Using apps as mobile advertising: Apprupt expands to the UK

apprupt is a combination of mobile advertising network and application store that has attracted a lot of attention in Germany. It only left the trial stages there recently, but has already announced an expansion to England. What can the UK market expect from apprupt?

How it works

apprupt is an affiliate mobile advertising network that delivers applications rather than banner ads. Publishing partners who sign on with apprupt place a shopfront in their mobile property, website or application. apprupt will then deliver applications directly to that shopfront, and tailors the selection of apps depending on what kind of site it is. The applications are targeted the same way that ads are – visitors to the website or application will see an application store stocked with apps that are relevant. Apprupt will serve apps for pretty much any device, including Android and iPhone.

Where’s the money?

The revenue comes from developers who want to place their apps onto the apprupt network – on a pay-per-download basis, their apps will get placed in all the most suitable publishing sites on the apprupt network. They already have over 50 publishing partners on board – mostly text-based magazine or news sites on mobile, including Financial Times Deutschland. It’s also gotten funding from venture capital firms, including mobile operator Deutsche Telekom.

What’s the news?

apprupt has opened a UK office, bringing on Jon Mundy as Director of Business Development (UK). This is the first move that the company has made outside of Germany – and it chose the UK because it has a rapidly growing mobile market. apprupt’s first step in expanding their activities to foreign markets with emphasis on the fast growing British mobile market.

What we think?

GoMo News first noticed apprupt when it launched in January – I thought it was a good idea then, and I think it’s a good idea now. Most app shoppers are used to going to a single, large store like Apple’s iTunes Store or the Android Market. Both of these stores have tens of thousands of apps for sale – over one hundred thousand, in Apples’ case. For developers, it can be nearly impossible to make their app visible against the deluge of other apps (including “trash” apps, like ones that make farting or vuvuzela noise).

By targeting a much smaller selection apps based on the kind of visitor a website is going to be getting, you accomplish two things. First, the visitor is more likely to see and app they want. Second, the developer is more likely to get their app seen. This model has been doing great business in Germany so far this year, and I hope it grows in the UK as well.