Application monetization

Good afternoon! You are on the game developer's blog page. My name is Vyacheslav. I share my experience and today we have an intimate article dedicated to a rather extensive topic - app monetization.

Article content:

• Mobile app monetization
• Monetization examples and basic techniques
• How to make money on games
• How much do mobile apps earn
• App monetization methods

Mobile app monetization

It is important to work out monetization even before the full formation of the terms of reference. Understanding how and on what you will earn money will form the basis of development and, as a result, monetization itself will better designed.

Monetization examples and basic techniques

Whichever way you choose to monetize, remember the important tricks that drive that extra touch.

• Discounts and one-time promotions.
• Example: Buy our Hogs of War II app and get a second Cut the Rope app for free.
• Give decorative items and decorations.
• Example: Happy March 8th! A free gift awaits you - the Queen's diadem. Click to get it.
• Remind you about a limited period of special conditions.
• Example: Until the end of the new year, there is a special offer - all Cut the Rope levels for $1
• Events and themed quests.
• Example: The quest "Merry Christmas" is started in the kingdom. Collect all the hares and get a reward.

App monetization methods

In order to monetize an application, you must have an audience. In principle, no matter what you do, but if you have an audience that you keep, you can always make money from it. Absolutely anyway. In general, there are many ways to make money on a game or application. Let's take a closer look at the main ones:

In-App Purchases

As a rule, in-app purchases are found in free or shareware applications. Experienced developers know how to make money on apps, so they don't sell anything that affects the gameplay. with energy or lives and buying premium accounts.

Premium Accounts/Subscription

One of the most popular ways to make money on your application or game. You leave the choice to the client. Pay for a subscription and get faster development (experience) for a monthly premium account payment or achieve everything painstakingly, but be on a par with the rest and most importantly - for free. Usually a premium account costs around $5. According to 4Game, for every thousand players, seventy pay a subscription. It is not difficult to calculate, having an average online of a thousand players / day you will receive $ 350 per month. Another option is to make initially only a paid subscription. If you want to play - pay a monthly fee. The option is only suitable for high-profile projects that have a well-known author. A lot of people will buy a Diablo IV subscription from Blizzard. And no one on myproject.ru from an unknown author.

View ads

It is wrong to consider advertising revenue as the main source. Here's how optional - perhaps. Though of course there are exceptions. As an example, I will give the children's game "Snail Bob" in the App Store. The game is free. Every 60 seconds, an ad window appears that cannot be skipped. The child likes the game and is ready to wait 20 seconds for an advertisement just to play his Bob. But for an adult, after several hundred clicks on the cross that closes the advertisement, it is easier to give $ 1 for the absence of advertising. The developer of this app is what is called killing two birds with one stone. He receives money from advertising, as well as $ 1 for each premium account.

Another example is the War zone strategy in the Play Market. Your task is to rebuild your city and conquer opponents. Each building takes time and the higher the level of your building, the longer it takes to build. But there is a magical team of goblins who come to the rescue and build your building in half the time. These teams can be bought for real ones, or you can watch ads / install some kind of application. The benefit to the developer is obvious. It motivates its users to view ads by getting additional income from them. However, advertising revenue is below average, a little lower I will describe how much you can earn on embedded advertising.

Donations

A rare but interesting form of monetization. Suitable for bloggers, public figures, parties and public organizations.

Paid Apps

According to Apple, the most popular price for an app is $2. In the Play Market - $0.99. In any case, do not set the price higher than $5 - this figure will scare away the Russian buyer, especially in terms of the dollar price of 65 rubles (article written on 01/07/2017).
Sell your app if your content is unique.

Free Trials

Advanced monetization option. You offer your product for free. The buyer downloads it. He goes through several free levels and if he likes the application, he buys it. Works especially well in applications for young children. It is difficult for parents to refuse a baby if they see a smile on his face. More examples are Skype and Yandex disk. Free apps - but you can always pay extra for more space or calls to other countries.

How much do mobile apps earn

The answer is simple: A lot. But only if - if you will also work hard for this. Miracles don't happen. Either you take a quality idea and you are particularly lucky - or you invest money, conduct analytics and control costs. The payback period for applications is 8-12 months on average. Not bad, right? The market is young, but extremely fast growing.  Here are the numbers:

Inline ads

Ads from Unity - will bring you approximately $6 for every thousand views (not impressions). Similar indicators for advertising from Google. Remember, one unique visitor will not be able to see your ad more than twenty times a day. If you work through affiliate networks - earnings there are about twice as much. For each installed application - you can get up to 20 cents. I would like to say separately about affiliate networks, of which there are plenty on the Internet.

The scheme is simple - the Affiliate network enters into an agreement with the application creator, who pays her 20 rubles for each install. Also, the affiliate network finds other app creators, to whom it pays 10 rubles for each downloaded app in their app. Essentially, it is an intermediary. As a rule, the amount of earnings in affiliate networks is higher, so be sure to take a closer look at them, I will not leave links. Push notifications are also classified as embedded advertising. What else I want to say about embedded advertising - use it carefully and do not annoy your players. Insert it where it will not interfere with the gameplay.

Sales

According to Apple, the most purchased apps in the App Store cost $0.99.  Keep this in mind when setting prices in the store.
As for promotion - on average, with the right approach and an experienced marketer, one Install will cost you 10 rubles. This is an average figure - more often it is lower, but I advise you to budget this particular cost. You can read more about mobile app promotion in our article.

How to make money on games

Let's consider a common question: how do you make money on mobile applications. In many ways, it depends on the application platform. I'll tell you about the main three environments:

How to monetize an Android app

After registering a developer account, which costs $25, you can submit the application for moderation. Of the features - in the Play Market it is easier to pass moderation. The cost of an account is cheaper. There are more opportunities for the developer. Therefore, so many applications are made specifically for Android. If you still decide to monetize an Android application, then remember that the audience there is younger and less solvent in terms of the average bill.

How to monetize the Vkontakte app

Browser games have a graphics limitation, namely, you will have to use plug-ins or players. Flash, Unity, WebGL and so on. So not every game can be published on VKontakte, so keep this in mind when developing and drafting the terms of reference.

From the features of Vkontakte applications - an internal currency appears - votes. Your task is to motivate the player to acquire these votes. I think why do this, you already understood from our article.

How to submit an application to the App Store

You need to register a developer account by paying $100 - this is an annual amount. Submit the application for moderation by filling out a description and adding photos. After successful moderation, which can take several weeks, the application is published on the market. After publication, you need to draw up a strategy for promoting games, for example promotion on Youtube

Summary of the article:

• Use basic audience stimulation techniques
• Introduce all possible ways of monetization specifically for your application
• Money from ads
• Connect to partner networks

Well, that's all.
Now you know everything about game monetization.
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