http://finance.yahoo.com/news/action-app-corporation-andi-exceeds-160454340.html

Action App Corporation (ANDI) Exceeds 20 Million App Downloads

ST. PETERSBURG, FL–(Marketwire – Jan 22, 2013) – Andiamo Corporation ( PINKSHEETS : ANDI ), announced that it has reached a significant milestone for their business when their 20 millionth App was downloaded.

“Exceeding 20 million downloads really proves that we are a viable company and here to stay and to grow! We have released over 500 Apps which can be found on both the Apple and Android platforms. It is all about traffic and the cross promotion of our Apps within our user base,” said Secor, CEO of ANDI.

Action App performs through both paid and free Apps. Their free Apps have displayed in excess of 200 Million ad impressions, making them a great opportunity for companies wishing to advertise and to enter the App sector with an immediate presence.

Secor further commented, “We will continue to release Apps for iPhone, iPad and Android as we grow our company. Our Apps are well positioned and we look to increase the quality of our Apps as well as our trend of more Apps. Over the last 30 days, 46 of our Apps have ranked in the top 100 in one or more of the App stores around the world, according to appfigures.com.”

About Andiamo Corporation:

ActionApp is currently expanding their popular inventory of apps in rapid fashion across Apple and Android having reached a short term goal of 500 apps in their portfolio, with 1000 Apps set for a longer term goal. ActionApp has exceeded 20 million downloads and is now using that experience to expand into other web and app based opportunities.

www.action-app.com

Safe Harbor Statement at www.action-app.com/statement/

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The introduction of the iPhone and iPod birthed another new industry as mobile application downloads have exceeded everyone’s expectations, this new industry has only continued to grow rapidly as more Apple devices have been introduced including the iPad and others including Google-Android, Blackberry, and  Windows Mobile have also joined the mobile app development community.

A current trend that I have been watching is companies foregoing the development of websites and developing mobile apps in their place. We see that increasingly more people are using their mobile devices to access the web and a desire to be able to save their favorites on their device for easy access which makes converting websites to mobile apps a very viable business model today as well.

Until recently, mobile applications have been built for certain native Operating Systems(OS) such as iOS for Apple or Google’s Android platform, but with the advancement of HTML5 allowing for cross platform universal mobile applications that are web based instead of relying on a native OS, the game is changing quickly.

I believe that the popularity of HTML5 with web based and cloud based mobile applications will be the catalyst that allows Android and Windows Mobile to rise above Apple’s iOS by 2015 as has been projected by industry analysts. The cross platform compatibility of HTML5 mobile apps is exciting for developers because by employing this technology a mobile app developer can develop an app once in HTML5 and it will work on virtually any device which eliminates the need to build an app in multiple operating systems. For the consumer the advantages are desirable as well, with an HTML5 app if you decide to switch from an iPhone to a Droid or vice-versa you will still be able to keep your apps, currently this is not possible.

This is truly an amazing time to live and work in the mobile industry with endless innovations and improvements being continually announced and the opportunity for small start up companies to become multi-billion dollar companies if they are open minded and aggressive and have the courage to take the steps that the pioneers of this industry need to take in order to be leaders in the industry.

In every new industry the early movers are usually the ones who reap the biggest benefit, it has been that way throughout history and the mobile app development industry is no different. If you want to remain relevant in this fast changing sector then you must adapt and evolve, it’s that simple.

Here are a couple of resources for developers:

HTML5 Rocks

HTML5 iPhone Apps

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Mozilla, the giant slayer who took on Internet Explorer with its Firefox browser years ago is back with “Boot to Gecko” to take on mobile industry giants, Apple and Google with help from friends like Microsoft, Facebook, Intel, Verizon and other notable entities in the mobile sector.

At the Mobile World Conference 2012, the companies mentioned above along with virtually every other company in the mobile sector EXCEPT Apple and Google, announced the formation of the W3C Core Mobile Web Platform (Coremob) Community Group. The mission is to bring together original equipment manufacturers, browser makers, developers, and wireless/data providers to agree on certain core features that will “accelerate the adoption of the Mobile Web.” The group wants to make the mobile web as free and open source as possible, a goal not possible in a world controlled by proprietary platforms. Ironically, this is exactly why Apple and Google aren’t involved in Coremob; they each earn fortunes in their own respective PROPRIETARY app stores.

On the device side of the Boot to Gecko model, Mozilla has already forged alliances with Telefonica and Qualcomm to deliver ridiculously inexpensive smart phones to users worldwide, and could grab a large market share quickly in Latin America, where Telefonica is a dominant force.  The group claims that they can deliver fully functional smartphones for a tenth of what an iPhone would cost.

The best way to prevent monopolies and stimulate new ideas and rapid growth is by providing a level playing field and an open environment that shares new developments and upgrades with the rest of the world mobile community. Beta testing has been going on for quite some time with Firefox for Android but with Boot to Gecko Firefox bypasses iOS and Android completely, effectively making the web browser the operating system for the device.

“Developers aren’t willing to rewrite all their apps for yet another proprietary system,” Brendan Eich, Mozilla’s chief technology officer, said in an interview on Monday. “That’s why there won’t be another successful custom operating system after iOS and Android. So the next logical step is to make the Web an OS.” – from CNN Money

Web apps are unrestricted and cross platform compatible which allows them to run on virtually any device that can access the internet including iPhone, Android, Blackberry and their “Boot to Gecko” devices. Now you don’t have to worry about losing all of your apps if you switch to a different phone or OS — web apps go with you wherever you go.

According to mobile industry analyst, comScore in their latest content usage report, the Web is the second most used app on any phone and is only exceeded by text messaging. HTML5, which is the advanced computer language that the web works on, has evolved into an assortment of capabilities that enable the existence of Boot to Gecko.

Currently the technology doesn’t allow web applications to access the phone’s microprocessor which can render some apps such as Angry Birds unusable because of the delays running calculations. With an open system and so many brilliant minds working on the advancement of this technology it is surely only a matter of time before this limitation is erased as well. Facebook Chief Technology Officer Bret Taylor on Monday, February 27, said that the social network is throwing its support behind a standardized mobile payment process to be used by Web applications.

Mozilla’s dream is to create a space that gives you a real native app feel while working on any browser and any device. It is a lofty ambition, but I for one will be cheering them on as one that has been envisioning an open and transparent mobile web which will be the best possible end result for users and developers alike.

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As you begin to get an appreciable amount of downloads you will be able to see what countries outside of your home country are performing best for your mobile application. You can get this data from your iTunes account or from third party providers like App Figures, Distimo or App Annie but regardless of the platform you can get stats like those in the chart below:

Now, armed with this information you can dig deeper and decide which markets are the most profitable for you to go into next. Hopefully you already realize the value in having free and paid apps so you will want to look at ad revenue possibilities as well as paid upgrades, you will find that some countries pay much better than others for the same ad. As you go through this process you will discover certain apps that do better in particular foreign markets which will also help you in the development process of future apps.

In the example above, without going into detailed analysis of paid downloads, ad revenue, etc we would first want to expand into the French market then German and so on. Of course, this is a very simplistic example for the purposes of this post but you get the idea. You want to choose your best performing mobile apps first and expand into the most profitable countries in order so that you get your maximum ROI.

The rest of the world is fascinated by mobile in Japan – but few people really know what’s going on. The truth is, quite simply, mind-boggling. Did you know? McDonald’s Japan mobile site has 16 million registered users (more than 12 percent of the Japanese population) and its m-coupon service is used by 4.5 million. – From Mobi Thinking Guide to Mobile Marketing in Japan

The bottom line is that there is another world of opportunity out there for you to increase your bottom line you just have to expend a little effort and a little investment into having your best performing apps localized for those particular countries.  These companies that specialize in localization not only translate your app titles, keywords, and descriptions but all the way through the app. It only makes sense that if you have a successful app in English that is performing well in Germany then it will do that much better translated for the native language.

For app localization try the companies listed below – I am not recommending them, just saving you some time looking them up!

iBabbleOn

iCanLocalize

As you expand your mobile app development empire be sure that you don’t overlook the low hanging fruit that can be found by simply localizing your apps and getting more business from the exposure and traffic you already have.

Gregg

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If you are an app developer for iOS apps then you have probably received the email from iTunes regarding new image requirements namely that they be “Retina resolution” or above. Now, on the surface to the layman this may seem innocuous but upon further investigation we find that there may be a bigger reason behind the new Apple iTunes image requirements.

From iTunes:

“When you create or update your apps in iTunes Connect, you must upload screenshots that are high-resolution. We require your screenshots as high-resolution images so that your app is optimized for the Retina display.

The requirements for high-resolution images are 960 x 640, 960 x 600, 640 x 960, or 640 x 920 pixels. Images must be at least 72 dpi, in the RGB color space, and the file must be .jpeg, .jpg, .tif, .tiff, or .png. You can update your screenshot files at any time in iTunes Connect.”

I also discovered that you cannot make any other changes to existing apps without upgrading images as well. So, the bad news is that you have to upgrade your images if you intend to do any updates of your existing apps and all future apps must conform. The good news is that it will force all of us on the developer side to offer the highest quality images possible and lets us know the the iPhone 5 is getting closer and closer…

The iPhone 4 was the first of the popular smartphone line to include a retina screen, so it makes sense that if Apple is coming out with the iPhone 5 in  the summer-fall of 2012 the 3GS will probably be phased out soon thereafter. This follows a pattern with Apple as they evolve, hardware that doesn’t support the new technology is phased out to make way for the next “must have device”.

So, what are some of the “alleged features” being introduced in the new iPhone 5 release?

According to iPhone5Latest :

The iPhone 5 will be at least 4G and possibly 4G-LTE – For the less techno, LTE stands for long term evolution and at 12mbps download rate versus 5-6mbps download rate it is considerably faster than regular 4G.

The obvious difference you see from the image above from iPhoneLatest.com is how much BIGGER the iPhone 5 is supposed to be, probably at least 3.7 to 4.3 inch screen! I know for me, that is a biggie. That’s been a complaint of mine about the iPhone from day one.

It is also rumored that the new iPhone 5 will have a better front camera and possible as high as a 10 MP rear facing camera. Pretty cool stuff for those of us that use our iPhones as cameras. I did several months of citizen journalism using my iPhone, uploading images and videos live from the scene – They are phenomenal tools!

More details as we get them -

Gregg

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In the first part of this article, linked to above, we began discussing some the roadblocks and hurtles that impede the success of mobile app developers. In this article we will continue the discussion moving on to monetization methods and how to plug the holes in your income stream that can make the difference between your success or failure in the mobile app industry.

Most mobile app developers fall into the trap of using a “default ad network” such as iAds for iOS apps or AdMob for Android. This mistake can cost you a fortune, especially if you are getting a decent number of ad impressions in your apps. When you are looking at the data from Ad Networks the two main things you want to look at are fill rate and eCPM. The fill rate is the difference between ad requests and actual impressions shown, so for example, if you have a 50% fill rate that means that half of your traffic is seeing ZERO advertising! BIG PROBLEM. eCPM is your earnings per thousand impressions so when looking at your ad network dashboard you will see something like this:

Using the chart above you can see that there were 1,851,727 requests for ads – only 1,492,739 were shown which gives us the 80.61% fill rate. CTR tells you the percentage of clicks on the impressions then you see your eCPM to the right of $1.78 which is lower than I like. Just to clarify why I don’t like iAds or AdMob overall, iAds has abysmal fill rates, less than 60% overall for us and AdMob’s eCPMs have dropped to average well under a dollar. This is why I am all about testing – ABT – Always Be Testing… You may find an Ad Network that will pay you 5 times what your current one is paying plus has a higher fill rate as well.

Another factor in deciding ad placements for your iPhone apps or other mobile applications is the type of ad; eCPMs are much higher for rich text and video but you have to also experiment with how they affect the user experience. You have to watch your downloads, upgrades, and the revenue coming from your Ad Networks and you must constantly make adjustments to maximize your ROI.

The best method for experimenting with the various Ad Networks is to join an Ad Mediator such as AdWhirl, Smaato, or MobClix which will allow you to allocate percentages of your traffic across multiple Ad Networks. This is what helps you get closer to the 100% fill rate we all want. Say you choose three different networks using AdWhirl as your mediator, you allocate 50% to network one, then 25% each to networks two and three. Next you go to backfill priority, set the network with the highest eCPM as priority 1, then do the same for the others. This will not only help you max your fill rate so you are showing as many ad impressions as possible but it will also allow you to test numerous ad networks so you are getting the most profit per app possible.

Fill rates and eCPMs vary greatly across ad networks, individual apps and even from day to day sometimes so you must have someone who understands how advertising works and knows how to optimize and manage this aspect of your business. This is an ever changing landscape and you need to be cold and calculating when it comes to managing this aspect of your business. You will have reps try to offer you incentives for using their Ad Network, a problem that will only get bigger the more the industry grows. The only data you need to look at is your daily revenue, your eCPMs and fill rates to decide which networks you keep and which ones you dump. Always test different ad types such as banner ads, rich media, and video.

One more revenue source I want to mention that can help you earn more revenue is LinkShare which can be a huge source of revenue for you if you do it right. All of your apps in iTunes will have an affiliate link, even the free ones! When someone clicks a link for your app even if they don’t download it, there is a “cookie” put on their device that will earn you 5% commission on anything they buy in the iTunes Store for the next 72 hours. Starting to see the benefit of promoting your apps using your iTunes affiliate link?

I hope that you found the information helpful, if so share it with your friends on Twitter and Facebook. The information I just gave you will save you thousands in lost revenue and a mobile app consulting firm would probably charge you thousands for the tips I just gave you for taking the time to read our blog.

Gregg

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One of the BIGGEST mistakes fledgling, would be app developers make is trying to be the “winning horse” right out of the gate. Humans aren’t without ego and THIS is ALL ego. The need or desire to create the “next big app” will end your dreams of being a mobile app developer before they even begin. Some of the mobile app developers making solid consistent revenue are doing it with mobile apps that you most likely have never even heard of. That’s right, you DON’T have to be the next “Angry Birds” or Temple Run” t o do well in the mobile app industry.

There are numerous ways to make money from mobile applications besides charging for downloads which we will touch on later in this article. Start small, if you don’t know how to program then post on sites such as eLance, Rent a Coder, and Freelanced to find developers who can build your first inexpensive apps. You really need to watch your budget here and my suggestion is to begin spending as little as possible until you have some success. Try to stay well under $500 for your first apps until you can get them to market and find out if you are going to make any revenue from them or not. With that said, I feel like success in the mobile app sector is a numbers game so the more apps you can get out there, the more opportunity for them to be popular and profitable.

Have you ever heard this quote? “You have to walk before you can run”

This is so true for the mobile app market as well. You will find it far easier to create the dream app you would like IF you have a solid income backing you up before you go after it. The way to build a solid mobile app business is the same as any other, first you have to build a foundation. Now, let me dispel any myths of what a foundation means. It isn’t a huge building, it isn’t money, it isn’t even a grand idea for the next big thing – The foundation for your business is the people you surround yourself with, your team. A big building will just be an empty shell without a team and money will come and go without the right people in place to begin with. The ability to let go of your ego and hire people even smarter than yourself to do the things that you do not know how to do, or don’t have time to do is the key to success in ANY market.

The next big issue in my opinion, is accountability. Regardless of whether you are developing apps yourself, have an in house team, or you are outsourcing you must set clear goals and projections as well as set deadlines that MUST be kept. One part of the team that doesn’t do their job affects the entire company, this is why it is crucial to hire people that can share your vision instead of people with a “worker bee” mentality. If you hire talented creative people and pay them a solid base with profit sharing then they have a vested interest in the success of the company, they aren’t just an employee anymore. Accountability applies to you too, I don’t ask anyone in our company to do anything I am not willing to do and you should set the example. I ask myself at the end of everyday, “Would the company be successful if everyone worked like I did today?” – IF, you can’t answer yes, then you need to have a heart to heart talk with yourself…

Okay, now let’s assume you make it to the point where you have an app or a few apps with a decent amount of downloads and active users. Here’s the next quagmire for mobile app developers:

How to monetize mobile apps for maximum return on investment – ROI

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I try to write interesting and informative posts for you in addition to alerting you when we have updates coming etc. We have all been incredibly busy after a very positive quarter and we have numerous new apps awaiting approval in iTunes currently as well as updates to our current apps with many new features.

We have begun integration of the two mobile app developers we bought; part of the new apps mentioned above are representative of one of the buy outs. When full integration is completed we will have an inventory of over 500 mobile apps in iTunes alone and we will be well on our way to ONE of our goals, 1000 mobile apps in the iTunes Store… We will also continue on with deploying our most successful mobile apps across Android and will also begin building applications for Windows Mobile which is projected to overtake even iOS by 2015.

As Action App’s Chief Marketing Officer, I have also been as always, managing every aspect of revenue for each application on a daily basis and we are seeing constant and steady improvement every month.  This is an area that is often neglected by many mobile app developers and publishers but it is crucial to the success of any mobile developer. See the article I wrote recently on the subject of optimizing mobile ad networks… Here’s a hint for other mobile app developers and publishers from months of ad testing, give Millennial Media a shot with video enabled ads – it can get you much higher eCPMs and fill rates than AdMob or iAds at this point…

“We have a great deal of experience in this exciting sector of the mobile industry that is growing and changing on a moment by moment basis…”

We always use the analogy of “eating an elephant”, when we talk about our goals and the business model we have set in place. Like an elephant, it is a huge plan we have envisioned, but we have to eat “our elephant” one bite at a time as well, beginning with what creates revenue first and foremost.

Whether you are an app user or an investor you will be pleased to see all of the new updates and additions we have coming in the coming days and weeks as we begin rolling out new mobile applications for iOS and Android as well updating our current inventory. We will also begin identifying most popular countries outside the U.S. for localization services to translate our top mobile apps into the top performing countries.

We are working on several exciting projects that will keep all of us incredibly busy for the rest of the year for sure, so bear with us as we grow and keep watching for new apps and ideas from Action App.

Now Let’s go, Hurry up and build an empire!

Gregg

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Safe Harbor Statement

This press release may contain forward-looking statements covered within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements relate to, among other things, plans and timing for the introduction or enhancement of our services and products, statements about future market conditions, supply and demand conditions, and other expectations, intentions and plans contained in this press release that are not historical fact and involve risks and uncertainties. Our expectations regarding future revenues depend upon our ability to develop and supply products and services that we may not produce today and that meet defined specifications. When used in this press release, the words “plan,” “expect,” “believe,” and similar expressions generally identify forward-looking statements. These statements reflect our current expectations. They are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, changes in technology and changes in pervasive markets

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How many people go running around town with a PC or even their laptop with them everywhere they go? Even Appleheads don’t carry their iPads EVERYWHERE, but they won’t go to the bathroom without their iPhone! My point is that everyday our world and our lives are becoming more mobile optimized and smartphone users are driving rapid evolution in this relatively infantile industry. When you are driving around town looking for a place to eat or have a few beers, what do you do? You pull out your phone and pull up and app like “Around Me” and search for what you are looking for. No yellow pages, no 411, you open an app and find what you want and you call or go there, don’t you?

Okay, now that we got that out of the way…

It’s no secret that the Unites States is behind the curve as far as mobilization is concerned. Mobi thinking recently penned a post entitled “The Mobile City Project” - in this post the contributing authors share some of the world’s most mobile-centric cities based upon a set base of criteria such as 3G subscriber penetration, mobile data service subscriptions, high speed broadband and more. Where maximum user penetration of multi media capable devices is concerned, Tokyo, Japan leads the rest of the world with an amazing 99% of the city’s citizens being equipped with mobile devices that allow them to engage in multi media activities such as downloading music and watching videos as well as making mobile payments.

However, the market is changing quickly and in 2011 over 85% of all handsets sold were capable of mobile web browsing with smart phones showing the most growth in this segment of the mobile industry. Many mobile users ONLY access the web via a mobile device and either rarely or never go online on a desktop, laptop, or even a tablet. Even in the U.S. over 25% of mobile web users are mobile only and this figure is growing larger all the time. Look around the next time you are out at the mall or a movie theater where lots of kids are around, you’ll see all of them on their phones surfing the web, watching videos, getting on Facebook and playing with apps on their iPhone or Android phone. These kids are YOUR future if you own a business that markets to consumers or even business to business.

If you haven’t built a website yet, don’t fret, you can still escape going the way of the dinosaur, VHS, long distance, and the desktop by finally waking up and realizing that the world has gone mobile and it is only going to become more prevalent. In the near future you won’t even have to pull out a debit card to make a payment, you will simply scan a code with your phone to make a payment. Imagine how much it would lower your customer acquisition costs and increase customer retention by having your own mobile app that you can display at your point of sale to allow your customers to stay in touch and vice versa. Most customers surveyed want a close interaction with establishments they frequent, they want to hear from you and it will only benefit your business to offer such services.

Between now and 2015 the mobile industry will change in ways that even many of us who work in the industry everyday will not see coming. New programming languages such as HTML5 are changing the way that apps are being written with the ability to write code for mobile applications that are cross platform compatible like some of the new apps we are releasing soon written in Unity 3D and GameSalad.

It’s your choice, either get in the mobile game or go ahead and prepare to hang a for sale or out of business sign on your door. You have a couple of years to get your mobile act together and your competition has access to the same information you do. One of our new divisions, All Pro Apps, was created to help businesses create and maintain their own mobile app and mobile web presence as well as send SMS text messages to their customers. We are committed to the mobile industry and our aggressive and innovative team is constantly finding new ways to increase our footprint in this exciting sector.

Gregg

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Safe Harbor Statement

This press release may contain forward-looking statements covered within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements relate to, among other things, plans and timing for the introduction or enhancement of our services and products, statements about future market conditions, supply and demand conditions, and other expectations, intentions and plans contained in this press release that are not historical fact and involve risks and uncertainties. Our expectations regarding future revenues depend upon our ability to develop and supply products and services that we may not produce today and that meet defined specifications. When used in this press release, the words “plan,” “expect,” “believe,” and similar expressions generally identify forward-looking statements. These statements reflect our current expectations. They are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, changes in technology and changes in pervasive markets

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Everyone wants to create the next “Angry Birds”, but the reality is that the big hits are few and far between so the savvy developer knows to spread his exposure out over larger numbers of applications that ALL make a little revenue with the potential that there will be a few that make good income for you. When you approach your business this way it gives you a base to work with and then you have a net to fall into while you are walking the tightrope of developing that next MONSTER APP!

Successful mobile app publishing requires that you do not put all of your eggs in one basket, which means you neither put all of your capital into one app, nor do you allocate all of your traffic and impressions to one Ad Network. I go into this is more detail in this post, “Why Set and Forget Will Kill…” You must constantly test because as the Ad Network’s inventory of advertisers and available ads is constantly changing as fast as everything else in this fast paced and constantly evolving industry.

Mobile app developers and publishers who want to have a successful and long lasting business must be open to changes but at the same time must be able to differentiate between ideas and opinions that are valuable and actionable, meaning that the time and cost required to implement them results in an acceptable increase in return on investment or ROI. You can get good information from your users and also from investors if you are a public company, BUT, you have to remember not to let the “tail wag the dog” – there is a good reason why football fans aren’t calling the plays for NFL football teams and the same applies here – if you let investors run your company then they can ruin your company as well.

Hire talented people to help you accomplish your mission and only hire people that you can trust to do the job you hire them for. As you grow as a mobile developer you will have to learn to let go of more and more in order to focus on the details that will make you or break you as a mobile app developer. Developing an application is one thing, monetizing it is quite another animal altogether which is why employing someone who is competent and adept at analyzing data from your users, ad networks, etc is crucial to your ultimate survival as a mobile app developer in the future.

The difference in eCPM and fill rates from one ad network to another can mean the difference in whether you can afford to grow or even maintain operations. If a network is only getting a 50% fill rate and you are sending them a million impressions a month, 500k of them are effectively going in the garbage – you are earning nothing on them. You need to get as close to 100% as possible, I haven’t found one yet that can give that but if you test properly you can optimize each app for each ad network that will give you the highest percentages. I have seen variations across different Ad Networks of fill rates from 20% to 90% and eCPMS have varied from .50 to over $2.00 – NOT paying attention to that can cost you a fortune, it can also cost you your business.

I’ll write more on this subject in the future but in closing just remember that this is a new frontier we are in and you must constantly test to be sure you are optimizing revenue for each mobile application you bring to market, unless you are some mega rich philanthropist who has a thing for giving away mobile apps, but if you were you probably wouldn’t be reading this…

Gregg

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