
• Step3:Weusetheabovetofigureoutthenumberoffree‐userapplicaJonrunsyou’dgetinsteadofapaidsale.
• Fromthat,wefigureoutwhatadrateyou’dneedtobeattherevenuefromapaidsale.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
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?
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Average‘freevs.paid’raJos:• fortotaluniqueusers:
7.5to1• fortotalnumberofJmesused:
6.6to1• fortotalJmespentusingtheapplicaJon:
3.9to1
Step2:HowmanymoreuserswillafreeapplicaJonget?
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
• FromStep1,weseefreeapplicaJonsarerun,onaverage,adozenJmesperuseratmost
• FromStep2,weseefreeapplicaJonshave,onaverage,7.5JmesasmanyuniqueusersaspaidapplicaJons
• Doingthemath:12x7.5=90sessions/user• Soinsteadofonepaidsale,whichbringsinatleast$0.70,thedeveloperhas90sessions
• Cantheaverageapplica6onmakemorethan$0.70offadver6singin90sessions?
Step3:HowmanyfreeapplicaJonrunsdoIget?
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Answer:No–notwithoutharddata!
Toearn$0.70in90sessions,youneedrevenueof$7.78perthousandruns
Ifyoucanshowoneadpersession,that’san$7.78CPM
DifferentparJesmakedifferentclaims‐butinthecurrentadmarket,thisisdifficulttoachieve
Theidealstrategyistoreleasepaid,installanalyJcs,understandyouraudience,andthenmakeaninformeddecisionaboutadverJsing.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
AdverJsingisn’talwaysabadidea.
• SomeapplicaJonsbenefitfromnetworkeffects,andgetfarmorethan7.5xtheusersthey’dgetiftheycharged
• SomeapplicaJonsareexcepJonally‘sJcky’–usersusetheappfarmorethanadozenJmesonaverage
• SomeapplicaJons–generally,onescateringtopeoplewithmoney–cancommandbeUeradverJsingratesthanusual
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
<$2.00
CPM
~$7.00
~$15.00
~$35.00
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Tosumup…• Onlyafew(<5%)high‐performingapplicaJonsaresuitableforadverJsingrightnow,andyoudon’tknowifyou’vegotoneunJlaberlaunch
• Unlessthere’ssomethinginherentabouttheappthatscreamsfree,startoffbysellingit
• InstallanalyJcsinyourapplicaJonandwatchyoursessionsperuseroverJme.Withinafewweeks,you’llknowifyou’vegotasJckyapplicaJon
• Onlyreleaseanad‐supportedversionwhenyouhavedatastronglyindicaJngsuccess
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Thiswasactuallyasneakpreview
• AppStore‐widereportsarebeinggenerateddailyandwillbeincorporatedintoPinchMedia’sreporJngsiteinthenearfuture
• AnyapplicaJonusingouranalyJcslibraryandacJvelysendingindatagetsaccesstoallecosystem‐widereporJngforfree
• PinchMediawantstoknowwhatelseyouwantbakedintothisreporJng
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
QuesJons?
Youcanalwaysreachmeat:[email protected]
215‐837‐3447
Ifyou’vegotatechnicalquesJon,[email protected]
enJrecompany.
Youcanseeademoatdemo.pinchmedia.com,orjustgetstartedatdeveloper.pinchmedia.com.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009