Six years ago, Cheetah Mobile began as a small company of ten employees that built softwares for PCs. Today, they’re one of the world’s leading developers with over one thousand employees. Their popular apps Clean Master and Battery Doctor have been downloaded by millions around the world.
“What we also enjoyed is seeing the speed at which AdMob is innovating, delivering new features. One good example is the support for native ads.”- Charles Fan, Chief Technology Officer, Cheetah Mobile
The problem
With a growing user base, Cheetah Mobile needed a partner to help them expand to the global market while monetizing their apps.
The solution
Cheetah Mobile turned to Google as their first partner, using AdWords to drive downloads and AdMob to increase revenue from their apps.
The results
Within three years, Cheetah Mobile saw its user base grow 16X with 600M active users. 74% of their users came from outside of China and after implementing native ads for its popular Battery Doctor app, Cheetah Mobile saw its revenue increase 4X.
To check out other success stories, visit us at the AdMob website. Until next time, be sure to stay connected on all things AdMob by following our Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ pages.
Eighteen months ago, Firebase joined Google. Since then, our backend-as-a-service (BaaS) that handles the heavy lifting of building an app has grown from a passionate community of 110,000 developers to over 450,000.
Our current features -- Realtime Database, User Authentication, and Hosting -- make app development easier, but there’s more we can do, so today, we’re announcing a major expansion!
Firebase is expanding to become a unified app platform for Android, iOS and mobile web development. We’re adding new tools to help you develop faster, improve app quality, acquire and engage users, and monetize apps. On top of this, we’re launching a brand new analytics product that ties everything together, all while staying true to the guiding principles we’ve had from the beginning:
Developer experience matters. Ease-of-use, good documentation, and intuitive APIs make developers happy.
Work across platforms. We’ll support you whether you’re building for iOS, Web, or Android.
Integrate where possible. Firebase has one SDK, one console, and one place to go for documentation and support. You can mix-and-match any of our features and, where it makes sense, data flows between them to help you do more, faster.
Introducing Firebase Analytics
Firebase Analytics is our brand new, free and unlimited analytics solution for mobile apps. It benefits from Google’s experience with Google Analytics, and features some new capabilities for apps:
Firebase Analytics is user and event-centric and gives you insight into what your users are doing in your app. You can also see how your paid advertising campaigns are performing with cross-network attribution, which tells you where your users are coming from. You can see all of this from a single dashboard.
Firebase Analytics is also integrated with other Firebase offerings to provide a single source of truth for in-app activity and through a feature called Audiences. Audiences let you define groups of users with common attributes. Once defined, these groups can be accessed from other Firebase features -- to illustrate, we’ll reference Audiences throughout this post.
Develop Faster with Messaging, Storage, Config
To help you build better apps, our suite of backend services is expanding.
Google Cloud Messaging, the most popular cloud-to-device push messaging service in the world, is integrating with Firebase and changing its name to Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM). Available for free and for unlimited usage, FCM supports messaging on iOS, Android, and the Web, and is heavily optimized for reliability and battery-efficiency. It’s built for scale and already sends 170 billion messages per day to two billion devices.
One of our most requested features is the ability to store images, videos, and other large files. We’re launching Firebase Storage so developers can easily and securely upload and download such files. Firebase Storage is powered by Google Cloud Storage, giving it massive scalability and allowing stored files to be easily accessed by Google Cloud projects. The Firebase Storage client SDKs have advanced logic to gracefully handle poor network conditions.
Firebase Remote Config gives you instantly-updatable variables that you can use to tune and customize your app on the fly to deliver the best experience to your users. You can enable or disable features or change the look and feel without having to publish a new version. You can also target configurations to specific Firebase Analytics Audiences so that each of your users has an experience that’s tailored for them.
In addition, we’re continuing to invest heavily in our existing backend products, Firebase Realtime Database, Firebase Hosting, and Firebase Authentication. Authentication has seen the biggest updates, with brand new SDKs, and an upgraded backend infrastructure. This provides added security, reliability, and scale using the same technologies that power Google’s own accounts. We’ve also added new Authentication features including email verification and account linking. For Hosting, custom domain support is now free for all developers, and the Database has a completely rebuilt UI. We’re working hard on other great Realtime Database features, stay tuned for those.
Introducing Test Lab and Crash Reporting
We’re adding two new offerings to Firebase to help you deliver higher quality apps.
When your app crashes, it’s bad for your users and it hurts your business. Firebase Crash Reporting gives you prioritized, actionable reports to help you diagnose and fix problems in your iOS or Android app after it has shipped. We’ve also connected Crash Reporting to Audiences in Firebase Analytics, so you can tell if users on a particular device, in a specific geography, or in any other custom segment are experiencing elevated crash rates.
Cloud Test Lab, announced last year at Google I/O, is now Firebase Test Lab for Android. Test Lab helps you find problems in your app before your users do. It allows for both automatic and customized testing of your app on real devices hosted in Google data centers.
Grow Your App with Notifications, Dynamic Links, and More
After you’ve launched your app, we can help you grow and re-engage users with five powerful growth features.
Firebase Notifications is a new UI built on top of the Firebase Cloud Messaging APIs that lets you easily deliver notifications to your users without writing a line of code. Using the Notifications console you can re-engage users, run marketing campaigns, and target messages to Audiences in Firebase Analytics.
Firebase Dynamic Links make URLs more powerful in two ways. First, they provide “durability” -- links persist across the app install process so users are taken to the right place when they first open your app. This “warm welcome” increases engagement and retention. Second, they allow for dynamically changing the destination of a link based on run-time conditions, such as the type of browser or device. Use them in web, email, social media, and physical promotions to gain insight into your growth channels.
Firebase Invites turns your customers into advocates. Your users can easily share referral codes or their favorite content via SMS or email to their network, so you can increase your app's reach and retention.
Firebase App Indexing, formerly Google App Indexing, brings new and existing users to your app from the billions of Google searches. If your app is already installed, users can launch it directly from the search results. New users are presented with a link to install your app.
AdWords, Google’s advertising platform for user acquisition and engagement, is now integrated with Firebase. Firebase can track your AdWords app installs and report lifetime value to the Firebase Analytics dashboard. Firebase Audiences can be used in AdWords to re-engage specific groups of users. In-app events can be defined as conversions in AdWords, to automatically optimize your ads, including universal app campaigns.
Monetize Your App With AdMob
To help you generate revenue from your app and build a sustainable business, we’ve integrated Firebase with AdMob, an advertising platform used by more than 1 million apps. We’ve made it easier to get started with AdMob when you integrate the Firebase SDK into your app. Using AdMob, you can choose from the latest ad formats, including native ads, which help provide a great user experience.
Introducing a New Console, Documentation, and SDK
Along with new feature launches, we’re moving our website and documentation to a new home: firebase.google.com.
We’re also launching a brand new console to manage your app. It is completely redesigned and rebuilt for improved ease of use, and we’ve deeply integrated it with other Google offerings, like Google Cloud and Google Play.
Firebase now uses the same underlying account system as Google Cloud Platform, which means you can use Cloud products with your Firebase app. For example, a feature of Firebase Analytics is the ability to export your raw analytics data to BigQuery for advanced querying. We’ll continue to weave together Cloud and Firebase, giving you the functionality of a full public cloud as you grow.
You can also link your Firebase account to Google Play from our new console. This allows data, like in-app purchases, to flow to Firebase Analytics, and ANRs (application not responding) to flow to Firebase Crash Reporting, giving you one place to check the status of your app.
Finally, we’re announcing the beta launch of a new C++ SDK. You can find the documentation and getting started guides here.
Announcing New Pricing Plans
We’re excited to announce that most of these new products, including Analytics, Crash Reporting, Remote Config, and Dynamic Links, are free for unlimited usage.
For our four paid products: Test Lab, Storage, Realtime Database, and Hosting, we’re announcing simpler pricing. We now offer:
A free plan with generous limits
A fixed-rate plan for early-stage startups who need a predictable monthly price
A metered pay-as-you-go plan that scales with the largest apps
Some Things Stay the Same
Many things are changing, but Firebase’s core principles remain the same. We care deeply about providing a great developer experience through easy-to-use APIs, intuitive interfaces, comprehensive documentation, and tight integrations. We’re committed to cross-platform development for iOS, Android, and the Web, and when you run into trouble, we’ll provide support to help you succeed.
If you were using a Firebase feature before today -- like the Realtime Database, GCM, or App Indexing -- there’s no impact on your app. We’ll continue to support you, though we recommend upgrading to the latest SDK to access our new features.
More to Come
As far as we’ve come, this is still early days. We’ll continue to refine and add to Firebase. For example, the JavaScript SDK does not yet support all the new features. We’re working quickly to close gaps, and we’d love to hear your feedback so we can improve. You can help by requesting a feature.
Get Started!
All the new features are ready-to-go, and already in use by apps like Shazam, SkyScanner, PicCollage, and more. Get started today by signing up, visiting our new site, or reading the documentation to learn more.
We can’t wait to hear what you think!
Posted by James Tamplin & Francis Ma, Firebase Product Leads
Advertising experiences on mobile are evolving quickly, providing developers with a wide variety of ad formats to help them make money from their apps. Now, when consumers are on a mobile device while waiting for a bus, getting some ‘me time’ at home, or countless other situations, they’re just as likely to be delighted by a video ad, as they are to click an interstitial ad and view a product that’s captured their interest.
Yet, mobile screens are small. Any content that’s poorly designed, or enters the app’s flow when a user least expects it, can disappoint users - and the same rules apply to ads. Native advertising has emerged as a way to create a more seamless ad experience on mobile, one where ads match the look and feel of an app’s design. It isn’t a new idea, yet it hasn’t been within reach of all developers; many of today’s native ad solutions require significant resources to implement and can be an ongoing burden that’s difficult to scale. Who wants to be writing lengthy code to serve ads instead of building the next killer feature in their app?
We want to make native ads better for developers, so today, we’re excited to announce the full launch of AdMob native ads express, an easier way to implement native ads in apps. Here’s what makes native ads express special:
It’s super-easy to get started. Choose a template from many different pre-defined templates available in the native ads express interface, customize it, and get a great-looking native ad in less than 5 minutes - that’s why it’s ‘express’. The code you implement in your app is kept to a minimum - it’s the same amount that you’d add to request a banner ad.
Ads go live in a flash. You can go live with native ads on the same day you start building them (as soon as your app is approved in the app stores). Our smart technology validates your customization of the ad to help ensure it meets our guidelines and provides a good experience for your users.
Optimize on a whim. Customize, tweak, and redesign the templates in native ads express through the AdMob interface, preview changes, and set your native ad unit loose without rewriting app code. Optimization is no longer a huge time commitment, so you can easily find the best performing native ad for your app. Some publishers using the beta version of native ads saw up to 4X higher CTRs than other ad formats in the same app.
Using the native ads express interface to choose an ad size and customize the ad colors
Developers with millions of users, such as Linghit Limited and Cheetah Mobile and have already found success with AdMob native ads. Linghit Limited needed a way to monetize their Chinese Almanac Calendar app, Shunli, while retaining the great user experience the app is renowned for. They implemented AdMob native ads express and saw a 100% increase in daily ad revenue and a 114% increase in ad impressions.
“Native ads are more intuitive so we displayed them in more prominent positions within apps. We were able to view the effects on user click-through rates in real time based on the information in the ads backend. We could make quick adjustments to the native ads to maximize the effect of the ad.”
Jinnee Lee, Vice President, Linghit Limited
Cheetah Mobile implemented AdMob native ads for its popular Battery Doctor app, and saw its revenue increase 4X.
AdMob native ads in Cheetah Mobile’s Battery Doctor app
We’re also excited to share that AdMob is now used by more than 1M apps. We’re delighted that iOS and Android developers count on AdMob to build and monetize apps that users love. For Google advertisers, our large network of apps means marketers are able to reach more potential customers as they spend time on mobile devices.
Posted by Pasha Nahass, Product Manager, Mobile App Ads
Last year at Google I/O, we shared our mission to make app growth easier with the launch of Universal App Campaigns - one simple campaign that surfaces apps to billions of consumers who use Google Play, Search, YouTube, and more. It’s working, and more people are discovering apps on Google than ever before. Over the past year -- and thanks to Universal App Campaigns -- we've more than doubled the volume of app installs driven by ads, and to date we’ve delivered more than 2 billion downloads to developers.
Today at Google I/O, we’re announcing multiple improvements to Universal App Campaigns to make it an even more powerful tool for app developers to find the right users for their app.
Making app growth simple for iOS developers
First, Universal App Campaigns are expanding beyond Android to help developers grow their iOS apps. Now, all app developers can tap into the simplicity and power of Universal App Campaigns to reach billions of Android and iOS users on YouTube, the Google Search App, and the Google Display Network. Universal App Campaigns for iOS are available in beta today and will roll out to all developers in the near future.
Finding more valuable users with less effort
Second, we’re helping developers more easily grow an active user base by finding the right user from the start. Instead of reaching any user to install their app, developers can now also find customers who are likely to be valuable users of their app. A recent study1 showed that 17% of users drive 85% of app revenue, which is why successful apps are shifting their focus from volume to finding more of the right customers.
Universal App Campaigns will automate targeting, bidding, and creative generation to find your most valuable users based on your in app conversions. Just tell us the in app events that matter to you, whether it’s reaching level ten in your game, subscribing to your service, or making a purchase in your app, and we’ll do the rest. Our models evaluate countless signals and constantly learn and adjust, meaning every ad is based on the freshest, most relevant data. The best thing is that we do all the hard work in the background, predicting which users will be valuable and acquiring them at the right price. These innovations are in testing and will roll out in the coming months.
Pocket Gems has already been leaning on the automation of Universal App Campaigns to find quality users at scale, as David Rose, Director of Performance Marketing said:
"Universal App Campaigns have helped us acquire users with a higher LTV compared to other acquisition channels. We're particularly excited about how the next generation of Universal App Campaigns will enable us to iterate quickly and optimize for the actions that matter most to our business. This is an app marketer's dream."
Screenshots of mobile users discovering the Pocket Gems War Dragons app on Google Play and Google.com, powered by Universal App Campaigns
More ways to reach the right customers at the right moments
That’s not all. We’re creating more chances for developers to show ads where users go to watch, discover, and communicate. Universal App Campaigns will soon reach more users on YouTube, as well as introduce a new opportunity to reach users on top of tabs in Gmail.
New Gmail placement launching in 2016
Insights made for apps
Finally, we know app developers need the best user insights to build better apps and power their marketing campaigns, so we’re particularly excited about Firebase Analytics, our new analytics platform designed for apps from the ground-up that was announced at Google I/O earlier today. It provides prebuilt engagement and in-app actions that will help manage your conversions and lifetime value for AdWords campaigns and over 20 third-party ad networks. If you’re an AdWords user you can funnel these conversions into AdWords so it’s even easier to optimize campaigns to the things you care about.
SparkPeople, one of our early testers in the health and fitness sector, is already gaining more insights and taking a longer term view of app audience growth by linking AdWords accounts to Firebase:
“AdWords is a crucial part of my customer acquisition strategy. Linking my AdWords account to Firebase was incredibly easy, and now I can see total lifetime value for all users I've brought in from AdWords, broken down by campaign. The ability to sync my AdWords data to Firebase Analytics has simplified my daily management and optimization from hours to minutes, so I can spend more time building an app my users will love." - Joe Robb, Digital Marketing Director, SparkPeople
The Firebase Analytics dashboard
We look forward to helping many more developers build and grow successful businesses. At Google I/O, we’ll be sharing essential insights and best practices on how to drive growth with Google tools. You can take part too by viewing the live streamed and recorded sessions here. Happy I/O!
Posted by Sissie Hsiao, Product Management Director, Mobile App Ads
The AdMob Student App Challenge deadline is fast approaching (June 28th) and we can’t wait to see your creative ideas come to life.
To make sure you’re fully prepared, join us for an informational Hangout on Air on May 20th. We’ll be sharing the competition’s judging criteria, tips on how to build an app that stands out, and answer any lingering questions that you might have. Here are the details:
You can ask questions in advance by: a) Posting your question as a comment here or b) Up-vote someone else’s question by giving it a +1 if you have the same query.
Feel free to share these details with anyone you think would be interested in participating. With a little over a month left, it’s not too late to register a team and build an app. We look forward to seeing you all on the Hangouts on Air!
Posted by Shefali Arora AdMob Student App Challenge Team
AdMob Mediation is an easy way for you to manage different ad networks and help maximize revenue, all from a single interface. With AdMob Mediation, you can also take advantage of ad network optimization, a feature that helps you generate the highest CPM from your mediation stack. Ad network optimization does this by obtaining the freshest CPM from each ad network based on historical performance, and dynamically reorders them in the mediation stack, so that the ad network with the highest CPM serves ads to your apps.
Today we’re excited to announce that we’ve enabled ad network optimization support for Chartboost and Unity Ads, with country-level specific CPM support. They will join over twenty of our existing supported ad network optimization ad networks.
Getting started with ad network optimization is easy; simply select the ad network(s) you want to add to mediation, enter your ad network login credentials and AdMob will pull the accurate CPM data for each network.
1. In ad network settings, check ‘Automatically pull the eCPM value from this ad network’ box.
2. Enter your login credentials so AdMob can collect the latest CPMs from your ad networks, and review the checkbox language.
Here’s what developers have to say about AdMob mediation:
“We integrated AdMob sometime last year and it doubled our income, which was really good. Mediation is one of the things we mainly use in AdMob. It supports a lot of different networks, so we don’t need to integrate different SDKs.” - Amit Goyal, Co-Founder and CTO, Appkruti
“We’ve seen a 30% to 40% bump in revenue since we started using mediation in AdMob. AdMob offers a simple way to work with multiple ad partners to maximize fill rates and revenue. The way AdMob automatically optimizes across multiple ad networks is fantastic.” - Micah Koffron, Founder, Digitalchemy
To learn more about ad network optimization and AdMob Mediation, please visit our help center, and to stay connected on all things AdMob, follow our Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ pages.
Google I/O 2016 is less than a week away (May 18-20th), and we’ll be there. Google I/O is for developers — the creative coders who are building what’s next. This year they’ll be dozens of talks discussing important topics that matter to you like, design & development, monetizing and growing your business, and the latest in tech, mobile, and more.
Here are some of the key sessions we’d suggest you check out at I/O 2016:
The average smartphone user taps and swipes their way through 1GB of data each month. But how can you turn user behavior into meaningful insights that help you build a brilliant app? The answer is app analytics! In this session we'll explore the key metrics you need to know through the app lifecycle using real examples. From first release to a thriving user base, we'll show you how to detect user delight, user dissatisfaction and how to grow your app into a successful business.
Friday, May 20th
Find 'Em, Keep 'Em: How Ads Get You the Best App Users: 11:00 AM PST
Attracting valuable users is crucial for long-term app success. You want users who will stick around for longer than one session, earn you revenue and spread the word to their friends. Google's machine learning is helping the most successful apps find the right users with ads, and retain them. Getting started with Google ads is simple, yet unlocks a huge range of ad formats that promote your app to billions of users. In this session, master when and how to run ad campaigns, while minimizing costs.
Got a great app and want more users? Having a user acquisition strategy is crucial to global app domination, but it doesn't have to be a leap in the dark! This talk shines a light on how you can run both organic and paid app install campaigns to deliver real results in a cost-effective way -- and how analytics ties it all together. You'll learn how to track user acquisition performance, understand the right metrics to compare ad networks and see why lifetime value really matters.
Even if you can’t attend this year and want to learn about what's happening at #io16 as it happens, we've got you covered! We’ll be live tweeting and sharing posts from the event on our Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ channels, using the hashtags #io16. We hope to see you there!
Meet our final two judges, Craig Warner and Jon Potter. Craig brings a wealth of experience from a Google perspective, while Jon provides insights from the Application Developers Alliance. Read below for their perspective on app development: their suggestions will be a major part of the judging criteria for the AdMob Student App Challenge.
Craig Warner Head of Publishers, Domains and Distribution, Google
What is your background and experience working with apps? Help support the leading global app creators to make money through ads and in-app purchase.
What is the most important thing you look for when reviewing an app? Simplicity.
What tip(s) would you give to a new app developer building their first app? Ask yourself if you would actually use the app for more than a day.
What are some golden rules of app design? Transparency about how you collect and use user data. Performance and stability.
Anything else you want student developers to know? Apps are not new, it was the way users interacted with computers before the web. The primary difference is price (much lower) and number of potential users (much greater). The fundamental characteristics of a great app don't change much over time.
Jon Potter Co-founder, Application Developers Alliance
What is your background and experience working with apps? My professional focus has been educating governments and public officials about apps and the app economy - promoting and protecting apps that disrupt entrenched industries (which often seek government protection) and also apps that independently draw government and legal attention (e.g., due to privacy, health care or other regulatory concerns). In 2012 I founded the App Developers Alliance, where I was President until late 2015.
What is the most important thing you look for when reviewing an app? I review apps as a consumer (clear presentation, clean look, improve my life) and as an investor (solve a problem, improve many lives, disrupt large industries).
What tip(s) would you give to a new app developer building their first app? Identify clear goals and deliverables. Stay focused.
What are some golden rules of app design? Simplicity and clarity. Do one thing very well. Deliver value while I am disconnected (i.e., on an airplane).
Anything else you want student developers to know? Great ideas require great teams to become great experiences and great businesses. There are so many magnificent opportunities - in consumer apps, industrial apps, socially beneficial apps. Play to win but don't forget to enjoy the ride.
As a reminder, there are only six weeks left before the final project submission date of June 28, 2016. In the coming weeks, we will shift our focus from app development and design to project completion, with reminders on timeframes and some best practices for your business report. If you’d like to learn more about the judging process please visit our AdMob Challenge judges page for more details. Lastly, remember to continue to follow us on AdMob G+ and Twitter, and keep an eye on #AdMobSAC16 too, for regular updates on the challenge.
Posted by Jeff Miner AdMob Student App Challenge Team
Ever wondered about the best ways to monetize with banner ads while maintaining a great user experience? If so, the Mobile Ads Garage is here to help.
In the third episode, Andrew and Gary the Graphics Guy cover how to integrate banner ads into a mobile app's UX, with a little help from Aunt Betty, hairless cats, and discount moose repellent. You'll see detailed breakdowns of things to avoid, plus reliable best practices that you can take back to your own apps. As always, links to guides, samples, and other resources are included.
If you like the video, save the Mobile Ads Garage playlist to your YouTube Playlist collection and you'll never miss an episode. We’d love to hear which AdMob features you’d like to learn more about. The comment sections for the videos are open, and you're welcome to toss out ideas for new episodes and examples you'd like to see. If you have a technical question relating to something discussed in one of the episodes, you can bring it to our support forum. - Andrew Brogdon, Mobile Ads Developer Relations
For this week’s “App Monetization Insights” post, we’d like to share an excerpt from AdMob’s newest eBook, The No-nonsense Guide to In-app Ads (download it here). This guide is designed to provide a practical introduction to in-app advertising for developers exploring ads for the first time. The excerpt we’re sharing today covers how an ad network works and how it can help your app business. Enjoy!
Ad networks do the hard work of bringing together the parties that participate in online advertising, making it simpler for everyone involved to succeed. They build relationships with businesses looking to advertise and apps looking to make money by selling ads. Through an ad network, advertisers can get access to lots of different inventory in apps at scale. And, they also help app developers find advertisers quickly. You can spend less time marketing your advertising space and more time focused on creating the best app for your users.
Take a look at this simplified illustration showing how an ad network works:
And voila! Your app generated revenue from ads. All of this happens very quickly, usually in less than a second.
It’s important to remember that not all ad networks are the same. Some networks focus on price and getting an ad in front of as many people as possible. Others care more about the quality of their advertisers. Some include extra features to help you with other parts of your business. Others keep their SDK as lightweight and easy to implement as possible. There are a lot of options and a lot of factors to consider.
How do you choose the right ad network for your app? In the next chapter, we’ll explore this question in depth.
If you enjoyed this chapter, be sure to download the entire guide here. For more tips on app monetization, be sure to stay connected on all things AdMob by following our Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ pages.
Posted by Joe Salisbury, Product Specialist, AdMob
