If you’re an mobile app developer then you probably explored different ways to monetize your app to increase your ARPDAU. One of the more popular ways to monetize your app is to use a freemium model where your app itself is free but you monetize your users in various ways such as in-app currency, rewarded videos, or an offerwall. The majority of offerwall offers are those which incentivize the installation of another app called CPI or CPE offers. Apple has now banned these types of offers and has caused mobile app devs to lose out on thousands of dollars a day.
The CPI/CPE Ban
In 2019 Apple started to enforce its policy regarding offerwalls, which resulted in many of the most popular apps in the App store being temporarily rejected or banned. The ban affected some of the most popular and widely used ad companies that provide offerwalls thru their SDK, including Tapjoy, Fyber and IronSource. The ban sites section 3.2.2 of Apple’s App Store review guidelines, It states it is unacceptable to create “an interface for displaying third-party apps, extensions, or plug-ins similar to the App Store or as a general-interest collection”. It seems the primary reason for enforcing this policy is to prevent publishers from gaming the app store charts.
What Impact Does This Have on Publishers?
Offerwalls up to this point were extremely an important sources of revenue for mobile app publishers. In fact, IronSource states that approximately 15% of the top 100 grossing apps use a offerwall, which jumps to a whopping 25% when only considering gaming apps. It goes without saying that the banning of this practice has resulted in a stark drop in app revenue for many app publishers.
Jeff Gurian, the VP of marketing and ad monetization at Kongregate stated that users who engage with offerwalls “retain 30 to 100 per cent better compared to users who do not engage and go on to make between 1.5 to nine-times more IAP purchases.” One anonymous industry insider told PocketGamer that some developers made six-figure sums “daily” and could easily experience “a revenue drop of 50 to 70 percent on iOS”. As a result, app publishers who use CPI/CPE offerwalls have to move towards other methods to drive app engagement.
What Options Do I Have As A Developer?
There are, of course, other ways to monetize your mobile app. Most are probably familiar to you, with things like traditional banner ads, standard in-app purchases, subscription approaches, and rewarded surveys. However, offerwalls have consistently been successful in driving repeat engagement. Is there any way to keep using this proven method? Luckily, not every kind of offerwall has been banned, only those that incentivize downloads of external apps. The offerwall offered by GCOW Marketplace, is still permitted and not in violation of App Store policy.
People Love to Shop, right?
Here’s how it works. With GCOW Marketplace’s patent pending technology you can incentivize your users by letting them shop for their favorite gift cards and receive free in-app currency as a reward within your mobile app. GCOW's Marketplace platform works with over 350 of the most popular US brands, including Dominoes Pizza , Ulta Beauty, Coffee Bean, Kohl's, and many more
With the average user spending more then $100 to purchase a gift card thru the offerwall marketplace, it puts the average profit at over $8 per transaction, a whopping $2,000+ CPM. Total gift card purchases will exceed $170 billion in 2019 and continue to grow in the next few years. This is the perfect time to introduce GCOW Marketplace to your users.
Our simple API integration, commitment to customer support, 48-hour payment terms, and no set-up or integration fees makes GCOW Marketplace a great addition for app publishers and even better choice for your users. If a user typically shops through Kohl's, providing the opportunity to purchase a gift card inside an app and receive an additional benefit — such as an in-app currency rewards — creates an incentive and a value proposition.
Ready to get started with GCOW Marketplace? Click here to sign up!
*We are offering a bonus of prepaid $10,000+ commission upfront if certain conditions are met. Contact us to learn more.