Windows Store In-App Ad Revenue Plummets 196
jfruh writes "One of the hooks Microsoft has used to get developers to build apps for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 has been pubCenter, an ad network that's easy to add to apps and provides revenue back to publishers. But many developers found that on April 1 that revenue abruptly dropped by an order of magnitude, with most potential ad impressions going unsold; one developer reported only 160,000 ads served to 60 million requests, a fill rate of less than 0.3%. Since many of the ads before April 1 had been for Bing, this may be a sign that Microsoft is no longer willing to subsidize its developers — and that advertisers aren't that interested in buying ads in Windows 8 apps."
As a customer... (Score:5, Insightful)
...I know I certainly don't want to see ads in Windows 8 apps.
Serves them right (Score:3, Insightful)
Trying to convert a general purpose computer to a phonelike environment has an inherent failure, that users recognized, then later advertisers recognized that users recognized it. I've heard windows 9 is planned to cede even more ground on the general purpose front. That would actually make me, a windows developer(currently), switch to Linux on as my main platform.
Good, very good (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Serves them right (Score:4, Insightful)
Where have you heard that? Considering that Win8 is fully functional as a general-purpose OS (and indeed adds many distinctly non-tablet features, such as Client Hyper-V, the Win+X / right-click-on-Start menu, Windows To Go, improvements to Task Manager, and so on), and that Windows "Blue" (which may or may not be Win9) is probably (based on the leaked early builds) adding back the ability to display the Start button at all times and to boot straight to the desktop, I'm not sure how much less ground it could lose on the general purpose front...
Re:don't want to see ads I pay for at all (Score:2, Insightful)
That would be less of a problem than them being included in the Metro Apps provided as part of the OS. (Like the weather one).
Re:Serves them right (Score:1, Insightful)
Win8 is fully functional as a general-purpose OS
Any OS that has two taskbars is not functional.
Not surprising (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple has run into similar issues with their iAd advertising network that they run for iOS devices. It had an initial rush of advertisers who spent big money placing orders for "premium" ad space, followed up by results that didn't justify the additional costs. Apple extended the program to developers who wanted to advertise their apps in other apps, offering them a smaller minimum ad impression order size compared to general advertisers. That minimum was later reduced, and then reduced again, and I believe reduced yet again, along with the rates involved, indicating that interest has been weak and weakening. It seems to have finally stabilized, but it's FAR cheaper than it once was, with minimum orders that are significantly lower than they used to be.
Meanwhile, Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 have been seeing worse-than-expected sales since their launch, so I don't exactly find it surprising that an advertising network focusing solely on them would be faring worse than the one on a platform that is doing quite well. Not to mention that both Apple and Microsoft make their money from selling products to customers, whereas Google, who seems to be running the advertising network that's actually doing well, makes around 98% of its money from selling ads. Small surprise that they'd manage to succeed here as well.
Re:don't want to see ads I pay for at all (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:don't want to see ads I pay for at all (Score:5, Insightful)
I think Microsoft's entire strategy for their metro screen and modern style apps was to get into what they thought was a massive cash cow. They saw Apple with the silly phone apps and wanted a piece of that. However the market is not the same; maybe a bit stereotypical here, but iPhone customers tend to be very enthusiastic and are willing to spend 99 cents on something that does nothing, and are proud to show off that they have dowloaded 100 apps. The typical Microsoft customer however is much more sedate, business users, people who hold very tightly into their wallet, IT professionals, etc. So saying "we've got a store too!" won't generate much profit.
What really kills it though is releasing it with a minimal set of applications, with almost all the built-in applications having usability problems, and the offerings in the store being pretty boring and uninspired, plus being required to make a microsoft account to spy on you merely to download a free app. Of course it's going to be a flop.
The apps on a phone have a bit more sense in a way. Someone might want to pay for an "is the person next to me an alien" novelty app, where they can just pretend to scan the person with a phone. Someone might want to pay for a better voice activated map program, since they take the phone on the road with them everywhere. This falls down using the same concept on a desktop though, where the users don't want to see $1.99 novelty programs they want to see actual mature $25-$250 productivity applications. And they're going to buy those applications through traditional sellers, not through a walled garden. Maybe there's a slight crossover with the tablet market, but the Windows 8 tablet market is overpriced and underselling.