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业内话题:Tapjoy等“下载奖励”广告模式未来何去何从?

发布时间:2011-04-20 20:36:35 Tags:,,,

这已经不是Flurry和Tapjoy等移动服务公司首次因运营模式而遇上麻烦了。

为推广自己的移动广告平台iAd,并限制违反苹果用户隐私条款的第三方服务,苹果在2010年4月份将Flurry的分析系统列入了黑名单。

Tapjoy也并不幸运,它在2010年3月被Offerplay收购(游戏邦注:该公司后来正式更名为Tapjoy),而Offerplay之前曾因在Facebook和MySpace投放欺诈性奖励广告而落下不良的口碑。它最大的客户之一就是社交游戏巨头Zynga,该公司的《FishVille》等游戏也因ScamVille风波而一度被Facebook禁用。从那时起,Tapjoy就开始改头换面,以全新的管理和运营模式活跃在应用领域中。

tapjoy

tapjoy

苹果在改变游戏规则这一点上从来不会滞后,现在也开始向iOS生态圈的奖励性广告行业采取严厉的制裁措施。

据Tapjoy所称,他们提供的服务每天都可促成150万次的下载量,每月可创收3500万美元(游戏邦注:这组数据有可能是用户通过iTunes购买应用的消费金额及其广告营收的总合)。

同样在App Store中推行“下载奖励”服务的公司还包括W3i和Adknowledge,但目前还没有关于这些公司服务的游戏更新版本被苹果拒之门外的消息。

一位业内人士表示:“苹果的这项行动相当让人惊讶,因为Tapjoy和Flurry这类第三方广告服务已经形成了一个不容忽视的产业。”

Tapjoy和Flurry所获得的风险投资都非常可观。Tapjoy于1月份融资2100万美元,目前总共获得4000万美元资金。而Flurry在2010年12月的第三轮融资中获得了1500万美元,在此之前其融资额已超过了700万美元。他们的这些融资金额主要用于拓展应用搜索和发行服务等项目。

“下载奖励”模式之所以如此流行,其根源在于免费游戏的迅速发展,为刺激用户下载自己的游戏或应用,大小开发商和发行商都向这一领域投入大量市场营销预算,为用户提供游戏虚拟货币。

这种营销方法屡试不爽的原因在于,许多用户都欢迎这种无需花钱,就能获取大量虚拟货币的广告服务,而开发商和发行商也能根据自己在某地区所需实现的下载安装数量,决定自己的营销预算。

苹果很显然并不是很赞成这种曲扭了应用排行情况的做法,不但限制了“下载奖励”的广告模式,而且还调整了App Store的应用排名算法,将其参照标准的重心从下载量转向了用户回访率。

当然,苹果无法从“下载奖励”模式所创造的应用收益中抽成30%,也可能是该公司制定这一决策的重要考虑因素。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,转载请注明来源:游戏邦)

Opinion: Apple’s move to ban Tapjoy and Flurry is incredible

It’s not the first time mobile services companies Flurry and Tapjoy have fallen foul of platform holders who have taken against their business models.

Flurry’s analytics system (amongst others) was banned by Apple, when it decided to shift the goalposts and clamp down on user privacy in April 2010, while working on its own advertising network iAd.

Conversely, Offerplay, which bought Tapjoy in March 2010 and then took its name, had a very bad reputation for its incentivisation methods on Facebook and MySpace.

One of its biggest clients was Zynga, which had games such as FishVille pulled from Facebook in a debacle called ScamVille. It’s since cleaned up its act, with new management and business models.

Who’s the daddy?

Never slow when it comes to changing the definition of its rules, Apple is now taking an similarly stern approach to the incentivisation industry on iOS, something – if Tapjoy’s figures are to be believed – is a substantial business.

Pushing 1.5 million downloads daily, Tapjoy claims it’s generating $35 million per month; presumably that’s a gross figure which takes into account user purchases through the system/iTunes and advertising revenue.

As well as Tapjoy and Flurry, other companies operating in the space include W3i and Adknowledge although we’ve not yet had confirmation that any games using those systems have had updates rejected.

“This move is quite incredible, given the size of Tapjoy and Flurry’s business,” one insider told PocketGamer.biz.

Both companies have raised significant amounts of VC money. Tapjoy raised $21 million in January, bringing its lifetime total to $40 million, while Flurry’s third round in December 2010 raised $15 million. It had previously raised over $7 million.

These most recent sums were specifically generated on the potential of such mobile app discovery and distribution services.

Pay to play

The reason this sector has grown so fast is due to the explosion in freemium games, with companies big and small spending their marketing cash to encourage people to download their apps and games in order to get currencies in games they are already playing.

It works because it’s the easiest way for players to generate large amounts of in-app currency they would otherwise have to buy with real money, while developers and publishers can spend a fixed amount of cash by deciding how many installs they want to buy, and in which territories.

It’s my party

Apple clearly isn’t happy this activity is skewing the chart positions of apps, mainly free.

Not only is it now banning games that use these methods when updates are submitted, it’s also tweaked its App Store algorithm to minimize the importance of a download while increasingly the value of regular interaction with the game.

Of course, the fact that revenue generated by the per install business isn’t funneled through the App Store so Apple can take its 30 percent cut will be another factor in the company’s decision.(source:pocketgamer


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