Google #1 player in mobile app advertising in the Indian subcontinent: AppsFlyer

AppsFlyer, the global attribution leader, today released the 10th edition of its performance index. According to the report, Google hit the #1 spot in the power ranking (Measuring both quantity and quality of app installs) for the first time since AppsFlyer launched the Index in 2015. The search giant’s success can be largely attributed to its performance on Android and its App Campaigns product.

Edition X marks the emergence of five Indian adtech firms figuring prominently as preferred media-sources by various verticals and categories across APAC. These firms have raised the bar with their adoption of deep-tech and automation, in order to deliver high-performing mobile campaigns. They’ve demonstrated serious potential growth outside of India and into the global marketplace.

Indian Subcontinent highlights – H2-2019

In the power and volume rankings, Google and Facebook dominate interchangeably in almost every category

RevX by Affle is the only Indian ad-tech firm to feature in Top 10 Retargeting Rankings across categories and industries in APAC region
Facebook retargeting domination is seen across the board as the #1 media source in all regions in the index. The adoption of retargeting was most widespread in APAC, which also featured an Indian ad-tech firm – RevX by Affle

Four Indian ad-tech firms MoMagic(8th), Pokkt(9th), CollectCent(10th) and IndusOS(12th) find themselves in Top 15 power rankings for non-gaming, Android, Life & Culture category

MoMagic(6th) and Pokkt(12th) also featured in Top 15 Performance Power Rankings for non-gaming, Android, Life & Culture categories. They remain to be the only two ad-tech firms featuring in both Performance and power Rankings.

TikTok Ads #1 leads the pack in power rankings ahead of Xiaomi and Apple Search Ads across industries and categories

Covering the second half of 2019, the 10th edition of AppsFlyer’s Performance Index is the most segmented to date with 252 segments sliced by region, platform, and category (including new categories such as Finance, Entertainment, Travel, Photography, and multiple Gaming genres). Overall, Edition X covers 25 billion installs, and 52 billion app opens of over 16,000 apps.

For India alone, the report highlights a thrilling upsurge in its domestic mobile app marketplace, having covered more than four billion app installs, with ten million app opens across 3,000 apps.

Key takeaways from the report:

Facebook Remains the King of the Retargeting segment– Keeping the momentum, Facebook remains undefeated and retains the top slot in the retargeting segment for all categories

Google is Catching up fast in the Retargeting segment – Google has been ranked second when it comes to retargeting segment but is growing faster with a 44 percent rise in its share of the retargeting pie, compared to Facebook’s 5 percent increase.
Beyond the Google-Facebook duopoly, a triopoly of networks - ironSource, Unity Ads and AppLovin - has emerged by capitalizing on the massive growth in the gaming sector.

TikTok went all out on its media business with the introduction of TikTok Ads in 2019. After capturing the #1 spot in AppsFlyer’s previous growth index, TikTok Ads is now also the fourth-largest media source for non-gaming apps.

“The data shows that Google’s choice to go all-in on machine learning, while focusing on video and creative to power its App Campaigns product has paid off,” said Shani Rosenfelder, Head of Mobile Insights, AppsFlyer. “When looking at the Retargeting Index, their numbers are even more impressive considering that ACe was only rolled out to some clients in beta. It’ll be interesting to see how it evolves when the product becomes available to everyone.”