Keith Pieper says, “Mobile app advertising has been an ongoing, complex challenge for the ad industry in almost every way. Most notably, mobile apps make it hard to scale a targeted media buy and measure accurately — basically, mobile apps don’t play nice with the adtech ecosystem.

Why native mobile apps hold back advertisers and publishers

Apps you install from the Apple or Google app stores are small, proprietary software applications. App developers must build their apps to the specifications of each proprietary platform (iOS, Android) and have them tested and approved for quality within each store.

While this approach ultimately results in a smooth app user experience, the whole “app store” model is fraught with a few core issues for advertiser and publishers:

  1. App specifications are closely controlled by Apple and Google (less for Android, as the core is open source), so you are at their mercy. For example, each device has a unique “advertiser ID” which is regulated by each company. Everyone knows the limitations and challenges with this.
  2. Apps must be developed twice, once per platform, using different languages and skills — costing you more.
  3. Approval can take weeks and may get rejected. Once again, you are at the mercy of the benevolent overlord in each app store”.

Hold that SDK: Mobile app advertising help is on the way

Marketing Land

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