In business, the start of any new year, let alone a new decade, is filled with anticipation, from planning ahead for the challenges to working out how to grab the opportunities. The App Annie 2020 State of Mobile report put total worldwide app store consumer spending at $120 billion last year. There’s been a lot of change and growth in the industry, from a surge in gaming to video wars to blockchain technology and IoT.  Mobile trends continue to define the market.

But what about the people who work in the app business? We asked four industry professionals, including our CEO, Paul Larbey, what they think will rock the app world in 2020.  

## What is the biggest challenge app developers will face in 2020?

__Kristian Pechovski, Business Development Manager at Telecoming:__  Daily, we face many challenges, but perhaps the most important one for us is adapting the products locally. We've seen great results when our apps meet consumer needs in each market. Understanding user habits and cultural differences before launching any app is a crucial piece of our strategy.
For a small team, to manage business opportunities globally is a masterclass. We work hard on analyzing which countries we should prioritize among others.

__Noemie Hernandez, Director of User Acquisition at PlayQ:__ Over the coming year, we believe industry consolidations will continue, meaning big mobile game developers such as Playrix, Zynga (or Applovin) will keep buying smaller publishers. This is simply because competition keeps growing, which makes it very difficult for small developers to be competitive against the big budgets of the leading developers.

__Aykut Karaalioglu, CEO at MobileAction:__ Since app store optimization is a practice that’s recognized by most app developers, increasing visibility by organic methods becomes more and more challenging. 

We believe recommendation will be more crucial for the apps to be discovered in the marketplace. As the store algorithms become more complex each year, even the small-scale developers will need advanced keyword optimization tools to cope up with the intensive competition. On the paid side, creative ad optimization is getting more competitive as the brands, especially games, focus more on video and playable creatives. Keeping track of the competitors' ad creative changes and important campaign metrics to understand their strategy will be essential to achieve a high ROI.

__Paul Larbey, CEO at Bango:__ An ongoing challenge facing app developers is the fact that platforms such as Facebook are opaque when it comes to defining an audience.  Both Facebook and Google claim their black-box machine learning algorithms will find you the right users.  This is great if it works and much more simple for new or inexperienced users.  However, it takes control away from experienced marketers who want to be able to test, refine and easily adjust their campaigns.

## What do you think is the biggest opportunity in 2020?

__Pechovski:__ The rise of consumer trust in the new monetization models is definitely a great opportunity. Users place their confidence in Apple or Google's payment methods. That's certainly something that we, as developers, appreciate a lot. Psychologically, it's easier to use your phone to consume digital goods rather than introducing the card.

__Hernandez:__ Monetization and hybrid monetization (in-app purchases and adverts) are on the rise, which means it is now possible to make money in low tier geographies that typically have low in-app payments. We think that Western gaming companies will finally start acquiring more international users, realizing the potential of large audience geographies such as India.

__Karaalioglu:__ Apple Search Ads is broadening its reach every year, and early adopters of it will have a tremendous opportunity over the others. Since Apple Search Ads will surpass many organic results and appear at the top, those who invest time in building the right keyword strategy for Search Ads will reap the fruit of it. Apart from that, using the right campaign management tool to optimize Apple Search Ads will give a great advantage to those who wish to ace the paid growth.

__Larbey:__ Reaching a smaller audience of more relevant users is being recognized by app developers as offering more value than mass marketing. This personalization of the ads will see smaller audiences being used in large platforms such as Facebook and Google and the growing popularity of emerging ad marketing platforms such as Tik Tok which has already begun to shine as a leading key to Gen Z.


## If you could change anything in the app developer world, what would it be? 

__Pechovski:__  Changing the developer mindset into understanding that sometimes less is more. Companies should focus on finding niches and take advantage of them globally. The scalability of the business may certainly have a limit. However, your core user base will be much more loyal if you work retention. For example, an app tailored only to fishermen would most probably have a smaller but much more profitable and loyal user base than a new social network for Gen Z… Sometimes we get caught up in becoming the next Tinder or the next Instagram, but in my opinion, really simple ideas can bring great profit. 

__Hernandez:__ One thing we would love to change is creating a more tailored experience, depending on user segmentation. Some apps are very good at it, but in general, most app developers look at volume or quantity more than quality - and I reckon getting closer to the customer can be key for user retention, especially in such a competitive market. 

__Larbey:__ It would be great to see a change in the app developer mindset that getting as many people as possible to install your app will mean more in-app purchases. This is not the best route to monetization. Overlooking vital characteristics, including the user’s ability to pay and history of paying in apps, makes this approach highly inefficient and reliant on the law of averages. You end up spending a lot of money on marketing, and you don’t see it reflected in your ROI.

App marketers who take a smarter approach to acquire paying users add the vital behavioral payment segmentation to their marketing campaigns. This is proven to increase the conversion of paying users. This also benefits users who see more relevant ads rather than being bombarded by ads from the companies with the largest marketing budget.

![App developer predictions 2020](//images.ctfassets.net/tlyywrmp30mw/2CD916dhBhsplAOIy9jnTy/efa7a0dd8059b227a1968681645cb41f/App_developer_predictions_2020.png)

Jennifer Kite-Powell

generic-person

What does 2020 have in store for the world of app developers? 

In business, the start of any new year, let alone a new decade, is filled with anticipation, from planning ahead for the challenges to working out how to grab the opportunities. The App Annie 2020 State of Mobile report put

In business, the start of any new year, let alone a new decade, is filled with anticipation, from planning ahead

To get the inside scoop and learn current best practice for monetizing apps in this growth market, Bango Marketplace has issued its first Bango App Monetization survey.

And the results are in…

## The BIG takeaway?

Finding a way to target new users who are proven big spenders is the smart way to do user acquisition.

<ImageBlock src="//images.ctfassets.net/tlyywrmp30mw/5uYxxLOtCtzfflKHTZSZxh/33a556ac40c109ef3098350ac1f75a3f/Survey_says_in-app_purchases_are_king.png" />


Bango app marketer survey...in-app purchases are king

To get the inside scoop and learn current best practice for monetizing apps in this growth market, Bango Marketplace has issued its first Bango App Monetization survey. And the results are in… The BIG takeaway? Finding a way to target

To get the inside scoop and learn current best practice for monetizing apps in this growth market, Bango Marketplace has

The Bango Marketplace team was in Korea, 14-17 November for the [G-Star Global Games Exhibition](https://www.gstar.or.kr/eng), the largest gaming exhibition in Korea. 
 
The biggest breaking news from the show was the [merger of Line and Yahoo-Japan](https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/17/yahoo-japan-and-line-corp-confirm-merger-agreement/) and its impact on the gaming business. On 18 November, Softbank announced it had reached an agreement to merge with Yahoo Japan and Line Corp., with sources saying it will better position search portal Yahoo Japan, Line’s messaging app and their other businesses to compete against rivals from the United States and China. But could this also be a new way to reach users outside the dominance of Facebook and Google?
 
On the hardware side of things, virtual reality (VR) dominated B2B booths illustrating the power of the technology to create new user experiences, new ways of entertaining and bring to life to classic titles.
 
<ImageFloat side="right" src="//images.ctfassets.net/tlyywrmp30mw/pTL2whwYkXVTq2y7t7No1/4884f256507bb295be126591062ac92e/Bango_at_G-Star_Global_Games_Exhibition.png" />

The Bango Marketplace team at G-Star - Shirley, Alex, Andy and Ray -  introduced global app marketers to Bango Marketplace’s new Korean Audiences. The team demonstrated to several of the largest Korean game companies how to get nine times more conversions to paying users in key export markets.

Want to try our new Korean Audiences? Check out [Bango Audiences](https://marketplace.bango.com/) and see how easy it is to get straight to the users who pay in-app.

Ray Anderson

Bango at G-STAR

The Bango Marketplace team was in Korea, 14-17 November for the G-Star Global Games Exhibition, the largest gaming exhibition in Korea. The biggest breaking news from the show was the merger of Line and Yahoo-Japan and its impact on the

The Bango Marketplace team was in Korea, 14-17 November for the G-Star Global Games Exhibition, the largest gaming exhibition in

It's that time again -- the holiday season is here. It's not just retail goods that get all the attention, its digital content too. In fact, the holiday season drives more app downloads and in-app payments in the U.S. than any other time of year. During the 2018 holiday season, there was a 25% increase of in-app payments globally compared to the monthly average over the rest of 2018 (Source: Bango, 2019). 

So how do you get your acquisition campaigns in front of these high-value, proven to spend audiences during this critical holiday period? That's something we can help you with. If you want to direct your campaigns to people who have a history of making in-app purchases, try a [Bango Marketplace](https://marketplace.bango.com/) audience today. 

Go to our [Bango LinkedIn page](https://www.linkedin.com/company/23533/) for a special Black Friday offer.

Black Friday

It's that time again -- the holiday season is here. It's not just retail goods that get all the attention, its digital content too. In fact, the holiday season drives more app downloads and in-app payments in the U.S. than

It's that time again -- the holiday season is here. It's not just retail goods that get all the attention

The traditional rules for app marketing say that the more you grow your user numbers, the more you can justify your marketing budget. But once you have acquired users, you still need to monetize your audience to generate revenue. While many developers rely heavily on in-app advertising, apps which can monetize through in-app payments need users who pay.  Marketing to these higher lifetime audiences of in-app payers not only increases return-on-investment (ROI) for less marketing spend, it grows your revenues. 

__But is there any alternative to bombarding every target consumer with your campaigns, including those that won’t generate in-app payments? What if you could intelligently target consumers who already had a history of paying in-app – the ones most likely to make in-app payments? __

Answering this question transforms the economics of acquiring and monetizing users. In a recent 2019 Bango app monetization survey, 40% of developers said that in-app purchases are the most important outcome of their marketing campaigns. And, 47% said that in-app purchases were the primary method to monetize their apps.

Yet, when it comes to targeting marketing campaigns, 33% said that less than half of their marketing campaigns prioritize generating in-app payments and a further 33% said that none of their marketing campaigns prioritize in-app payments.

Asked about applying payment insights as a factor in user acquisition campaigns, 53% of developers said they do not target their campaigns to audiences known to make in-app payments, or in the case of media services audiences known to make paid subscriptions.

In a robust and growing app economy; consumers are spending more on apps; but at the same time, developers are not prioritizing in-app payments through their marketing campaigns.

Back to the earlier question. What if you could intelligently target users who already have a history of making in-app payments? By targeting your marketing to these high-value users, you can actually focus your Facebook campaigns on a smaller audience, but an audience of people that are more likely to pay. This combination of increasing monetization by boosting IAPs from your campaigns while reducing the costs of acquisition is defined as intelligent marketing. 

It isn’t about casting a bigger net; it is about fishing in the right waters. Bango Marketplace audiences are created using payment information gathered from billions of dollars of in-app purchases so you can focus your marketing to people who have history of payments and subscriptions for apps and media services. Why show your ads on Facebook to people who won’t pay? 

Bango Marketplace audiences challenge the conventional marketing and targeting approaches, and instead prioritize quality over quantity. You fish for less but land more fish. 

Bring intelligent targeting to your app marketing campaigns, try a [Bango Marketplace audience](https://marketplace.bango.com/?utm_source=BOA&utm_medium=intelligenttargeting&utm_campaign=BM&utm_term=BMA) today. 


Here’s how you can use intelligent targeting to know who spends in-app

The traditional rules for app marketing say that the more you grow your user numbers, the more you can justify your marketing budget. But once you have acquired users, you still need to monetize your audience to generate revenue. While

The traditional rules for app marketing say that the more you grow your user numbers, the more you can justify

Bango has launched carrier billing payment services for the monthly subscription based YouTube TV package. Following an initial launch with a leading mobile operator in the USA, customers can now conveniently subscribe to YouTube TV paying on their monthly bill.

YouTube TV is the live streaming subscription service owned by YouTube, a subsidiary of Google. Subscribers to YouTube TV can watch live TV streamed from over 70 major broadcast and popular cable networks on mobile, desktop, TV, games consoles and many other connected devices. In addition to live TV, subscribers can stream popular movies and shows on-demand. A subscription to YouTube TV is $49.99 a month, for which the customer also receives cloud-hosted, Digital Video Recorder storage for their own video content.  Add-ons to the YouTube TV package are also available, including premium TV networks.

*“With the roll out of 5G wireless networks underway, the move to ‘cable-free’ TV is a logical step, re-establishing how customers access online entertainment. We are excited to be a part of this step change”*, __said Anil Malhotra, Chief Marketing Officer at Bango.  __

Sukey Miller

Bango enables carrier billing subscriptions for YouTube TV

Bango has launched carrier billing payment services for the monthly subscription based YouTube TV package. Following an initial launch with a leading mobile operator in the USA, customers can now conveniently subscribe to YouTube TV paying on their monthly bill

Bango has launched carrier billing payment services for the monthly subscription based YouTube TV package. Following an initial launch with

Bango and MobileAction, the app store optimization and app intelligence platform, are collaborating to boost in-app payment revenues for app developers through smart campaign targeting. 

MobileAction’s global community of app developers can now gain a substantial competitive advantage by targeting their campaigns at the users most likely to spend in apps. Created by analyzing payment information gathered across billions of dollars of in-app purchases, Bango Audiences enable app marketing campaigns to directly target new paying users. By applying Bango Audiences, the revenue generated from user acquisition campaigns has been proven to increase by between 2x - 9x compared to targeting “vanilla” audiences that do not offer payment insight.

MobileAction’s developer community can take advantage of special offers on audiences listed in Bango Marketplace ([www.marketplace.bango.com](http://www.marketplace.bango.com)). The audiences are ready to plug in to Facebook campaigns with no effort by the developer.

Consumer spending in apps will reach over $155 billion worldwide by 2023, forecast MobileAction. Competing for a share of this spend requires increasingly sophisticated marketing and monetization techniques. With the worldwide average cost to acquire a paying user in a gaming app costing $35.42 ([LiftOff](https://info.liftoff.io/2019-mobile-gaming-apps-report/), 2019), the ability to go straight to new users with a history of paying in apps can turn a loss-making campaign into a profitable line of business.


__Aykut Karaalioglu, CEO at MobileAction commented;__ *“MobileAction’s aim is to give app developers the competitive advantage, app marketers have never had a proven method of getting their offers and promotions directly to new paying customers until now. Bango Marketplace is a new and unique approach to maximizing ROI from user acquisition campaigns, we’re excited to offer our customers access to this new way of marketing.”*

__Ray Anderson, Bango CEO commented;__ *“We welcome MobileAction’s network of app developers to Bango Marketplace, which showcases high value audiences of users with a proven interest in paying for games and other digital content. App developers now have a unique way to boost revenue earned from in-app payments and other charging models by simply applying Bango Marketplace audiences to their existing campaigns.” *


MobileAction

Bango and MobileAction, the app store optimization and app intelligence platform, are collaborating to boost in-app payment revenues for app developers through smart campaign targeting. MobileAction’s global community of app developers can now gain a substantial competitive advantage by targeting

Bango and MobileAction, the app store optimization and app intelligence platform, are collaborating to boost in-app payment revenues for app

When launching new resale and bundle offers, time to market is critical for resellers such as mobile, fixed line, and cable operators. Offering customers premium OTT services like Amazon Prime and Spotify is a proven way to acquire, retain and monetize new customers. Getting these premium services to market faster can be vital to gaining a competitive advantage.

At Bango we have been working to find more ways of reducing time and effort on the part of the reseller through the power of Bango Platform technology. Having insight into reseller systems, we recognized that by enabling batch processing of subscription entitlement status, we can significantly reduce development time on the part of the reseller, speeding up time to market.

As a direct result, resellers are now able to batch update customer entitlement status without having to develop deep API connections, which are required if the entitlement status can only be updated using individual system calls. 

Batch updates remove pressure on the resellers’ business and development teams. Avoidable delays in system integration impacts a reseller and OTT providers time to launch compelling new services and - more importantly - delays their customers’ ability to take up new offers.  The Bango Resale batch processing solution provides low latency and high-speed offer uptake at scale.

In a highly competitive market where customer acquisition and retention are fundamental KPIs for these businesses, the time to market  advantage gained is significant.  Sometimes, being first is everything.

In one recent example, avoiding the need to schedule and develop the necessary API integration work, batch processing has enabled a reseller using Bango Resale to speed up time to market by at least 2 months. 

Batch processing capabilities are now a standard part of Bango Resale. Documentation is available here - [https://developer.bango.com/resale/entitlements/batchprocessing/](https://developer.bango.com/resale/entitlements/batchprocessing/)

Jamie Seabrook

Launch OTT partnerships faster

When launching new resale and bundle offers, time to market is critical for resellers such as mobile, fixed line, and cable operators. Offering customers premium OTT services like Amazon Prime and Spotify is a proven way to acquire, retain and

When launching new resale and bundle offers, time to market is critical for resellers such as mobile, fixed line, and

Bango has signed an agreement with NHN ACE, the South Korean big data digital advertisement company. Through the partnership, global app developers can easily target their offers and promotions to high value mobile and internet users in Korea. 

Under the agreement, NHN ACE and Bango are making audiences of Korean customers who are interested in paid content available for marketing. Targeting campaigns to customers with an interest in premium apps and content enables app developers to acquire new paying users and increase in-app purchase revenues, while reducing marketing costs.

South Korea offers some of the world’s highest “life time value” customers, who spend hundreds of dollars a month online. Mobile devices dominate online usage, with mobile gaming popularity leading to Korea’s ranking as the world’s fourth biggest mobile games market ([Newzoo](https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/south-korea-games-market-2018/)). The country’s “super spenders” spend hundreds of dollars a month on mobile content, with an average monthly revenue per user in the mobile games segment of more than $96 ([Statista](https://www.statista.com/outlook/211/125/mobile-games/south-korea#market-arpu)).

Consequently, user acquisition costs are very high. According to [LiftOff](https://info.liftoff.io/2019-mobile-gaming-apps-report/), the cost to acquire a user in South Korea who will make an in-app purchase is $66.95, which means marketing to low or non-spenders is a sure fire way to lose money. 

*“Through this partnership, NHN ACE and Bango will help app developers spend their marketing dollars wisely”*, __said Guy Singh, Vice President of Product Marketing at Bango.__ *“By effectively targeting marketing using Bango Audiences, app developers have the opportunity to generate significant revenue from Korea’s high spending gamers”.*

The audiences that become available through this agreement are available on Bango Marketplace at [marketplace.bango.com](https://marketplace.bango.com/).


Bango Audiences - Korea

Bango has signed an agreement with NHN ACE, the South Korean big data digital advertisement company. Through the partnership, global app developers can easily target their offers and promotions to high value mobile and internet users in Korea. Under the

Bango has signed an agreement with NHN ACE, the South Korean big data digital advertisement company. Through the partnership, global

In the second of our __*'Three Minutes With'*__ series of articles, [Bango Marketplace](https://marketplace.bango.com/?utm_source=BGO&utm_medium=Mobisystem&utm_campaign=BM&utm_term=BM) talk with Dobromir Dobrinov from [Mobisystems](https://www.mobisystems.com/) about the importance of customer loyalty, user retention and how 5G will change everything. 

## Bango Marketplace: What is the biggest challenge the company faces today as a global app developer?

__Dobromir Dobrinov, Marketing Specialist at Mobisystems:__ Recognition and customer loyalty comes first. Today, it’s even harder to win in a competitive market where apps are produced every day. This stands as our constant challenge which drives our innovation and product improvement. Second, is how we can win our users over and convert them to paying customers providing value with our apps for their everyday life.

## Bango: What have you noticed about purchasing behavior in different geographical markets? Do any patterns emerge?

__DD:__ Every market is different. We constantly improve and adapt to our users and their purchasing behavior. Many factors come into place. It’s not only geography but also the current political situation, purchasing patterns set of global companies, also people's attitude and understanding of how you communicate in their language. One example of that is the subscription versus one-time purchase in different countries. 

Compared to two or three years ago, more people today find value in subscriptions. This is the only way for developers to push their apps forward and keep up with the market. We can see this with the increase in subscriptions worldwide, even in more reserved countries.

## Bango: When it comes to user retention, what stands out for the company as the most fundamental aspect?

__DD:__ This is something we think about a lot at Mobisystems. Loyalty and retention are a cornerstone for us.

When you create a marketing funnel you can track users' journeys and see where you can improve. As simple as that sounds, it is difficult as many people must do the right steps to incrementally improve the user experience around and within the apps.

It is natural for growing companies to focus on new user acquisition and sales. Many times, as soon as any company reaches a certain status their affection to customers drops significantly. They stop focusing on user retention as bringing new customers onboard is less expensive. We strive to differentiate and continue caring for our loyal users.

## Bango: What’s been the biggest change in the last 10 years for getting your app out there?

<ImageFloat side="right" src="//images.ctfassets.net/tlyywrmp30mw/1xZZ7KSOi46aTElHlHX5kv/585744c5cb49217e061ad0f7631aa38d/Mobisystems_quote.png" />   
__DD:__ A decade ago, when the app market was still forming, preloads were the only guaranteed way to connect to customers. Today, app stores, social networks and servicing around these are way more advanced. Preloads still have a major role but are not a cornerstone for getting your app well known worldwide.

Now, we focus on targeting the right channels to reach our customers. There are lots of new apps out there and we need and want to attract the next generation’s attention in the most meaningful ways - the networks they use, the message they want to hear, the value they seek. It’s not new conceptually, you have to use the right tools and adapt quickly. Ten years ago, changes that took two to three years to penetrate the market now come into place within six months or less.


## Bango: What is the company’s view on downloads v installs v monetization?

__DD:__ The entire app industry is focused on selling and selling more. The entire user funnel is important. It is a process, not pieces. There are multiple reasons for people to install an app, there are much less to stay and even become a paying customer.

The first breakpoint for the developer is when users open your app. Was it worth the download? Can you guide the users to purchase in the best manner possible? Can you help them find the value within your app? We constantly ask ourselves: Did we do a good job to convert users into customers, providing real value to them? 

Installs push the apps in the ranking. This means more people will download the app. Downloads generate opportunities to increase your paying customers. But that's only one part.

If you want to serve your customers better, you need to know them. GDPR is a great thing but when you need to know where your loyal user stands you need to track that. Google and Facebook, for example have that data, but they won't share with us that George bought and Paul installed. We get a vague, blurry picture on customers actions. There are many challenges with that. One way to solve it is to focus on the well-known “buying personas” so we can bring value to a more specific audience and try to analyze its members behavior.

## Bango: So, what’s next for mobile apps?

 __DD:__ Apps were born out of technology. They are destined to rely on it.

In the next 10 years, we'll see significant advancements due to the 5G connectivity, AI and augmented reality. Our world is reshaping fast and apps are the first to adapt by nature.

Little by little the consumers will ultimately set their world to comply extensively with their needs. Everything will happen in an instant and without much hesitation. For the users it will be easy to change the apps. So there stands the continuous challenge - create apps that consumers will find valuable to use in their life and even their lifetime.

=======


[Mobisystems](https://www.mobisystems.com/) is a production and software company that develops mobile apps on Android, iOS, and Windows. Some of Its flagship apps are OfficeSuite and Oxford Dictionary of English. Apps developed by MobiSystems bring in more than two million new users a month on top of more than 300 million installations. With dozens of partnerships with hardware OEMs like Huawei, Sony, Alcatel, DT and Acer, Mobisystems is redefining how customer loyalty is improved and retained in the apps era.


[Bango Marketplace](https://marketplace.bango.com/?utm_source=BGA&utm_medium=Mobisystem&utm_campaign=BM&utm_term=BM2) is where app marketers go to immediately reach paying users. Created using purchase information gathered from over $1Bn of in-app payments, Bango Marketplace audiences get you straight to the paying users so you generate revenue faster. Access these audiences directly through your preferred advertising platform, no integration required. Finding the users that pay is vital to a successful business, getting you to revenue faster. Bango audiences provide a unique way to reach paying users. 


Dobromir Dobrinov

In the second of our 'Three Minutes With' series of articles, Bango Marketplace talk with Dobromir Dobrinov from Mobisystems about the importance of customer loyalty, user retention and how 5G will change everything. Bango Marketplace: What is the biggest challenge

In the second of our 'Three Minutes With' series of articles, Bango Marketplace talk with Dobromir Dobrinov from Mobisystems about