Looking for feedback from developers who have used advertising

I don't think this has been discussed at length on this forum, however, it's been discussed in detail on other forums.

I've read many of them and very few if any have produced good results. Some have been on FaceBook, blogs, websites, google, etc... most end up not really seeing a difference.

One problem might be ads being blocked. I've heard that on jailbroken devices, ads can be blocked (I haven't confirmed this).

I've also heard stories about ads being paid for but not run fully. For example if you pay for X number of ads, how do you know those ads actually ran.

With old print media, you'd get a proof copy and know how many copies were sold. With hand-held devices, there's really no way of knowing how many ads actually ran.

On the other hand, I've heard about reviews on certain sites that have made all the difference. These are usually sites that address a certain group or have very high volume following.

One last note: Studies show that most apps don't break even and that the budgets are very tight, that might be one of the reasons for lack of sucess.

Getting someone to run an ad after they've lost money on prior ads is going to be a challenge. Once someone develops a point of view, it's much harder to change... esp if the prior ads were expensive.

However, I think one thing that'll help is that the current group of app devs will change. In other words, the people developing apps today, might no be here next year. The turn over rate seems to be pretty high once they realize it's not a gold rush.

Greencardman said:

We probably will target devs who aren't opposed to ads, but at the same time we need a reliable and sound business model. Targeting people who just haven't figured out that ads suck isn't a viable strategy to us. We need to figure out how to make our ads effective and bring devs back because our ads work. We're hoping full page ads work better than banners (likely), and placing ads between content works better than interrupting content (also likely). But beyond those two big things, we're curious about the little things that devs have seen work.

Click to expand...

Based on what I like and don't like, not as a dev but as a web user... I can't stand pop-out or full screen ads. One that I really can't stand is a long loading 30+ second HD video that runs very slow or requires interaction.

I either have an interest in something or I don't... and ad should just let me that something is there and I might have an interest in it. If I have no interest, the ad is not going to change that and it shouldn't try.

I'd suggest you strike a balance: Offer some of what the devs want and some of what the users want. Devs might want you to halt everything and jump to their site with a forced login and credit card number... The users want to enjoy your content... find a balance between them.

Many years ago, NetZero had free dial up internet. A casino run popup ads, about every 10 seconds a new ad would come up. You couldn't even type in a forum because you had to address the popup.

Some now have the volume so high it hurts your ears, so much so that the US Congresses passed a law to address this.

Some have gone to tricks to get you to click on something, the 'X' doesn't close the ad, it loads a site.

People have seen all kinds of tricks, we're tired of tricks and lies.

Find a balance, don't give either side everything they want, focus on getting long term results.