From 2019 to 2020: the ever-evolving mobile user acquisition space, as told by Zoomd
The digital world is closing in on us. Whether it’s a daily routine, how we entertain ourselves, or where we shop, we find ourselves increasingly immersed in our mobile phones and laptops, scrolling through or browsing for large portions of our day. Zoomd, a site-search and user-acquisition platform specializing in mobile applications, plays a role in creating that reality. The company was recently recognized by Microsoft as an exceptional data-driven advertising industry leader, and with the new year quickly approaching, we decided to learn from their expertise and deduce what to expect in 2020 for the mobile user acquisition arena, and what worked — and didn’t — in 2019.
Zoomd’s platform manages all user acquisition actions for both mobile app publishers and advertisers. Zoomd also provides online publishers with a site-search solution that is based on advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) and artificial intelligence (AI). During 2019, fraud and privacy issues were two major topics, not only in the news, but also in the mobile user acquisition industry. The year 2019 will always be remembered as a turning point in terms of privacy, with the Cambridge Analytica drama and Mark Zuckerberg testifying to the U.S. senate.
Zoomd noticed a decrease in the value of Facebook due to these media scandals, but most interestingly, the rise of TikTok, a new social platform that is conquering Gen Z’s attention span. For those who don’t know, Tik Tok is basically a combination of Vine and Musica.ly, a free social media app that allows Gen Z to watch, create, and share videos — usually a soundtrack of a top chart hit — right from their phones.
According to Zoomd’s analysis, consumer’s habits are continuously evolving and this year the market understood that volume of users is not as important as quality of users. For this reason, the tendency among the mobile user acquisition space is to shift toward a more results-oriented attitude, keeping existing users more active and engaged when using our apps or products. The goal now, according to Zoomd, is to get users to purchase more, rather than just focusing on attracting more users.
As for 2020, Zoomd expects to see a lot of innovation in the VR field, with more VR/AR content material created by advertisers looking for fresh new ways to get people’s attention. VR headsets are starting to become more affordable, turning into a great tool for better audience engagement in marketing campaigns. VR ads, also known as “immersive content,” allow potential customers to experience how it feels to use a particular product or service, which goes hand-in-hand with the goal of delivering even more personalized content. On the more negative side, fraud will continue to be a major topic in the industry, with more companies trying to fight it or at least understand how to deal with it better.
We’re entering a new decade, with mobile becoming the only tool you need to leave home; from payments to shopping to communicating with anyone, anywhere. We’re leaving behind an era where mobile established itself as the main channel to advertise, and we’re entering a new decade where mobile will definitely become that the one-stop-shop where most aspects of our lives take place.