Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is officially launching search ads on its Play store. The company had done a beta launch for the ads in February for select entities. Now when users search for anything in the Play store, in the search results there would be results sponsored by the developers.
Trading ads on its store could be a gold mine for Google. The organization already rakes in enormous amounts of revenue each year mainly from advertising on YouTube and web search.
Apart from the search ads, Google is to introduce a new method for advertisers to monitor their ROI using “Android first app opens”. Google will monitor when a user initially opens an app after selecting an ad and finishing an Android app install. If Google discovers that people are actually utilizing the apps downloaded as a result of its new Play Store ads, Google will be generating more revenue from them.
Developers’ reactions to Google’s latest strategy ranged from enthusiasm to the opinion that it would help the strong and adversely affect the weak. Small and medium development companies will be unable to afford the new ads. As a result, their search results will be hidden under a huge pile of paid results.
Developers get the opportunity to put their products and services at a strategic location on the Play Store analogous to placement of ads on Google searches. The difference is that sponsored advertisements can have a description attached or call to action.
Initial testers for this program included organizations such as Booking.com and Nordeus, who have already been promoting their apps utilizing these ads. Those organizations aren’t sharing the results of their efforts presently. However, Nordeus’ CMO, Tomislav Mihajlović, mentioned that his company was harnessing the apps to reach “high-quality” users.
Google’s move may inspire others to follow suit and herald a new and rapidly growing revenue stream.
Sources: businessinsider, engadget
