You could say that Flurry, the mobile analytics firm with data-based ad platforms, has a hit on its hands. More than a thousand mobile app publishers have signed up in the past three weeks to become part of Flurry’s AppSpot, a data-powered app ad platform.
Flurry AppSpot is a monetization platform for applications with advertising revenue models. The platform handles the ad serving, ad network mediation, targeting technology and results reporting among other features. The service combines Flurry’s analytics for mobile devices with an app advertising platform that enables publishers to organize and enable access to their audiences in ways that advertisers want to target and buy.
For example, a large brand launching a new product that targets business travelers in the U.S. can have that audience aggregated by Flurry’s AppSpot advertising platform, across its publisher network. Because the advertiser is reaching a more tightly targeted audience, it’s willing to pay more per user. For the publisher, this means more revenue per advertising impression. Flurry claims they drive higher publisher eCPMs due to their sizable data set, gathered from Flurry’s analytics data, which tracks more than 60 billion user sessions a month across 250,000 apps on more than 700 million mobile devices
“We were stunned at how much response we had,” said Simon Khalaf, chief executive of San Francisco-based Flurry.
Revenues for the first 500 applications that are live are very strong, Flurry said. An average effective cost per mille (eCPM) is $5.80 across various types of ad formats, such as banners, video ads, or interstitials. That is twice the industry average for eCPMs based on a recent study of iOS and Android by Opera.
StarMaker, developer of apps for the hit television shows The Voice and American Idol, said it used Flurry AppSpot for both higher eCPM ads and for the flexibility to optimize their ad revenue across their networks and direct advertisers.
“AppSpot is delivering exceptional eCPMs for us,” said Willy Pell, Starmaker’s director of engineering. “We also loved the incredibly responsive integration support that made all the difference for us to get up and running quickly.”
Flurry says that publishers can generate significant ad revenues directly from advertisers or indirectly through mobile ad networks and trading desks. AppSpot allows publishers to package up and deliver the right target audiences to each advertiser. And that enables publishers to capture their share mobile app ad market, which could hit $2 billion in 2012.
“The adoption rate of Flurry AppSpot has exceeded our highest expectations,” said Rahul Bafna, Flurry senior director of product management. “Even better, the strong early revenue performance on the platform demonstrates Flurry’s ability to optimize advertising inventory across direct channels, network and trading desks with advanced targeting can make a material difference for the mobile advertising industry.”
MobilityWare, a developer of card games for iOS and Android, uses Flurry AppSpot for their ad monetization. They found that the targeted ads from AppSpot delivered eCPMs more than two times higher than ad networks they had been using for the same inventory.
“We’re excited about using AppSpot to establish our direct sales channel,” said John Libby, president of Mobilityware. “Numerous advertisers have approached us about running targeted campaigns to our audience, which skews female. With AppSpot, we can deliver what these advertisers want. While we initially chose AppSpot for better-performing ads, we’re blown away by how AppSpot can help us grow our business.”