Impact of notification ads

Hi, guys,

I’m new here and sorry if you already discussed this topic.

I would like to know your opinion about notification ads. Many users seem to hate this category of ads and, in my apps, it is one of the main reasons for bad ratings. Many users think it a virus (and worse, write reviews saying it!). Probably most of the uninstalls are due to it.

But, as they represent 80% of my revenue, I can’t remove those ads yet. How do you deal with it?

Vitor

I don’t mind notification ads normally - but I do if they’re badly implemented. An app which pops up notifications twice a day is just ridiculous. I think the most important thing is to choose an appropriate time interval between pushes, so you’re not annoying the user.

To help avoid bad ratings, you could also put in a delay so the first push is a couple of days after your app is installed. You might lose some revenue from the “one day wonders” who uninstall your app quite quickly, but you’ll save that in review ratings.

Another thing to consider - provide an option to disable the notification ads. I haven’t tried this in practice yet, but if you can make it easy to disable ads, some users may choose not to write a bad review. Of course, there are others who will be too lazy and complain anyway :slight_smile: But there’s nothing you can really do about them.

Its a pure spam and every spammer need to be punished, you do not have any rights to put any advertisements outside of app if you do that you are spammer. Phone is a private property of user and you can not exploit that property or any other private property but app is not because user have a right just to use a app but he do not become owner of app or any assets in it so you have all rights to use adds in it!

Come on, if the description clearely states that there are notification ads I don’t see a problem. The user is also agreeing on NOTIFICATION permission.

Ok, let me get on my soapbox :slight_smile:

Easy. Don’t do it in the first place.

This is someone’s phone. You get rights to run your app and provide the user with an experience. That experience may include adverts. But when the user kills your app, your rights END.

And don’t try to pull the "but I have an existing business relationship with the customer, so I can send them spam/notifications/whatever whenever I want. Unwanted communication is - BY DEFINITION - spam!

So please don’t complain that your revenue will go down if you stop spamming…

Now… if the first thing your app did was allow users to opt-out (and that setting was the default) … and allowed users to change the setting in the game. And users STILL chose to accept notification adverts… THEN it would be OK!

But notification advert app users need to do things like “delay first notification for a few days”… so the user cannot connect which app they installed had the notification ads … and other sneaky stuff. Bad! Bad! Bad!

I agree with magnesus. By definition, SPAM is an unsolicited message. If description clearly says that the app is supported by notification ads, user should expect those.
On the other hand, the frequency of notifications is a key issue.
I cant see why the notification ad network I use often asks me to reduce intervals between pushes. In long term this is bad for both of us as we loose users.

If I wanted to be cynical, I would say:

  1. They want more money.
  2. They don’t care about the user experience.
  3. They want more money.
  4. There are always more app developers who will give notification ads a try.
  5. They want more money.

I’ve thought about notification ads in my apps before. I see developers making way more than me even though their app isn’t that good. But in the end I just couldn’t do that to my users. I’d rather make an app that they are happy with and enjoy using and get good ratings even if it doesn’t make much. This is just a hobby, things may be different if I was trying to make a living doing this.

But I also see the point of devs who are very clear in the app description that the app has notifications ads as a way of supporting it. And users still complain. If I were to use them I would state it very clear in my app description. But lets face it alot of users don’t read much of the description, maybe the first line or so. So I would also have a dialog popup on the first run and tell them that this app has notification ads. Give the user 4 options 1) continue using free app with notifications. 2) Pay for the pro version with no notification ads 3) uninstall the app 4) I may also give them a trial period were they can use the app with no notifications and see if they like it. Then they can see if the app is either worth buying or worth accepting notifications. If the app is a quality app that they enjoy using they will either pay for it or accept the notifications after the trial.

I’m sure some people would still complain. But being as clear and honest with them as you can will reduce the amount of people who give you bad reviews. I think if all devs who use these types of ads where clear and not sneaky about it then they wouldn’t have a virus stigma associated with them. They would still be annoying but if the user understood what app was doing it and why, they wouldn’t think an app is hijacking their phone.

Hey guys,

My name is David, and I’m a Business Manager with Appington, the audio ad network for mobile.

Appington has done a lot of brainstorming around serving a high quality gamer/user experience, especially considering the commonly accepted notion that ads are “annoying”. We think that low quality ads may yield short term results, but ultimately drive users away.

We’ve chosen audio as an effective medium for advertising. Here’s how we do it. Our ads average engagement rates between 5-15% percent, and as high as 17%. As you can see from the video, developers can continue to serve whatever ads are already in place: banners, videos and all. Appington ads do not replace, they complement.

Establishing long-term relationships with developers is our priority, so we’re reaching out through different mediums to studios.

Shoot me an email or message with any questions or comments. We sincerely appreciate your feedback.

David Gaballa
[email protected]

David: please realize your very first post here is to hijack a thread on a different topic. You might get a better response creating your own thread.

Hey,

I do apologize for “hijacking”. I’m simply replying to original posters that seem like they may be interested in our service.

In fact, starting my own thread seemed entirely self-serving, but I’m new here so please excuse my malfeasance.

David

+1 to everyone saying we shouldn’t be doing that.

<rant mode on>
This is simply malware. Like it or not, by implementing push ads that advertise other products developer is installing malicious software on users’ phones. I would never ever implement it in any of my apps even if it would make me a fortune. So would stealing users’s bank account passwords or credit card numbers.
<rant mode off>

The way to make money is to create something users will like and use and spend time with. Then monetizing by either asking users to pay for it with money of with eyeballs (well, it didn’t sound that scary in my head before I wrote it :slight_smile: ).

There were times where adware was a popular business model for desktop apps. Antivirus SW quickly dealt with it and similar thing will happen for Android. Either by OS itself or by third party app that would deal with that.

Don’t build your business on fraud because you will regret it sooner or later.

I think you may be getting a little carried away.

I do understand how ads can be annoying and not just Push Ads but even in certain cases, banner ads. I don’t like it when they’re too close to the part of the screen that I have to tap.

And I say this not as a representative of an Ad Network that specializes in Push Notifications but as also as a user. You can always just not download apps that do Push Ads. You can always read the reviews and in a lot of cases, they’ll tell you what ads the developer has placed.

And if you do end up downloading such an app, you can always just delete it :slight_smile:

However, to label developers as ‘Spammers’ and to say they should be ‘Punished’ is to some extent amusing and also suggests a very high exaggeration.

Cheers

Let’s make a comparison to PC (because it’s the older business)

Installing a free game. Playing it, closing it.
Now every 20 minutes an ad popup will disturb your work, because you dared to install that app.

I am sorry, but that simply IS spam, because there is no relation to app usage and advertisements - and that’s the end of it :slight_smile:

On the phone it is the same. It may be different with all time running apps like services or wallpapers. There you are using the app really all the time and so it is more legal to display ads during that time.

Assuming, that I am in a meeting and get a “bing”, expecting some sort of important message, but getting an notification ad … come on … really, that is spam. I am not even using the ad-supported app right in that moment and that’s the whole problem WHY it is spam.

The only “legal” reason for me to use notification ads is when the app has no user interface or is running in the background (or running in any way)

Most advertising networks (i.e. Airpush) provide the users with an optout posibility.
So they get to enjoy the app and no longer receive the notification ads.
I belive that the new google play policy now requires devs/ad networks to give the users an optout posibility.