Frustrated with ad networks, mobile devs want to do their own marketing

The majority of mobile game and app developers are not content with the state of mobile app marketing, with frustration surrounding the promotion and monetization of mobile apps. This is according to a new survey from PapayaMobile's AppFlood cross-promotion initiative, which found that 70 percent of the 1000 developer teams assessed cited a lack of clarity and trust in ad networks as part of their frustrations. This turned out to be such an issue for those surveyed, that it completely outweighted cost as a factor in choosing which advertising company to work with -- only 37 percent said money was the primary concern. In particular, 71 percent of respondents said that they believe ad companies are exaggerating how effective their services are, and suggested that they don't believe they are receiving as many impressions on their games and apps as ad networks say they are. This has led to a large shift towards "do it yourself" marketing among developers. In fact, 73 percent of those surveyed said they would rather organize their own advertising campaigns than hand the job over to a specialist media planning agency. It's notable that the report found 26 percent of smaller developers, 19 percent of medium developers and 12 percent of large developers, all chose the companies that ran their marketing campaigns seemingly at random, suggesting a sizable portion of game studios aren't completely aware of the various services available.

How much do you spend on marketing?

The report also shed some light on how much mobile developers are spending on marketing campaigns for their releases. 78 percent of those surveyed said that they spend less than $5000 on marketing for each game or app, while 12 percent spend between $5000 and $10,000 on marketing. This leaves the last 10 percent, who choose to spend more than $10,000 to support a mobile app or game launch.