What’s your experience with Reddit ads?
I threw $100 at Reddit ads and will let you know what the results are. Probably nothing. It will give me only 133k impressions with probably very low CTR.
Whenever I finish my new game I will put some money on red it and see how it performs. Then I will let you know.
First data is in and I have 0.2% CTR. You are paying for impressions so it’s money completely lost. I have spend 3.5$ to get 10 clicks for now. But that is clicks, not installs. I think it’s better to use AppBrain unless you have a very Reddit-oriented app (cats gone wild or something like that 
).
Well $3,50 and 10 clicks is really not representative, you probably have to spend a few hundred bucks before you can draw any conclusions.
There are some blog with positive reviews of reddit’s ads, however most of them fail to provide Google Analytics stats about actual installations, so that would be the interesting part.
But even if you end up with $0.5 per engaged user, it would still be a win imho, considering that appbrain isn’t really cheaper for Top Tier countries and that I feel their fraud rates are significant.
Well, the CTR stays at that low level after a few more hours, so I don’t expect it to rise. 28 clicks for $10,47 right now meaning $0.35 eCPM.
I agree though that:
- it is too early to say,
- $0.35 would be not bad if those clicks were installs and users were from top tier countries
I suppose people see “play.google.com” domain, so they know what to expect when they click…
Put your Amazon link, all people love Amazon and click way more often.
That click to Amazon store would get me much though since I want downloads on Google Play for the first 30-day period to boost it in top new free. Anyway the campaign ended with 290 clicks for $100. The ad displayed 133k times.
Hard to tell how many installs. I had to use google play link so the google play domain showed up beside the link, so no statistics (unless there is a way to check on developer console? I probably shoud have put a referer or something at the end of the link, shouldn’t I?).
You paid almost $0.35 / click (which doesn’t mean installs) and CTR = 0.22% Way too low.
You would get better results in a PPI campaign in appBrain / AdMob. For the same $100 you would get 285 installs if you paid $0.35/install.
Better yet, you could use the services from this thread to get up to 1050 installs for the same $100.
One can say that these 1050 installs won’t remain and that you will lost all users day after the install and that the 285 are genuine users that were interested in your game / app. So what? it means nothing when our target is to boost the download numbers (also just because someone was interested in your game/app it doesn’t mean it will remain interested in it after it tries the game/app).
Once you made a test with reddit ads I won’t do it. I know for sure it won’t work 
Good luck.
Yeah, I think too little people are interested in Android games there. Maybe if I were to target some specific subreddit (but they get too little traffic).
I am doing AppBrain promotion at the same time and I get installs from some European countries for the lowest $0.20 setting.
Have you tried the service I told you?
I did and I liked it. It will help you boost your download numbers with not so high expense.
No. I am afraid to use such schemes since it’s against Google policy (artificially boosting downloads).
Hi,
I’m not sure what you’re citing here (obviously not Google’s Terms), but incentivized installs are NOT against Google’s Publisher Terms.
For the reference a link to the current terms:
https://play.google.com/intl/en/about/developer-content-policy.html
They reference “fraudulent installs” which are clarified later:
Promotion via deceptive ads on websites, apps or other properties, including simulated system, service, or app notifications or alerts.
Promotion or install tactics which cause redirection to Google Play or the download of the app without informed user action.
Unsolicited promotion via SMS services.
Regards,
“Don’t try to manipulate ratings—Do not engage in attempts to manipulate the ratings, reviews, or ranking of your apps, either directly or indirectly, or by manipulating the ratings of your competitors. Do not attempt to artificially boost reviews, ratings, or installs through any means.” - emphasis mine
Thanks for your link, that’s quite interesting, although your link is not the official Google Play Terms.
It looks like they forgot to update their developer documentation since 2010, when they first prohibited enforced/incentivized ratings.
However, the actual and official terms you agree to when publishing in the Play Store - which I linked in my last post - (yours is “just” the developer documentation) have been revised multiple times.
Your quoted sentence has been removed a while ago from the terms as it arguably might also have included any form of advertising.
Later on, they removed the term “artificial” entirely from their terms, probably because of it’s vague meaning.
Instead all forbidden actions were expressed clearer and explained in detail.
You should revisit the Publisher Terms you agreed to, they differ in some details from the developer handbook.
Regards,
“Developers must not attempt to change the placement of any Product in the Store, or manipulate any product ratings or reviews by unauthorized means such as fraudulent installs, paid or fake reviews or ratings, or by offering incentives to rate products.” - again, emphasis mine. The policies I posted before just explain in more detail what they mean by that. While artificial might mean also advertisements “fraudulent installs” is quite clear.
PS. It’s from Developer Program Policies which are part of Developer Terms.
Hi,
I don’t want to talk you into anything, I just clarified that the “Google Play Publisher Terms” do not forbid incentivized installs.
Some billion dollar companies like TapJoy and flurry are built upon incentivized installs.
However, I find it quite childish from you to “dislike” my last post and this somehow shows that it’s hard to discuss with you on an objective level.
It was neither an insult nor inappropriate, I just posted some facts and informations about Google’s Terms and their history.
I still wish you much success and have a nice day :).
Regards,
I think we have a little misunderstanding here - I am afraid of the offer in the link because I don’t believe in the “genuine” in the title. So I was talking about fraudulent downloads (artificial, when some Chinese guy installs your app from his 1000 accounts 1000 times) while you were talking about incentivised downloads (like TapJoy) which are of course allowed. It’s my fault for not explaining why I don’t trust that link. I have undisliked your post (I didn’t know someone takes likes and dislikes so seriously too).
PS. As I see you are representing the offer from that link. That explains you fighting for its good name but your definition of fraudulent installs is not in the policy. Your quotation is from different, unrelated part of the policy. What you are quoting as clarification of fraudulent installs is in another section and is just an unrelated explanation of additional app promotion terms.
Reddit ads was horrible for me even though my app was extremely relevant to the sub I advertised in. I got so little clicks it was like throwing my money down the drain
Hi,
okay I think this was a bigger misunderstanding and I was under the impression you were talking about incentivized installs per se and not about our service specifically.
It’s of course your good right to not trust us, there’s many shady offers on the internet :).
I’ve also re-read the terms and I think you got a point there, as the sections are rather counterparts of each other (publishing vs. advertising).
I wonder if we will ever get clear definitions from Google, but since I started with Android in late 2009, there’s been so many revisions to there terms that I doubt it.
Maybe we should stop hijacking this thread with an unrelated discussion, as more insights on Reddit Ads would be interesting after the relatively positive reviews I found on the web ;).
Regards,