Autoweek iPhone App Case Study from AdMob

Goal:
AutoWeek is a traditional media publisher that recognized the necessity of engaging their users in mobile and reaching new users through this next gen media platform. AutoWeek has both magazine and online versions of their auto-enthusiast content and partnered with AdMob to both monetize and promote their new iPhone app in Fall 2009. AutoWeek had two main goals in partnering with AdMob:

  1. To maximize the revenue they could earn by monetizing their mobile traffic with ads, and
  2. To use AdMob ads promote the app in order to drive the maximum number of downloads, acquire new users and boost their app’s rankings.

Solution:
AutoWeek became an AdMob publisher by implementing AdMob’s iPhone SDK in order to be able to serve ads and monetize users. In addition to promoting their app to their existing user base on their online site, AutoWeek took advantage of AdMob’s Action: App Store ads that, when clicked, connect the user directly to the AutoWeek page in the app store. AutoWeek ran ads across the 3,000+ apps in AdMob’s iPhone network in a burst campaign aimed at driving the maximum downloads possible in a short period of time to boost the app’s ranking. In order to keep their users engaged and checking in regularly, AW updates their app’s content several times per day.

Results:

  • AutoWeek was able to fully recoup their app development costs and earn revenue within the first two months after their app was released because they served AdMob ads to monetize their traffic.
  • The burst campaign promoting AutoWeek ran from 11/10 to 11/12 and the app moved from rank #37 in the News Category to #10. The campaign drove 4X as many downloads as the app received the week prior to the start of the campaign.
  • After AW promoted their app with AdMob ads, AW gained more users that they were able to monetize,  resulting in a virtuous cycle.
  • In 2 days of promoting the app internationally, AutoWeek had great success. From 11/17 to 11/19, AutoWeek climbed in the News Category from #18 to #5 in the UK, #90 to #2 in Australia, and #37 to #8 in Canada.
  • Because of the success AW experienced with their partnership with AdMob in 2009, they’ve decided to invest heavily in mobile in 2010.

Please download the PDF version here:
http://www.admob.com/marketing/pdf/AutoWeek_AdMobCaseStudy.pdf