What are the characteristics and trends of advertising for tool apps?

Mobile tool apps are a type of app that started relatively early, and are also the type of app with the second largest number of delivery materials after mobile games and e-commerce as monitored by Reyun Data.

Given their low development threshold, numerous competitors, and unclear profit model, mobile tool apps are currently gradually adjusting their product positioning and operating models to effectively extend and plan future development space.

In addition, judging from the development characteristics of tool apps themselves, "security optimization" apps were among the earliest and are still the mainstream mobile phone tools. However, as a whole, mobile phone tool apps have gradually extended to many areas closely related to life and work. There is basically no "blank market", and the leading companies in each sub-category have been "incorporated" by BAT or have completed their listing.

Therefore, from the perspective of industry competition, the competitive landscape of mobile tool apps is becoming increasingly fierce and mature, and has already shown competition in the "stock market".

In a completely competitive market environment dominated by stock, what characteristics and trends will emerge in the advertising behavior of mobile tool apps?

What are the differences in advertising behaviors among the top apps we are familiar with?

1. Search apps have extremely rich advertising content, accounting for 88% of all mobile tool apps;

2. Camera apps placed the most ads from September to November, accounting for 15% of the total number of mobile tool apps.

3. Baidu, Cheetah and 360 account for almost all the materials released by tool apps;

4. 67% of tool apps are only available on Android devices;

5. The “3-picture” advertising format is mainly placed on Android devices, while the ads that appear on iOS devices are mostly in the “single-picture” format.

Next, let’s look at the mobile tool APP advertising behavior insights report from September to November 2018:

In summary, the mobile tool apps put on the market showed an overall upward trend from September to November. September is their concentrated release period.

In addition, although the number of tool-type products is small, accounting for only 6% , the number of materials they put out accounts for 13% of the total number of application apps, and the gap is very obvious. This is also related to the fact that tool apps have a wide range of categories and the characteristics of "low user stickiness and urgent need for improvement through investment".

From September to November, the mobile tool apps launched were relatively scattered, with the top two products being cameras and security optimization, but their share was only 15% and 12% respectively. In comparison, other types of tool apps accounted for 43% .

It can be seen that the launch of mobile tool apps shows the characteristics of "letting a hundred flowers bloom". This also confirms the overall industry trend that tool apps are gradually extending from security optimization to more diversified market segments.

On the contrary, judging from the number of materials released, the "product matrix" characteristics of leading tool companies are becoming increasingly solid. Baidu, 360 and Cheetah Mobile have almost formed a monopoly in the mobile tool app market through their many segmented products.

Source: Reyun Data (ID: reyunshuju)