A example of what the new mobile app ads will look like A example of what the new mobile app ads will look like
Facebook’s is testing a new ad service in its latest attempt to create a new revenue model for mobile. The new ‘Mobile Ads for Apps’ service was announced on the company’s developer blog post recently.
The new ads appear at the top the mobile news feed and when clicked on will redirect the user to the appropriate Apple App Store or Google Play page where he/she can download the app. In the blog post Facebook said: “In the past 30 days, we have sent people to the Apple App Store and Google Play 146 million times, via clicks from channels such as news feed, timeline, bookmarks and App Centre.” With so much traffic coming from Facebook users it is only natural that the social network would try to monetise the opportunity, but blatant ads at the top of a news feed might alienate quite a few customers.
App developers will be able to design and launch their mobile ads from a simple tool within the app dashboard, but it’s not available to everyone quite yet. Facebook said it is ‘beginning to test the ad unit with a limited set of beta partners’ but encourages those wishing to participate to get in touch.
The ad unit will initially charge developers on a cost per click basis, but eventually Facebook will turn to a more lucrative and expensive model where it can charge developers each time their app is downloaded.
At the earning’s call last month, Facebook announced that its new mobile sponsored stories are performing well despite still accounting for a tiny proportion of revenue. Zuckerberg, Sandberg and Co. will be hoping that people will learn to live with this latest interruption in their timelines also.
