Moburst’s Monthly Mobile Marketing Roundup #8
Welcome back to our monthly mobile marketing news roundup, where we give you insights into the latest ASO (App Store Optimization), developers, and MMPs (Mobile Measurement Partners) news & updates for the current month.
In this edition, we’ll delve into Google’s latest advertising formats, uncover Google Play’s Indie Game Accelerator, explore Apple’s updated App Store search engine, and much more.
Mobile News
Google is Developing New Advertising Formats for Its Generative AI-Powered Search
We’ve been keeping up with the latest developments in Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) in recent months. In its newest development, Google is reportedly working on new advertising formats for its AI-powered search engine, which is great news for marketers. This is part of the tech giant’s commitment to enhance user experience and ensure relevant ad content.
The development of these new ad formats takes advantage of Google’s generative AI capabilities, potentially revolutionizing user interactions with search results. One notable example is the possibility of discovering relevant sponsored ads within the SGE.
- This move indicates a significant stride towards personalized and contextually relevant advertising, with potential long-term cost savings for your mobile marketing efforts.
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App Store Updates
New Delivery Metrics for Push Notifications
Apple has recently launched new delivery metrics for push notifications, a feature that offers aggregated insights into notification statuses and statistics. Available data includes a detailed breakdown based on the type and priority of the push notification. This information applies to notifications sent in production through the Apple Push Notification Service (APNs).
Following the initial introduction of the Push Notifications Console at the company’s WWDC23, the launch of this feature accompanied a capability to send test notifications to Apple devices via APNs.
This update is not just relevant for app developers but may also provide valuable insights for those involved in strategizing and optimizing user engagement. By understanding the delivery statuses and other metrics of push notifications, app owners can better comprehend their users’ interaction with their apps. These insights can help refine notification strategies, improve user engagement, and enhance the overall user experience.
Apple’s Upcoming App Store Search Engine Update
Apple is reportedly planning to enhance its App Store’s search engine in a move that could potentially even challenge Google’s dominance in the search space. This project, known internally as “Pegasus,” is being led by John Giannandrea’s search team, who formerly worked at Google.
The upgrade is expected to deepen the integration of the search engine into iOS and macOS, providing users with more comprehensive search capabilities. Apple may also leverage generative AI tools to further refine this search engine, promising improved results and user experience.
- For marketers and app owners, this development could offer significant opportunities. If Apple can successfully build a competitive search engine, apps and businesses could benefit from increased visibility and discoverability within the Apple ecosystem, leading to higher user acquisition and engagement rates.
We will continue to monitor these updates in the coming months.
Google Play Store Updates
Increase Game Downloads on Google Play With the Indie Games Accelerator
Google Play has recently announced the opening of submissions for the Indie Games Accelerator 2024. Indie games, short for independent video games, are typically created by individuals or small development teams who operate outside of major studios in terms of finances and creativity.
The accelerator program is designed for early-stage indie game developers and mobile game marketers, whether they are on the verge of launching a new game or have recently released one.
The selected game studios can participate in a 10-week accelerator program starting in March 2024. This highly-tailored program is dedicated to supporting small game developers from over 70 eligible countries. It includes a series of online masterclasses, insightful talks, and engaging gaming workshops hosted by industry experts.
This Google Play Store Interface Update May Improve App Visibility
Google has been refining its Play Store’s interface as part of an ongoing mission to enhance the Android ecosystem. The latest endeavor involves experimenting with a permanent search bar on the app’s homepage. This experimental feature introduces a hidden functionality flag that keeps the search bar anchored in place while scrolling through the app. Previously, the search bar area, along with the main settings menu and notifications area, would disappear when scrolling. By enabling the flag, the entire action bar area remains fixed, providing convenient access to app updates, facilitating quicker searches for users, and ultimately, increasing app visibility and discoverability.
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MMPs & Developer Updates
Facebook Q1 2024 Open Beta for SKAN 4.0 Update
Meta has announced plans to launch new features for advertisers who opt-in for the SKAN 4.0 open beta, starting in Q1 2024. These enhancements include an Events Manager UI for coarse grain values and an Ads Manager reporting UI for 2nd and 3rd postbacks.
These updates are part of Meta’s ongoing efforts to improve its advertising capabilities and provide more detailed and accurate data for marketers. The added features in SKAN 4.0 could potentially lead to more effective ad campaigns and a better understanding of user behavior. Further details about the opt-in process will most likely be provided closer to the launch date.
Apple Rolls Out New TestFlight Features
Apple has recently introduced new features to TestFlight, its beta testing service, aiming to provide OS developers with more control and insight into tester engagement. The update brings improved controls in App Store Connect, allowing developers to better manage participation and evaluate tester engagement.
Developers can now sort testers by their status and engagement metrics, such as sessions, crashes, and feedback. This allows for a clear view of how testers are interacting with the beta versions of apps and can help identify any potential issues before the app goes live on the App Store.
In addition to this, developers can remove inactive testers who haven’t engaged with the app, ensuring that only active, valuable testers are part of the process. A new feature also allows developers to filter testers by device and operating system and select relevant testers to add to a new group.
Android Studio Unveils An AI-Powered Coding Assistant
Google recently introduced Studio Bot, an artificial intelligence (AI) companion integrated into Android Studio for coding and development purposes. Studio Bot promises to boost productivity by answering Android development queries.
With the help of AI, Studio Bot understands Large Language Models (similar to Google Bard). It empowers developers to ask development questions, generate code, create test cases, update APIs, explore relevant resources, learn best practices, and save time.
However, Google emphasizes that Studio Bot is an early experiment and acknowledges the possibility of occasional provision of inaccurate, misleading, or false information despite the confident presentation. Consequently, Google advises users to independently verify Studio Bot’s responses and undertake meticulous testing and code review to identify potential errors, bugs, or vulnerabilities before relying on it.
To optimize your interaction with Studio Bot, we recommend following these tips:
- Be clear and concise when posing a question, including specific libraries, APIs, or preferred approaches.
- Use simple language.
- Clearly describe the desired answer’s structure. If you require code generated by Studio Bot to be in a particular format for insertion into your app, provide explicit instructions.
- If Studio Bot fails to comprehend your question, attempt rephrasing it or break complex requests into a series of simpler questions. For code-related queries, asking a sequence of simpler questions generally yields more comprehensive answers.
- Before utilizing suggestions from Studio Bot, carefully review them.
In addition to the chat interface, Studio Bot can seamlessly integrate with the development flow, offering several entry points:
- Adding generated code with a single click: Studio Bot displays intelligent actions alongside the generated code, enabling efficient insertion into the open editor or desired libraries.
- Receiving helpful resources: Studio Bot aims to generate original content rather than duplicating existing lengthy resources. For specific topics, Studio Bot offers to open the pertinent documentation page with further information.
- “Ask Studio Bot” directly from your codebase: By selecting text in the code editor, you can right-click and choose the “Ask Studio Bot” action to populate the chat prompt with the selected code. Moreover, Ask Studio Bot also assists in troubleshooting warnings and errors in the code editor.
Currently available for free trial by developers in 170 countries, Studio Bot is expected to gradually expand to more countries and territories, keeping in line with local regulations.
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