Admob ad campaign targeting specific apps ?

I looked through Admob ad campaign.

Firstly one cannot use one’s earned income (from ad-serving) directly in the Admob ad campaign (maybe Google wants users to add new cash - and not use the admob balances - which could be locked up any time due to a admob/developer controversy - as discussed in some threads here).

Secondly, I could not find a way to target SPECIFIC apps (which may fit your app’s demographic better - thus better results).

But I seem to have heard that it IS possible to do so … so how to do that ?

With AppBrain could one do so ?

Since AppBrain costs $0.20 or so - as reported by some per app download (minimum bid ?).

With Admob you have minimum bid of $0.01 - is this for banner ad views ? (how come developers are not paid for views ? that is if Google can charge for ad delivery - why can’t apps charge for taking up space - after all app is not responsible for quality of ad, it’s demographic targeting etc.)

The model for apps SHOULD eventually be - CPM - which is guaranteed in advance (I guess the Admob eCPM floor beta does that - but even that is not a guarantee but based on Google’s assessment of the effective eCPM for that particular ad as seen from it’s performance thus far).

Or maybe the $0.01 is for clicks ? That would be fairer - but still would be a $10 eCPM effectively (that Google earns) - meanwhile developers see usual $0.50 or lower eCPMs (at 100% fillrate).

i’ve been looking for similiar ad targeting by app installed as well but couldn’t find it. and i’d be shocked if the SDKs weren’t logging the installed apps list.

hit me up if you find something! it’d be sick ROI for specific niches

Yeah, I would REALLY love to be able to target people who have word/puzzle apps installed :confused:

Well, I was hoping to just be able to target by the app (which is showing the ads) on the user’s device.
What you are saying would be even better (in terms of scope) - in that you could target by the apps a user has installed. This is EXACTLY what TapContext is capable of - because they scan the user’s installed apps (they run a virus scan on the app by name it seems - so they have this access).

But I could not find a way to do it with Admob - even though there are webpages which suggest such a thing is trivial to do.
Perhaps it relates to Adsense advertiser accounts more so than a plain Admob account - in whose Ad Campaign setup I could only find geo-targeting and device-specific targeting options as described here:

Here is something about keyword-targeting - but related to app developers signaling Google that “send us ads like this - they will give better click-through”:

They do this by putting the keywords in their app Description section.

So here a developer can add keywords to help get more targeted ads (with presumably better CTR - though not necessarily any different eCPM ?).

But do all app developers fill in the Description part - so that if YOU run a keyword campaign as advertiser you know you are finding the apps you want ?
Usually the Description part is empty if the developer doesn’t fill it in.

What would be great is if Admob used the app’s Google Play Description automatically (if the Site/App has a valid market:// URL).

Google Announces Rebuilt AdMob Developer Tools With Smarter App Promotion, Local Currency Support

So it is possible that admob allows advertisers to target using keywords (via adsense - though I couldn’t find it in the admob Campaign setup).

But there is a real reason why admob may not have (at least simply implemented) ability to target by app etc. - this is because the market:// URL for the app entered in Site/Apps may not actually be an app - as Site/Apps can be fictitious/placeholders as well.

I realized this a bit later while writing this post:
http://forums.makingmoneywithandroid.com/advertising-networks/2009-removing-unpublished-pps-admob-airpush.html#post14173

An example of why it maybe less relevant is that ad networks SUGGEST that you use a separate APP ID for each different app - but DOES NOT FORCE YOU to do so.
So you COULD use same App ID for all your apps (if you don’t care about app-specific stats).

In addition, for stuff like Admob eCPM floor beta you NEED to create a dummy/fictitious Site/App - the mediation is then linked to that “app”. Presumably this is so you can track stats for that (though right now that doesn’t work - can’t see graph for this - maybe fixed later).

So how does an Admob account holder start a ad Campaign to promote downloads of their new app - and add keyword-targeting to better hit the “right” apps/user base ?
Or does one require an Adsense account ?

On the other hand this should be TRIVIAL - if you advertise through TapContext - as they DO HAVE this info (they scan app names for “viruses” when you click on their push notification alerts for viruses).

The only problem is the specific apps you want to target may not be using TapContext (because it is so new). If admob provided this facility - you could be pretty sure (just check the app on AppBrain or use AppBrain Ad Detector to see if the app is using admob - or just from looking at the banner ads you may get an idea if app is using banner ads in the first place).

A possible red-flag for TapContext

While what TapContext is doing is similar to what an App Store app (or Google Play app) does - however in that case the user is aware that the app’s purpose is related to apps installed etc.

With TapContext - a completely unrelated action (ad network etc.) is gaining access to a user’s installed app list - so it can provide targeted ads.

This is similar to Google ads on Google Search - however there the ads are based on search terms the user enters within the browser context (AND more troublingly by Google “profiling” and tracking it’s users).

What TapContext is doing is similar to if Google desktop started scanning users’ hard disks for installed programs - that would certainly be seen as a violation or user privacy (though some impact of that could be reduced if TapContext specified that it collects no user-identifiable info - and apps installed only used for ad targeting etc.).

But I am sure all ad networks are (or should be) looking closely at TapContext - i.e. eyeing it’s potential - it is possible they thought of doing this themselves - but shied away from it because of it’s privacy concerns impact and have more to lose by getting embroiled in such stuff. But aggressive new networks can take the risk.

Admob also doesn’t take your earned ad revenue as payment (perhaps because admob may want to freeze that in event of some excessive-clicking disqualification etc.).

So one needs to ad money separately into Admob (not so on AppBrain - where it is usable - minimum spend it $25 from my looking at the ad setup process - though I haven’t used it yet).

So the unresolved questions are:

  • how does an Admob account holder start a ad Campaign to promote downloads of their new app - and add keyword-targeting to better hit the “right” apps/user base ?

  • does this require an Adsense account (not doable in Admob ?)

  • how easy is it to use Adsense (I haven’t used it)