AdMob Unveils Industry First: Download Tracking For iPhone Apps

Marketers looking to score big with iPhone apps will now be able track their success.

San Mateo, Calif.-based mobile advertising network player AdMob has launched Download Tracking for iPhone Applications. 

The caveat here is the tracking is for ads-to-app conversions from the AdMob network - meaning advertisers will be able to track clicks on an ad that lead to a completed download of the advertised application – enabling them to precisely measure their return from advertising on AdMob’s network.

AdMob says it has reach of more than 8.4 million unique iPhones and iPod Touch devices worldwide, as of December 2008.

“Advertisers have been clamoring to get more detailed information from the iPhone App Store and want to use it to maximize the value of their mobile ad campaigns,” says Jason Spero, Vice President and General Manager of North America for AdMob, in a statement.

“AdMob’s new iPhone Download Tracking gives advertisers the information they need to accurately assess marketing effectiveness, including the return from advertising spent.”

Some interesting datapoints have emerged from a test conducted last month that can be applied to others launching branded iPhone apps whether or not they advertise via AdMob, including:

• Free applications have an average conversion rate of 10%, significantly higher than the average 1% conversion rate for paid applications

• Games generally have higher conversion rates than other categories of applications, up to a 100% improvement over non-game applications at similar price points

• The App Store is an effective distribution platform for free applications; the average acquisition cost for free applications is under $1.00, significantly less than average application download costs on the PC Web

The next datapoint I'd like to see - how often the consumer uses each of those iPhone apps, and for how long.

Maybe AdMob can get cracking on that question, too.

Read more, here. And learn more about the Tracker at AdMob's developer Wiki, here.

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