Publication date: 23 Dec 2024
Mobile traffic continues to show impressive growth. Today, it is one of the most dynamic and promising sources for generating quality traffic. According to Statista, by the end of 2024, mobile devices will account for more than 60% of total Internet advertising. Meanwhile, applications in the “games” and “casino” categories remain among the most profitable. In Eastern Europe, for example, the share of advertisers on Android has exceeded 75%. In Asia, the use of hybrid apps for media buying is growing.
What’s happening now in the app rental market? What trends are driving it? Analyst and 3SNET expert Alex Miller provides the answers:
- How to rent or buy apps?
- How to choose the best option for media buying?
- What benefits can apps offer in 2024?
As a reminder, in August 2024 we released the first part of the project “Media Buying: All About App Rentals.”
Now in December 2024, we continue to explore this topic to help you make the most of mobile media buying. There is a lot of interesting stuff ahead: ZM apps, Apps4You, App Delivery will share their insights.
Let’s begin!
Alex Miller: The most popular question for 3SNET is where can you rent quality applications now? What recommendations do you have?
Apps4You: As the Apps4You service owner, I can’t help but recommend us. We’ve been in business since 2019, and we’ve weathered more than one storm on both Android and iOS. We’ve seen both the days when media buyers were directing traffic to calculators with gambling icons, and the days when apps with original slots and casino names came out. This experience gives us a deep understanding of the market and the needs of our clients.
AppDelivery: It depends on what kind of requests you have for what kind of apps. In our niche you can find a lot of different services that offer their apps for rent. So, it all depends on your requirements. Furthermore, there are apps for both Android and iOS, as well as PWA. AppDelivery mainly offers iOS apps, but we also have a PWA project that’s called PWA Delivery. Besides, we have our Telegram channel where we post all the news and promotions of our product.
ZM apps: You can rent apps from affiliate programs and app rental services. Gambling and betting affiliate programs usually give away apps for free. However, it is worth paying attention to the quality of these apps. Application development is a long process that requires huge resources and facilities. This is not always a priority for affiliate programs, which can greatly affect the output product quality. Moreover, affiliate programs often rent apps from third-party services and then give them to their buyers.
Renting apps from services is a more trustworthy approach. Application rental services have a great background and are familiar with all the intricacies of working with apps. When you choose services, you get:
- Apps for all popular slots and GEOs available on the market;
- A wide variety of designs;
- Quality, as the development team conducts a lot of testing and delivers a well thought-out product;
- Applications that can survive even the strongest storm, because services have deeper expertise and can maneuver more effectively in crises;
- Technical support, thanks to a large number of specialists, can answer all questions more quickly and comprehensively.
It’s a big advantage if the service has its own buying, which itself is driven into the apps as well as tests all the features. As a result, you get a product with quality functionality.
Sure, you have to pay to rent applications from services, but you get a really valuable product in return. Many services charge for installations, but there are also advanced options. ZM apps has a subscription model without paying for individual installations.
You can simply visit the service’s website or Telegram, depending on what they have available, and rent an app. Each service has, among other things, different payment methods. For example, the AppDelivery service charges per installation. The cost is $0.2 per install, but for large volumes we usually offer a discounted rate, bringing the price down to $0.1-$0.05. In addition, our service is one of the few that offers applications for organic traffic, not only for Facebook, but also for in-app sources with the ability to track events by name. The renter, on the other hand, gets an app with full functionality, including setting up push notifications, viewing stats, 24/7 support, setting up driving over split testing, and customizing the offerer within the campaign. As a service, we try to cover all of our client’s needs and constantly survey our clients on what is missing for implementation. To rent apps in ZM apps, you need to register in the Telegram bot. After registration, the user will be able to rent apps and customize streams both in the bot itself and in the WEB LC on the ZM apps website. Depending on the subscription purchased, the user will have access to iOS, Android and PWA applications, as well as the Smartlink+ feature, which can be used to split iOS and PWA traffic within a link. Regardless of the subscription, the user will be able to use all the technical solutions of the ZM apps service: The Team Access feature allows you to split the roles within a subscription into a buyer, a team leader, and an integrator. For the buyer – private streams hidden from others. For the integrator – the ability to customize and publish streams with encrypted links. For the team leader – the ability to control and manage top-level launches. Self-written attribution service excludes third party services from the redirect chain (e.g. AppsFlyer) and reduces traffic loss to 2%. ZM apps has its own development of link generation and a completely self-developed MMR. Thanks to the caching system adapted for different trackers, the same offer is always opened in the app when the user changes IP address, and offers are correctly distributed when split in the tracker. Self-written pre-land builder with the most popular mechanics constantly increases CR, up to +20%. Proven chains of event and daily format push notifications, created specifically for ZM apps and tested on the ZM team’s buying capabilities, are consistently sent and well opened for high retention. Ready-made designs, created in bright and juicy colors, provide recognizable gambling elements. The user clearly understands that this is an iGaming application and not a child’s puzzle. Traffic splitting via Smartlink+ allows you to split iOS and PWA traffic within one link. Benefits of splitting via Smartlink+: If an iOS app is banned, it is automatically replaced. The intelligent system automatically selects an available iOS app with a similar design and theme, the highest number of installs, and a recent release date. This allows you to maintain high quality of traffic and correctness of bindings. Traffic is not stopped. If the ZM apps link domain is banned, it will also be automatically replaced. A manual restart is required, but you do not need to re-establish the stream. By working with PWA applications, the user gets the ability to split PWA traffic within a single link. Also, automatic text generation with AI, automatic translation of the main PWA elements into the language installed in the player’s browser, and many other features are available. We have a Telegram bot where the main work with our rental apps takes place. In addition, a chatbot is created for each client to integrate the apps and live chat support is available 24/7. Each renter gets the opportunity to direct traffic to their offers through our applications, not only from Facebook, but also from UAC and in-app networks such as Moloko, IronSource, Mintegral. The project channel is at the link.
Alex Miller: Now let’s discuss the apps in more detail!
| ZM apps | Apps4You | AppDelivery |
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| What languages do you create apps in? | ||
| iOS – Unity and Swift Android – Unity and Kotlin |
We have more than 25 app developers working on both Android and iOS, so we have a wide variety of languages. Unity C#, Swift, Flutter, Cordova. This is not a complete set of languages. | Usually, in Unity + Swift. |
| What app writing language is gaining popularity? | ||
| Things are pretty stable in mobile development: the most popular languages are Swift and Kotlin. However, we did not come to this particular stack immediately. We tested many things and chose what we thought was better than others. | In my opinion, the traditionally popular languages are the same ones I listed above. I regularly see chat rooms looking for Unity and Swift developers. | Right now, the hot language on the market is Swift and the standard for webview applications is Unity. |
| What do you have FB*, Android, iOS, other OS’s under? | ||
| The main source of traffic we work with is *Facebook. ZM team buyers have the highest expertise in this source, so we can say that ZM apps specializes in FB. At the same time, other sources are also available to work with ZM apps (from UAC to In-App). | We develop apps for both OSes, as well as for alternative stores like Samsung and Huawei. Diversification across different stores allows us to weather the storms – when nothing comes out on Android, it usually comes out well on iOS, and vice versa. | We have apps available only for iOS and provide referral with FB links, In-app grids, UAC. |
Alex Miller: Are these apps specifically for gambling and betting, or for general topics? Which are the best categories for gambling-themed apps?
AppDelivery: Most of our apps are focused on gambling and, to a lesser extent, betting and general slots. We believe that apps with a narrow specialization on specific slots are now more marketable than general theme apps. The best results are seen in the “Games” and “Entertainment” categories, but due to high competition and moderation requirements, it is not always possible to promote such applications. In such cases, we choose alternative but similar categories.
Apps4You: We publish apps under all verticals – gambling, betting, pins, crypto, finance (banking). The category of apps depends on your sources and goals. Different clients ask for different categories, some need arcades, some need casinos.
ZM apps: Our iOS and Android apps are designed specifically for gambling. With PWA, users can experiment with designs and descriptions to create prizes for any vertical. At ZM apps, we only use PWA for iGaming. Speaking of categories, there are over 10 different app categories in the ZM apps service, including the most popular ones: Plinko, Aviator and Sweet Bonanza.
Alex Miller: How many applications are you ready to offer? Do you have a rotation? And how long does an app live on average? Does it depend on the theme or GEO?
| Apps4You | ZM apps | AppDelivery |
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What volume of apps can you offer for sale and rental? Do you rotate apps? |
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| Our catalogue is updated every month and new apps are added. We try to keep up with the market and offer up-to-date slot designs that the media buyer can feel and test. On average, an app lives for 3 months. We take care of our apps, so we have a bootstrap mode which helps to avoid unwanted attention from moderators. Thanks to this feature, we have one app in the catalogue that lives for more than 523 days.
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We release new apps regularly and are a top 1 service by number of iOS apps on the market. Selling and buying may happen in the future. At the moment, we are focused on renting.
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We are constantly expanding and looking for new customers. The number of applications is generally not limited. We have customers who take 2 Android apps a day, and for us there is no limit. All our apps are covered by a warranty at the time of redemption. If they are banned, we replace them in a very short time. |
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What is the average lifetime of an app? Does the lifetime of an app depend on the theme (is it betting or gambling) and the GEO? |
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| In addition, the lifespan of a slot depends on the GEO on which it is placed. Therefore, we close GEOs where gambling is forbidden and there are apps with slots that live a long time. There are apps with certain slots that live only a little bit due to the fact that this setting is too relevant in the market. Thus, it can be banned as many developers are trying to push it through.
We usually have a certain number of applications in the service, as well as for rent. Usually, there are more applications for rent. |
First of all, it depends on the platform. If we’re talking about iOS apps, not counting the wave of bans, an app can live for a year. The average minimum is around one month. For Android, the question is more acute. The first apps published in ZM apps after a six-month hiatus live for more than a month. But the question of whether Android has let go completely remains open. The correlation between the banning of Fortune Tiger and Plinko and other designs can also be traced. It can be seen that they have a special ‘love’ from the moderation of the stores. |
iOS now lives 2-3 months on average, Android – 3-4 weeks. The lifetime of an app depends directly on the theme, title and graphics. We release apps with direct keywords, such as Plinko, Sweet Bonanza, Melbet, Favbet, 1x. Naturally, they have a shorter lifespan than those without direct keys – 2-3 weeks on average. |
Alex Miller: Let’s talk about apps as a traffic source. How promising do you think this traffic is for the future? What new opportunities have emerged to work with this source?
We believe that apps will always be relevant. Even on the example of Android, it would seem that the market is dead, but now all the services are back and there is a thaw of strict moderation. It is true that the cost of Android app development has increased, as well as on iOS, you have to spend more time on design, working out mechanics, making everything unique. So, the market will live, every year they’re going to tighten and tighten the screws on the store. But I think the media buying community will be ready for that because the market has always been unstable and you have to be flexible in the market. In terms of new features, there are now many features on iOS, such as landings, links for Facebook, saving the last page, navigation bar, split testing of applications between each other. In addition, fast redirect by link and protection of your traffic, i.e. if the application is banned, the traffic is redirected to another application similar in design and all these features are implemented in our service. We are sure that in the next 10 years FB APPS traffic is more than promising, because the prices have given too much to the iGaming industry. This traffic is easily scalable, as confirmed by the trend of many teams from other verticals (nutra, crypto, sweepstakes, edtech, etc.) moving to gambling. Why it is so: Fewer bans and account rejections when direct linking, the ability to insert pre-landing before the app, built-in cloaking that does not pass moderation, a separate cloaking is not required.Thanks to this, such a traffic direction gets a higher trust from moderation, since the apps are in the official store, as well as effective retention of the audience that did not even convert immediately, due to push. Traffic sending to links has seamlessly migrated to FB app traffic sending. The traffic quality is higher due to the audience collected by the app. In addition, aggressive app designs capture the interest of your target audience. All the years we’ve been in this market. I’ve heard that apps are going to die soon – just like Facebook. I think it will live on as long as there are media buyers driving traffic to it. Google and the App Store are always tightening the screws. Moreover, there are always workarounds and ways to release apps. The market is constantly growing and changing for the better – both in terms of design and technology – events, audience migration, event pooches. I believe it’s only going to get more interesting from here on out.
Alex Miller: some questions about moderation!
Which trigger GEOs are the most difficult to get through moderation right now?
Apps4You: The standard set – USA, Ireland, Pakistan. At the same time, some of our clients successfully drive traffic to these GEOs, so apps can live. The main thing is to set up the cloaca properly.
ZM apps: USA, Middle Eastern countries and China. However, this is not about moderation, but about the peculiarities of the legislation of these countries and the consequences of the regulation of the gambling market. We don’t work with these GEOs, they are closed for traffic.
The same services that open access to trigger regions may not always realize the effects that await affiliates after working with such GEOs. On the other hand, we are committed to long-term work with each team, so we don’t accept traffic from the above regions.
AppDelivery: We do not allow our clients to send traffic to these GEOs: US,CN, AE, SA, JO, OM, QA, DZ, PS, SY, TN, LY, YE.
What tips would you give to speed up the moderation process?
Apps4You: Quality accounts + expedite review on iOS.
ZM apps: It all depends on which store we are talking about. For Google Play, these recommendations will be very different from the App Store. On Google Play, the moderation process is more complicated, and rejections are completely random. Reasons for rejection are not highlighted by moderation. There is no way to communicate to find out the reason. For example, you can upload two identical applications one after the other. One of them will pass, but the second one won’t.
The moderation process is simpler on the App Store: there are no random bans or account suspensions. Moderation gives detailed feedback if the reason is an app. For example, if you have a hidden gambling problem, they’ll write about it. The rate of abstract bans is much lower, but they do happen. In these cases, however, you will know what to do and how to proceed. There is no perfect formula for speeding up the process of passing moderation.
We talked more about moderation in stores on ZM VOICE CHAT
AppDelivery: Resubmitting and contacting the support team can help. However, you should be careful with this, as experience shows that it sometimes leads to bans.
Alex Miller: And a little bit about trends!
Now there is still a wave of Plinko popularity and all kinds of designs for this slot. Based on the experience of the ZM buying team, we can say that the click rate on Plinko is much higher than on other slots. At the same time, we expect a “design reversal” and a shift to other slots like Joker, Sweet Bonanza, maybe Big Bass Bonanza. Speaking of functionality, the most important part of the funnel is, of course, push and send. ZM apps has implemented a ZM push feature with self-written events and daily format push. It also has its own “pushologist”, a person who builds push notification funnels. The second important feature is audience transfer. Each app has its own solvent core, which helps to get deposits more efficiently. It is also worth mentioning the support of high ratings and reviews on the app. ZM apps has its own system for evaluating each GEO and sagging ratings/reviews. I suppose it’s pretty obvious here – daily push, event-based push, and combinability of app design and offer. Plinko is very relevant in the market right now, like the tigers that are being hunted by media buyers.
What are the most promising regions in terms of app success statistics?
ZM apps: This is a great question. Experience shows that any GEO can be successful with the right work. From tier 3, India, Bangladesh and Malaysia, to Canada, Australia and other tier 1 countries.
Apps4You: We have customers in a variety of GEOs, from the USA to Japan and Ghana, so it’s hard to single out specific GEOs.
Alex Miller: This all sounds very exciting, I want to try it soon! Bonuses and discounts are a great way to evaluate the capabilities of the services. As always, we have prepared for you promo codes for app rentals from our members!
| Промокод от Apps4You | Промокод от ZM apps | Промокод от AppDelivery |
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| +20% to the first top up of the rental bot! |
1500 free installs in the ‘Trial’ tariff! |
+20% to the first top-up on AppDelivery ‘DeliveryLink’ service. |
| Take the bonus! | Get a gift! |
You can find even more promo codes to help media buyers at 3SNET.co!
This is the end of our fascinating interview! We will prepare something more useful and interesting for you soon! Subscribe and follow our updates to be the first to know!
If you want to know anything or have any questions – write to us!
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