The name of AppLift’s game is lifetime user value.
The Berlin-based mobile game marketing platform launched a tool called DataLift on Thursday aimed at helping mobile advertisers get a better grip on the overall lifetime value of their users.
“Price is what you pay, but value is what you get,” said AppLift CEO Kaya Taner, quoting Warren Buffett.
In other words, users shouldn’t cost more than they’re worth – but that’s often hard to ascertain until it’s too late.
“The problem with LTV is that it can only be known at the end of the lifespan of the user – often after several months – which means that the metric as such cannot be used for user acquisition optimization,” said Taner.
As an alternative, DataLift focuses on optimizing in-app behaviors that can act a proxy for, or at the very least an approximation of, lifetime value, including registrations, subscriptions and other early engagement post-install events. For example, a user that completes a game tutorial is more likely to stick around and be monetized, thereby increasing that person’s LTV.
DataLift looks at a variety of historical data sources – app vertical, geo, demographics, carrier versus WiFi, specific carrier and network – to determine what media to buy. Then it tracks campaigns across roughly 50 ad networks. Optimization is achieved by layering in third-party data from networks and exchanges, including Smaato, DoubleClick, MoPub, OpenX, Nexage and Rubicon Project.
Taner claimed that this method has helped clients increase LTV and lower the overall cost of acquisition, but declined to disclose specific client data just yet. According to Taner, about a dozen AppLift clients are currently using DataLift, including Seattle-based game publisher Z2 and Serbian soccer app Top Eleven, which broke 10 million Android downloads in 2014.
The product is available as a managed service, although AppLift is testing a self-serve feature, in beta right now, with several clients.
In addition to the general release of DataLift, AppLift also announced two C-suite hires – Taptica vet Gal Levenhaim as VP of products, and Maor Sadra, formerly of Inneractive and Matomy, as VP of strategic development.
Founded in 2012, AppLift is based in Berlin, with additional offices in San Francisco and Seoul. Two more APAC offices are on the roadmap. The company, which brought in $20 million in Series A in 2013, has roughly 100 employees. Clients include EA, Zynga, GREE, King.com and Goodgame Studios. AppLift participated in a seed round for programmatic native ad platform PubNative in July. Although exact figures weren’t disclosed, it was reported that AppLift backed the company with a seven-figure investment.
