Adjust data reveals growth opportunities, download behemoths and fraudsters’ favorite targets
As a mobile marketer, you are eager to win globally — but first you need to know about each market, including which countries and categories show the most promise as a part of your acquisition strategy. There are now over 5 million apps available on the App Store and Google Play, increasing user choice while diminishing each developer’s slice of the pie. Greater competition makes it all the more important to stay ahead of your competitors by learning from industry-wide data: which verticals are most susceptible to fraud? Which countries are seeing the greatest growth? We used 7 billion installs and 120 billion sessions to reveal these essentials insights and more in Adjust’s Global App Trends report.
Looking at expanding into new markets? Indonesia offers the greatest opportunity for exponential growth
Our Global App Trends report features a Growth Index that details the varying growth rates from around the world. The report highlights the considerable acquisition opportunities presented in markets such as Brazil, Korea and Malaysia — but it’s Indonesia that firmly takes the top spot.
Although the Growth Index shows a huge disparity between the U.S. and markets such as Indonesia, this doesn’t mean the U.S. has little to offer. Even with the reported stagnation, strategic retargeting ensures that you’re stretching your users’ LTV as far as possible. This presents an opportunity for country-specific strategies: marketing to new users in foreign markets while predominantly remarketing in the U.S. The full report also shows how the Mobile Growth Index looks when filtered per vertical.
Good news for gamers: Casual Games are the most popular sub-vertical in major markets
We found that Gaming performed best in terms of downloads, setting the gold standard in major markets such as the U.S., China, Germany and Japan. Notably, Casual Games and Mid-core games are the most popular sub-verticals across these regions. Communication and Music apps also made it into the top five for at least three major markets.
With the widespread appeal of gaming apps, marketers have additional opportunities to implement in-app advertising. Better yet, it’s widely believed that in-game advertising is more compelling to U.S. consumers than other types of ads. In a recent TapJoy study, a massive 41% of those surveyed claimed to be more likely to pay attention to ads in mobile games rather than internet-browsing (17%) or in magazines (15%).
Bad news for bankers: Dating, Banking and Shopping apps are the most targeted verticals for ad fraud
Adjust’s latest report reveals that Dating, Banking and Shopping apps are the verticals most affected by ad fraud — showing that marketers need to stay vigilant to protect their ad spend and the user experience. We can also determine why this is the case: Fraudsters aren’t concerned about the verticals they target, but they do care about ROI. As LiftOff’s data reveals, verticals are popular targets due to high Cost Per Actions (CPAs).
Particularly when working on a CPA basis, marketers need to be aware that they are more likely to be targeted by fraudsters. Ad fraud is a $4.9 billion industry, and continues to become more prevalent year-over-year. In 2018, Adjust rejected almost 300 million (269,036,991) fraudulent installs. However, this figure only comes from clients who have activated Adjust’s Fraud Prevention Suite. The total number of fraudulent installs could be considerably higher for marketers without preventive measures in place.
There’s no hiding that 2019 is a pivotal year in mobile. With the key takeaways Adjust’s Global App Trends report has to offer, marketers can take another step towards achieving their growth goals for the year. Those who can overcome stagnation in the U.S. and implement preventive measures to stop fraudsters will reap long-term rewards.
Editor’s note: This article was contributed by Niko Thielsch, Sales Director DACH & Nordics at Adjust.
Niko Thielsch is in charge of all sales operations in the DACH & Nordics region for Adjust, a mobile measurement company providing high-quality analytics and measurement solutions for mobile app marketers worldwide. Since joining the company in 2013, he consults clients on the Adjust Mobile Measurement Platform and how marketers can use the technology to run efficient marketing campaigns with a focus on ways to drive installs, increase user engagement, boost results based on user LTV and understand and improve ROI on ad spend.
