Fiksu Introduces Support For Facebook Mobile App Install Ads, As The New Ad Format Shows Early Traction For Top Developers

Fiksu, a Boston-based app marketing startup, is today rolling out support for Facebook mobile app install ad optimization. The company previously supported optimizations for display ads, video ads, incentivized installs and more, but the move to add Facebook is a testament to the social network’s growing influence as a way to drive app installs for publishers.

The added support comes at a good time – Facebook’s mobile app ads are now used by one-fifth of iOS’ top grossing developers, according to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, who shared this information on the company’s latest earnings call. And the potential is there to grow beyond that as well, given that Facebook now reaches 680 million users on mobile daily. Combined with the fact that Facebook already knows what users “like” and what their friends are clicking, these ads are rapidly becoming a viable user acquisition channel for app developers going forward.

According to Craig Palli, VP of Business Development, the move to add Facebook support was partly due to the company’s core strategy, but also from “numerous” client requests to integrate social media into their ongoing acquisition strategies.

The new Facebook platform integration is accomplished using REST-based APIs that allow granular control and refinement of mobile app install ads and other Facebook products, Palli tells us. The campaigns begin by casting a broad net across the Facebook audience and channels, he explains, and then begin to narrow down the target based on the data gathered regarding clickstreams, downloads, and performance parameters. Fiksu isn’t charging more for the added option, but is instead rolling it into its current packages.

More and more app marketers and analytics firms are now ramping up to take Facebook into account as an important mobile player, including recently Localytics, which this November began tracking Facebook mobile app install ads on its platform. Another company, AdParlor, also recently shared data with TechCrunch which indicated that Facebook’s app install ads could indicate big revenue potential for developers.

The pay-per-install market may not last forever, especially given Apple’s history of discounting paid installs once any “cheating” tactic begins to actually work. But in Facebook’s case, growing app installs through News Feed clicks may have a longer shelf life – at least until Facebook over does it, causing “ad blindness” in its user base. (That’s a dangerous line to cross, of course – after all, when was the last time you clicked a banner ad?)

But for now, expect to see more of this Facebook app install optimization in the near-term from Fiksu competitors, as the industry gloms onto to the next big thing for driving new users to apps in the over-crowded app store market.