Next Games’ CEO On The Wild West Of Mobile Games

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Next Games, founded in 2013 by games veterans from Rovio, Supercell and Disney, focuses on crafting visually impressive and engaging games. Their first game, Compass Point: West, launched last week on iOS smartphones and tablets. We caught up with CEO Teemu Huuhtanen who is based in Helsinki, Finland, where the company has its headquarters.

Please tell us a little about the game and how a Finnish company ended up picking a wild west theme.

CEO of Next Games, Teemu HuutanenCEO of Next Games, Teemu Huutanen

The core idea for the wild west theme and the card mechanic was something one of Next Games co-founders had in their mind from very early on, thanks to their love for western movies. Mobile F2P action strategy is a very competitive genre and to break the noise a developer needs to look at the game and its positioning from many different angles. Compass Point: West, and future Next Games products, are highly influenced by pop culture and the iconic wild west theme is hugely underserved in the current mobile games market. The theme also allows us to do many great updates for the game as everyone is familiar with so many stories and characters from the Wild West.

How are you addressing the marketing challenge of launching a new game from a new company in an increasingly competitive mobile games market?

Everything starts with the product, the game. We feel that the theme needs to have universal appeal, such as the wild west theme in this particular game. In addition, whatever the genre, you should always bring something unique in terms of game mechanics. For Compass Point: West, the card collecting and tying that into everything you do in the game was that original twist.

We wanted to create a rich universe with its stories and colorful characters and wild west was a perfect fit for us as it is an unexplored territory on mobile. We’ve put a lot of effort to the IP development and created a comic book together with IDW Publishing. That’s a really nice way to give players an additional angle to the story.

Discovery is a challenge for any game developer today. Mobile games marketing has focused a lot on performance-based user acquisition. As that market becomes increasingly competitive, developers will have to become more creative when it comes to creating appealing IP’s and stories based on that, which can be leveraged in marketing. Finding creative ways to get attention from the YouTube community is also important and Compass Point: West seems to have hit that audience:

We have gone from mobile game companies being put in a remote corner at E3 to three Super Bowl TV spots from mobile game companies this year. What’s next in marketing for mobile games and apps What do you consider a success in mobile games today?

Compass Point: West collectible cardsCompass Point: West‘s collectible cards

Success for a game or developer varies a lot. For us, the most important thing was to create a game that the players love. We are getting very good feedback on the game which allows us to build on the success as the game went to #1 strategy game on iOS in well over 100 markets within the first couple of days from launch. Every new game has to find its audience in order to get noticed and once you get fans, the financial goals will follow.

After the success of Kim Kardashian Hollywood, we have seen many game developers move in the direction of licensing big entertainment IP and celebrities to help gain traction for their games. Do you think that Hollywood and the games industry can play nice this time?

We believe so very much. Getting AMC and Lionsgate to invest into the company proves that the big media companies have started looking at mobile games from a very different point of view as they see games as services understanding that it is a totally different ballgame versus shipping a disk one time.

AMC Networks and Lionsgate are both investors in Next Games and that in itself shows that movie studios and other big entertainment IP holders see the importance of mobile games as natural extension of their IP. Games are starting to be regarded as an equally important platform for consuming entertainment alongside with the established ones such as movies and TV.

When is your next game coming out and can you tell us anything about it?

We are also working on a mobile game based on AMC’s #1 hit TV show The Walking Dead, called The Walking Dead: No Man’s Land. We’ll be able to tell more in the near future.

Smart Marketing For Educational Apps

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Educational apps for children are a growing market, and a new business model looks to bring tablets, educational apps, and kids together in a brand new way with great potential. Findaway has debuted the Playaway Launchpad, the first ever secure, pre-loaded learning tablet that’s explicitly designed to be circulated by libraries and in classrooms. It’s a brilliant way to bridge the digital divide and bring educational software to children who would otherwise be unable to use a tablet.

Anyone who’s ever watched a kid being introduced to a tablet or a smartphone understands the immediate, magnetic attraction touchscreen devices have. They are tactile, colorful, animated, fun, and intuitively easy to easy. The difficult part is usually removing a smart device from a child once they’ve had some time with it. This is an obvious market opportunity, and one that potentially has terrific beneficial effects for kids as well as publishers. The educational software market was once measured in the billions, but declined in the late 1990s for a variety of reasons.

Findaway’s Launchpad “delivers high quality,ad-free learning apps grouped together by subject area, theme, grade level and age,” according to the company. An important feature is that the tablets are pre-loaded with these apps and are secure, so there’s no way for kids to access unintended content. The tablet is also durable, with a rubberized protective case that will help it withstand the rigors of being handled by multiple users in a variety of tough environments. A one-touch reset feature erases previous user data and readies the Launchpad for the next person to check it out.

“We’re incredibly excited to debut Playaway Launchpad and change the way tablets are circulated within libraries and schools,” said Jennifer Leombruno, VP, Playaway Pre-Loaded Products Group. “Launchpad directly addresses the common pain points of retail tablets, offering a turnkey solution for staff wanting to provide access to a high-quality, interactive learning tool in a safe, fun, and affordable way.”

Launchpad is powered by an Android operating system and features a 7″ high-definition touch screen, external speaker, universal audio jack and a durable, protective bumper. The tablet is free of Wi-Fi and camera capabilities, ensuring a controlled user experience. Starting at $99 and sold exclusively through Findaway, Launchpad comes with everything needed to easily build a library or classroom collection including a shelf-ready circulating case and a USB/AC power adaptor. Additional accessories are sold separately.

Early adopters of the new learning tablet include Baltimore County Public Library, Cambridge Public Library, Chicago Public Library and Nashville Public Library. Each library system will be among the first in the nation to circulate Launchpad to their patrons at multiple branches. More information on the Launchpad can be found here.

Findaway has partnered with leading app developers and Fingerprint Digital, a prominent app aggregator and technology partner, to custom-curate thousands of best-selling apps selected and quality-tested just for children. The content collection spans subject areas from math and science to critical thinking and creativity, and features themed learning packs including animals, princesses, fantasy, nature and more.

The Launchpad presents a new marketing opportunity for educational developers to reach a previously inaccessible audience. Fingerprint’s expertise with children’s software and unparalleled range of connections in the industry lends additional weight to the marketing benefits for developers. All that, and you get to do something fun and educational for kids.

Mealnie Dawn Waller

The [a]listdaily sat down with Fingerprint senior producer Melanie Dawn Waller to to discuss the tablet and how it promises to benefit kids with access to top-notch software.

Tell me about the Launchpad. Why is this important?

We’re the first preloaded tablets, and we have over 100 different packs. Each of the devices has a theme or subject-oriented pack of different apps on it, 10 different apps in each pack. It’s a way for developers to get their content out to kids. It’s going to be in schools and libraries, thousands of them all over the nation.

How does the Launchpad work for the kids?

You go in and create a new avatar, choosing one of twelve different characters. You land right on the games page, and it gives you information on how you can earn points that you can use to customize your avatar. There are ten different games in a pack, each pack goes on a device, and there are over 100 different packs. There’s a full range of curricula, with math, critical thinking, STEAM, language arts, creativity, science and others. We also have theme packs, like the princess pack, the fantasy pack, the nature pack, and so on.

We also have a parent’s section, and as you play all the games it shows what games they have played, and the different subjects that have been covered across the pack. So Mom can come on and look and see what they’ve done. They can play this pack, then take it to the library and get another pack.

The idea, then, is that kids will be able to get a Launchpad from libraries or at their schools, right?

Yes, schools and libraries. It’s crossing the digital divide, so that anybody can really have it. If you don’t have a device, or can’t download, you can get access.

What’s the business model for the Launchpad?

The libraries purchase them from Findaway. They actually have some up on their site already, where you can see the different packs that are being offered. The libraries will decide which packs they want. The fact that they sell for $99 or $129 is really important.

This will give the software developers much better exposure for their product, won’t it?

They’ll get huge exposure for their product. We’ve partnered with all of these developers from all over the world that we’re working with to bring on the apps for those packs. We have an in-house content team assessing and designing the packs to make sure we’re giving out the best apps, so parents can really trust what we’re giving out here. Every app is assessed and tagged, age-categorized, and then determined which content pack it will go into. When you see a math pack here for a certain age grade, you can trust that it’s going to be good for your child. From a developer’s perspective, you’re getting your app in front of those parents from a trusted source, which is important to parents.

Can parents also find these apps directly from Fingerprint, if they want to access them on their own devices?

We have our own platforms, where you can come in and access a lot of the apps. There’s Samsung Kid’s Time, which is now in Asia but is coming to the US. Then we have Sylvan Learning, which we’ve partnered with, so there are apps on that platform. We’ve also partnered with Corus Entertainment.

Supercell Discusses Its Successful Super Bowl Ad

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What kind of thinking goes into creative a successful ad campaign Sometimes it can just be something that comes from the spur of the moment – even while sitting in a hot tub.

That’s the way that Supercell’s Super Bowl ad for Clash of Clans played out, a memorable ad featuring actor Liam Neeson angrily swearing revenge on the rival that destroyed his camp. The ad turned out to be a huge success for the company, despite its high cost of $9 million.

How it came about, though, is just as surprising, as reported by GamesIndustry International. “The decision for us to be on the Super Bowl was decided by a bunch of guys in a hot tub while we were on an offsite,” said Supercell media lead Jimmy Lee, speaking at the F8 Facebook conference earlier this week. “Everybody closed their eyes and voted on whether or not they wanted to see a Super Bowl spot for Clash and everybody ended up saying we want to see this on the Super Bowl.

“It had nothing to do with economics or monetization, it was our way of thanking our players, our way of acknowledging that this is a game that’s worth playing and trying to retain them a little bit longer. It wasn’t about getting our game in front of however many millions of eyeballs that were watching the Super Bowl.”

Attracting new users to a popular game is definitely a key component with ads like the Neeson one, but being loyal to current players is just as important, according to Lee. “When we do marketing we don’t always just think is this going to drive acquisitions, the question that we always ask ourselves is what are our current players going to think about this ” he said.

“If they saw this on television or they saw a particular banner, what are our current players going to think about it If you think about it whether you’re Supercell or King or Zynga or anybody else, the players that you have in the bucket is going to be bigger than all the existing players outside the bucket that could potentially become your next set of users,” he continued.

“At some point you’re going to have to look in the mirror and decide whether or not you’re going to focus on retaining your users and doing stuff for your current players or going after every single last user. And that’s really how we approach the equation.”

Obviously Supercell made the right choice, based on the ad’s success – and having the star of the Taken franchise played a key part in that success. In case you missed it, the ad can be seen below.

5 Hacks For Niche Video Content Owners And Creators To Win In 2015

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by: Ed Laczynski

It’s important to think about how the worlds of entertainment and media have evolved, from cable packages/bundles to over-the-top content providers, from the living room television to tiny screens everywhere. Niche content owners and creators can now truly own their audience by taking advantage of all of the power currently at their fingertips.

How do I start owning my audience

I’ve seen these five hacks for premium content owners work, from large content library owners to individual content creators:

1. Know your viewer: Use tools like Google Analytics to understand who your viewers are and how they engage with your content. A direct-to-viewer strategy enables you to get even more information and drive useful engagement.

2. Take risks: With video content-management platforms you can try new strategies, like windowing, presenting in multiple languages, subscriptions, and more. Choose platforms that are low commitment, low cost, and grow with you to make risk taking possible. Self-service tools like VHX are a great way to try new monetization models.

3. Get on the set-top bus: There are so many new opportunities with ecosystems like Roku and Amazon Fire TV for all types of content owners and creators. These are new markets with growing adoption. Much like the iTunes store when the iPhone launched, get there quickly, and think about the keywords and content you use when publishing on those platforms. We launched a “Movie Trailers” app on Roku last week that already has thousands of new subscribers, with nothing but great keywords.

4. Own your discovery: Aggregators and consumer platforms like YouTube thrive on being search-engine friendly and discoverable on the open web and social media. Are you doing everything you can to make your content discoverable Do you have a destination site, and is it search engine optimized Free tools like Google Webmaster Tools, and paid tools like SEO Moz make it easy for anyone to start doing basic discovery improvements.

5. Own your marketing: With your own branded streaming destinations, you can leverage tools like Unbounce, Mailchimp, and Google AdWords for viewer registration, email marketing, and search-engine marketing. There is a whole universe of CRM and marketing tools available to content owners.

But what exactly is niche content Niche content can mean anything that a passionate audience rallies around and creates an emotional and loyal connection to viewers over and over again. Niche content matters because it has been a driving force for major shifts in consumer video since the beginning of broadcast television. So let’s look at how this evolved…

In the beginning, RCA created broadcast television.

The year, 1940. There was no niche. You watched what your dad watched, if you lived within the broadcast distance of a television station. The brands and advertisers you were exposed to were carefully planned, and the big broadcast networks were the ultimate gatekeeper. Simpler times indeed.

In this sense, television itself started out as a niche medium, but gained significant power because there was previously nothing else like it. The early content providers dictated everyone’s favorite programs and genres. In other words, there was no place for alternative or specialized content—the idea of TV alone was special enough.

Read more…

This article was originally posted on VideoInk and is reposted on [a]listdaily via a partnership with the news publication, which is the online video industry’s go-to source for breaking news, features, and industry analysis. Follow VideoInk on Twitter @VideoInkNews, or subscribe via thevideoink.com for the latest news and stories, delivered right to your inbox.

 

VR, the Future, and Marketing

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Oculus’ chief scientist Michael Abrash took the stage at Facebook’s F8 developer’s conference to talk about virtual reality (VR) and why you should be excited by it. Why is Facebook interested in VR Because their mission is to help people share experiences, and VR offers some very compelling experiences.

Abrash quoted from The Matrix: “Real is just electrical signals interpreted by your brain.” said Morpheus. He’s right, Abrash opined, showing a number of illusions to verify to the audience that “reality is constructed by our minds, rather than recorded by our senses . . . Our experience of the world is an illusion, one that has been highly honed . . . All reality is virtual.”

The technology has advanced to the point where we can now hack your perceptions and create compelling illusions. “VR is about driving our perceptions the way they are made to be driven. It’s more real than movies,” Abrash said. VR is now good enough to create this effect, but there’s plenty of room for improvement. That’s why the future is so bright, in Abrash’s view. He provided three main reasons to support this contention:

  • VR is already compelling and shipping soon
  • There is broad industry participation
  • There is long-term commitment to VR

Once Facebook acquired Oculus, the long-term commitment issue was no longer in doubt. What does it all mean to Abrash He sees VR as the next major paradigm shift in tehcnology, perhaps even exceeding ultimately the impact of the Internet and smartphones. It will be a long time before its potential is fulfilled, but it’s well on the way. “VR has the potential to change almost everything about the way we live. No one knows how movies will work or what a Facebook Wall will look like. Sooner or later you will want to be a part of it . . . I’m hoping it’s sooner,” Abrash concluded.

The takeaway from Michael Abrash’s talk on VR at Facebook’s F8 is straightforward: VR is coming, and it has the potential to transform society worldwide. Exactly what shape this will take, it’s far too early to tell. Of course, developers will help shape that future… as will marketers.

Is it too early for marketers to begin considering VR Not at all, as the process is already under way. We’re seeing VR films under development, and plenty of VR games are being worked on. How are these VR experiences going to be promoted. How will people be informed and persuaded Beyond the technology itself, how can VR transform industries or create brand awareness.

For one thing, while the technology is in its early stage there’s opportunity for brands to associate with this exciting new leap. Sponsoring a VR production is one way, and so is using VR to demonstrate at conventions (as film production companies did at ComicCon last year). On the game front, CCP is getting a lot of attention for its EVE Valkyrie VR demo.

For game developers of all sizes, though, Sony’s Project Morpheus looks like a good place be. We already know the time frame (early 2016), and Sony’s got all the pieces in place: it’s driven by the best-selling PS4 console, they have controllers already, and of course the PlayStation Network for distribution. Testing the waters of VR for game developers is a matter of resource, and right now it looks like Sony will make it pretty easy to get into this new medium.

It’s time, though, to start thinking about how VR experiences will be monetized, and where opportunities may lie for advertising. Yes, you don’t want to interrupt someone’s VR experience with an ad . . . all the more reason to get creative now about how an advertiser might be involved in the magic of VR. How about a cool experience brought to you by Marriott? Or a VR experience that takes place partly in a Marriott facility? Or even just the product placement of seeing a Marriott hotel in the Martian landscape as you drive by, pursuing an alien menace across the drifting red sands, under the hurtling moons of the future Barsoom.

Abrash is right to say that we know VR will happen this time, given the technology and the level of commitment already shown. That means it’s time for the creatives to start making dreams into reality, and shaping the future of VR and AR. That’s as much the purview of marketers as it is filmmakers and game designers. Any technology that will have this broad an impact is going to mean massive challenges and opportunities in advertising and marketing, and the prizes go to those who act early with creativity and intelligence.

Director Jorge R. Gutierrez On Why Hollywood Is Excited About VR

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Writer/director Jorge R. Gutierrez saw his dream project become a reality in Hollywood, although it took 14 years from the time he released his CalArts animated student film on The Day of the Dead to the time the feature film starring Channing Tatum, Zoe Saldana and Diego Luna hit theaters. With Guillermo del Toro on board as producer — his daughters were fans of Gutierrez’s Nickelodeon animated TV series El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera — the film made $100 million at the box office and is now available on Blu-ray and DVD. Gutierrez talks about The Book of Life VR experience and how Street Fighter influenced him in this exclusive interview.

Jorge R. GutierrezJorge R. Gutierrez

What would The Book of Life video game be if you were able to make it?

I would have loved to have been able to made one. The way the gaming industry is right now it was just too big of a risk financially to make a game without the studio knowing how well the movie would do. When we did the El Tigre video game I got to write the story and I helped design it. I created new villains for it, so I was all over that. So I was really excited about a Book of Life game where you could play Guitar Hero-stuff for the music and you could do the fighting stuff. There was God of War stuff and fantasy adventure type gameplay as well, but unfortunately it never happened.

Will there be a sequel?

We still don’t know if we’re going to get to make a part 2 or a part 3, because I always envisioned them as a trilogy. I had always imagined the first movie to be about Manolo, the second to be about Joaquín and the third one to be about Maria. I’m already working on my new film, which is a Mexican kung fu movie, so you’re definitely going to see a lot more video game influences in that.

What opportunities are digital and mobile games opening up for Hollywood?

I’m hoping with the success of The Book of Life I can entice gaming people to take that leap into video games because this thing is perfect for that. I definitely think gaming is changing with social media and cell phones. It’s a whole new world out there, so I’m hoping we get to do something really cool.

How did the Street Fighter video game franchise influence you as a director?

Street Fighter was one of those things where for me the idea was it’s not about fighting, it’s about what you’re fighting for. I implied all this moral virtue to the honorable Street Fighter. I took that really seriously. It kind of guided me as I grew up.

Were you one of those gamers who got suckered into buying every new version of the same game like Super Street Fighter II Turbo Edition?

I’m the guy who buys every version all the time. When the new version gets announced, I just throw my wallet at the computer screen.

And Capcom  just announced Street Fighter V.

Oh, I know. Believe me, I was like, “Oh my god, this is going to be amazing.”

Capcom did make a couple Street Fighter movies. Do you see potential there for you to direct a video game movie?

There’s never been a good video game movie, so I’m really hoping someone makes that transition too. But it just seems like games are about the user experience and movies are a narrative, and so somehow those two things don’t seem to connect.

What aspirations do you have outside of directing to get more involved in video games?

For me it’s all transmedia, so I would love to get my hands in there and work with a gaming studio. This is one of my passions, so I definitely would love to be a part of that world.

Guillermo Del Toro had a Pacific Rim virtual reality demo at Comic Con last year on Oculus Rift. What do you think VR is opening up for filmmakers?

Actually, Pacific Rim was done here in Texas as Reel FX and they did a VR experience for The Book of Life and it’s freaking amazing. I was shocked. Literally, you go into the Land of the Remembered as Manola, you look at your hands and they’re skeleton hands, you get on a horse . . .  it freaked me out by how amazing it looked. I don’t know how long it’s going to take, but I definitely think this immersive world is coming for video games and it’s going to be amazing.

Did you get to work on the VR demo?

Oh, absolutely. They’re literally 40 feet away from me right now, so I got to see all that stuff and I got to help those guys out. I’m telling you this thing is amazing. Video games are going to change for the better and it’s going to be so immersive. My only fear is that it’s so immersive people are not going to want to be in the real world anymore.

Where will people be able to experience The Book of Life VR?

They had it for the Consumer Electronics Show and Dell World. I’m not sure if they’re going to be doing that at Comic Con this year, but I know they’re doing a lot more VR for a lot more movies and a lot more brands. It’s exploding right now.

VR was everywhere at Sundance and SXSW this year.

It’s a way to literally take the audience into the world of the movie. I keep waiting for one of the big directors going to jump in and do something spectacular with it. It’s going to be amazing, and it’s coming.

Guillermo said that he wants to do a full VR game with the next Pacific Rim movie.

The Pacific Rim VR thing they did here was just again tip of the iceberg with all the potential. It’s just going to be pretty insane. Reel FX has an Oculus department that’s spearheading a lot of the stuff that they did for Pacific Rim and for The Book of Life, so I’ve been a fan boy going over there and asking those guys to show me stuff. There’s a lot of secret properties that they’re working on, but just getting a glimpse of all that stuff has been really exciting.

Pacific Rim: Jaeger Pilot ran on Unreal Engine 4, so they’re probably using a game engine for those projects.

Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s what that is, but it’s crazy to walk around that area and everybody’s wearing the headsets and sitting there moving their hands.  It looks like the future.

Facebook Announces Free Analytics, Messenger As Platform

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Facebook’s F8 conference delivered some big news today for mobile marketers as it expanded the scope of Messenger, debuted Facebook Analytics for Apps, and brought LiveRail to mobile. There’s a lot here that will take a while to sink in, and for developers to really enhance, but the prospects for Facebook as an advertising medium, a social medium, and even a business connection look better than ever.

The keynote, led by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, laid out Facebook’s major announcements for the show. One thing came across loud and clear: It’s time for Messenger to step into the limelight. The app has an audience of more than 600 million people, according to Zuckerberg, and Facebook is now opening it up as a platform for developers. Yes, you’ll be able to create apps that can be installed on Messenger, and you’ll be able to move right to app installs. This is huge news for games, as anyone who’s watched the massive success of messaging apps in Asia can tell you.

WeChat in China, Kakao Talk in Korea, Line in Japan — all are driving the top mobile games in those countries, and are directly responsible for billions of dollars in revenue for games. People live in their messaging apps, and broadening the utility of messaging into an app discovery should be a huge boost to games. This alone should boost Facebook’s reputation as the place for game marketers to find users.

Facebook’s plans for Messenger are ambitious. In the last year, Facebook’s worked to make Messenger become a really important communications tool, adding photos and videos, stickers, voice calling — and now mobile VOIP globally. Just this last week Facebook starting rolling out payments through Facebook. Now it’s looking to make Messenger an important business tool: “Mostly you call businesses today, ” Zuckerberg said. “How useful would it be if you could message a business instead ” Facebook is introducing this capability today. The examples showed how receipts can be sent through Messenger, allowing you to answer back immediately if you have a change in your order. Your entire communication history with a business is kept in the thread, making it easy to provide personalized service. The SDK is available today, at messenger.com/platform

There was plenty more of interest to marketers, with Deborah Liu, director of platform, showing off the new Facebook Analytics for Apps. “It helps you understand how people use your apps,” said Liu. “It’s people-focused, and cross-device.” That’s really critical in this age of screens everywhere, since now you can analyze how people are using apps across multiple devices. This capability is free, available today.

Liu also showed off LiveRail’s new capability to let you monetize and manage video across multiple platforms, including mobile. The benefits are increased ROI for developers, more relevant ads to people, and better monetization for apps. Who could argue with any of that More details on Facebook’s announcements and links to full information can be found here.

The [a]listdaily reached out to one of the leaders in the mobile ad measurement industry, AppsFlyer, to see what they thought about Facebook’s announcement. AppsFlyer’s CEO, Oren Kaniel, discussed the impact of Facebook’s announcements for us. AppsFlyer had an in-depth analysis of Facebook’s announcements today that you can find here.

Oren Kaniel

Why is Facebook’s new ad analytics tool important for app developers?

Facebook’s new tool validates the entire mobile app tracking industry and is incredibly important for any app developers that aren’t already using a similar solution. It will give them insights into their app install campaigns and help them understand how well their ad sources are working, which in turn will allow them to optimize their campaigns and have confidence that they’re getting a positive return on their investment.

How important has Facebook become for mobile app developers, and why?

Facebook is incredibly important for mobile app developers because it is one of the largest and highest-quality sources of new installs.

How is AppsFlyer affected by this announcement, and what does it means for marketers using AppsFlyer’s tools?

This announcement doesn’t have any effect on our partnership with Facebook, as we remain a close-knit partner in its MMP program. Nor does it have any effect on our current customers, as they can continue to use AppsFlyer the same way they always have. We feel Facebook’s new tool will be a great solution for smaller developers who are just using Facebook and maybe a limited number of other advertising sources, but for those larger and medium-sized developers that are advertising across a broader assortment of publishers including Twitter, Google, Yahoo and others, they’ll need an independent and unbiased solution such as ours in order to track their campaigns across the entire ecosystem.

Will Facebook’s importance to mobile app developers be increasing over the next year? Why or why not?

Yes, Facebook’s importance to mobile app developers will most definitely increase over the next year. Facebook has made a concerted effort to invest in mobile and to help app developers grow their businesses. This new analytics solution is just one example of that commitment.

How does Facebook work with Apple and Google — should marketers be concerned about friction between these huge companies?

There will always be friction among the biggest companies in the industry, and though it remains to be seen just how that friction will affect access to app tracking and analytics, we believe that it’s in the best interest of app marketers to have an independent, unbiased attribution firm they can trust.

Here’s How Facebook Plans to Get More Creators to Upload Natively

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by: Sahil Patel

It’s no secret that Facebook wants video creators to upload content directly to the social network instead of embedding third-party (YouTube) clips. The company has even made it so that those clips perform better on the social network.

Now, two companies are launching products that will make it easier for more video creators and publishers to easily publish natively to Facebook.

The first one is Fullscreen, which has unveiled the Fullscreen Uploader, a tool that will allow its creators to upload natively to YouTube and/or Facebook from one place. The tool will be available as part of the network’s Creator Platform. Fullscreen currently serves more than 60,000 creators.

Read more…

This article was originally posted on VideoInk and is reposted on [a]listdaily via a partnership with the news publication, which is the online video industry’s go-to source for breaking news, features, and industry analysis. Follow VideoInk on Twitter @VideoInkNews, or subscribe via thevideoink.com for the latest news and stories, delivered right to your inbox.

F8: How To Reach 1.4 Billion Consumers

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Facebook’s F8 2015 developer conference opens tomorrow at San Francisco’s Fort Mason, and the two day event promises to be an important one for publishers and developers. It’s the first time the conference is spread over two days, but Facebook has a lot going on. In fact, Facebook’s importance to the game industry, mobile developers, advertisers and marketers is at a high point, and this conference is going to provide insight into where Facebook goes from here — and that will be important to know.

Facebook’s impact on the game industry in particular is greater than ever, although its history is not a straight line path. As Facebook grew explosively some years ago, part of what propelled it (and was propelled by it) were games, and the social gaming craze that led to to the growth of companies like Zynga and Kabam. As Facebook’s growth slowed, and the platform clamped down on the easy viral marketing that games utilized so well, the social gaming craze died down. Game companies looked to the rapid growth of mobile gaming as the next big platform, and attention shifted away from Facebook.

That was only the beginning of the story, though, as Facebook went public and began to shift resources into mobile and advertising. Now, Facebook has become the hot way for mobile game companies to gain users, with classic user acquisition tools becoming more expensive. Companies that continue to release Facebook games along with mobile games have done very well — King Digital credits much of its success with Candy Crush Saga to the fact that the game is available on both Facebook and mobile platforms, for instance.

Growth for Facebook’s user base has been slow in the last few years, though, compared to the meteoric rise of earlier days — not suprising when you consider the service now has 1.4 billion users. The company’s got a strategy for growth, though, and one of the key topics for this developer conference is how that will occur. There’s also the looming impact of virtual reality and how Facebook’s Oculus division will take advantage of this technology, and what it will mean to Facebook and many others.

The show will kick off with a keynote address by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, where he will no doubt review some of the opportunities ahead for Facebook, the challenges the company faces, and its strategy for the year ahead. There may even be some surprises in the wings, as rumors heat up about Facebook hosting news sites’ content, according to The New York Times.

“Things have been fairly easy sailing at Facebook: user growth had been on the up and up and in-stream ads have generated 93 percent of their revenue. As the world’s biggest social network, they now face a couple of issues,” said [a]listdaily‘s Lauren Arevalo. “The first being stagnating user growth (one of first topics being tackled at F8 is ‘Building for the Next Billion’) and the second is how to address their waning appeal to younger users. In order to address this ‘coolness’ problem, Facebook had made some key purchases that are coming to the fore as the platforms of-the-moment (Instagram) and of the future (Oculus).”

“These of course will be a key focus in F8’s proceedings, but I’m also looking forward to how Facebook looks to monetize its hugely valuable user base from here on out,” Arevalo continued. “Some messaging opportunities for brands have appeared to be in the wings for some time, mobile payments is overall a really hot subject right now, and the fact that Facebook has been vocal about getting more serious as a platisher lately has major implications for native advertising. If Facebook can get some or all of these things right (and Piper Jaffray has increased the company’s target price ahead of tomorrow in a strong vote of confidence), marketers will be more than happy continue to make Facebook a chief component of their campaigns.”

“We have seen Facebook take off as the first real rival to YouTube in the Online Video space, now accounting for 60 percent of all global video shares, we’ll see expand significantly in the video space,” said [a]listdaily‘s Joakim Baage. “They are now rumored to be working with video publishers like Vice and Vox to produce short-form branded video under the name “Anthology.”

“It’ll be interesting to see how they approach video with the developers as part of their overall push into multiple apps such as Messager and buying popular apps like Instagram and Whatsapp. Furthermore, we didn’t see much from VR-company Oculus at GDC, which probably means that there will be some kind of announcement at F8 after Facebook bought the company last year,” continued Baage. “All these developments should be top-of-mind for any digital marketers knowing how effective Facebook’s different advertising programs are, especially for (mobile) game developers and with the amount of data Facebook has of its users, I think that Facebook is quickly becoming the most important platform for marketing all together.”

The [a]listdaily caught up with Dan Morris, Facebook’s Director of Game Partnerships, to ask him about the F8 Developer Conference.

What’s the relevance of F8 to game developers?

F8 is where a range of new products and features will be unveiled, a number of which will play a beneficial role in helping game developers solve some of their hardest problems. Facebook is well-positioned to make a positive impact across the games ecosystem, and F8 is where we will provide first looks at some of this potential impact.

If people can’t get to the F8 conference, is there any way to get some of the information being presented?

All of F8’s sessions will be streamed for free at fbf8.com

What’s the importance of F8 to marketers, both for games and for brands in general?

Game developers increasingly tell us that Facebook’s marketing solutions are the best available, and F8 is an ideal opportunity to learn how to advertise effectively using our tools.

Avoid ‘Content Blindness’ As Native Ads Take Off

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Many marketers are looking to native advertising to keep consumers interested and engaged, as classic banner ads and other familiar forms are losing their impact. Content marketing has its own issues, as some fear “content blindess” may dull the impact of native ads. During the recent 4A Conference the term was a hot topic for discussion, and was brought up during a panel.

AdAge reports that a number of high-profile players took part in the panel, discussing the problems that can come with native advertising, and what happens when some companies go too far, thus running a danger of dulling the impact of the marketing campaign.

“There’s banner blindness. Over time, we’ll start to see more and more content blindness,” said Elena Sukacheva, managing director of global content solutions group for The Economist Group. “We’ll see more and more marketers releasing control of the messaging.”

This control became a hot topic with the participants of the panel, who also chimed in with their thoughts. Production of native advertising is certainly on an upswing, but it helps to keep control of such campaigns.

Jimmy Maymann, CEO of the Huffington Post, said that digital publishing nets a third of its revenue from in-house content marketing teams, but also noted that the usage of native content allows publishers and brands conventional messaging opportunities.

That leaves room for more digital ads, although, again, there’s a question in regards to overuse. “Marketers really miss the mark when they communicate to an audience,” Ms. Sukacheva added.

Economist’s study showed that 93 percent of marketers surveyed reported connecting content with products and services. Furthermore, 75 percent of said content should frequently mention products. The majority of the audience, however, claimed they tune out from content that sounds too much like a sales pitch. Instead, they wanted content that had a utility or was related to insights or ideas.

So there is room for improvement in the market, and Jason Hill, global director of media and content strategy for GE, noted that cooperation between marketers, publishers and agencies is vital when it comes to shaping together better content. “People still love a great story, well-told,” he noted. “I think great stories can be told in native. I think it’s also easy to do a lot of crap in native.”