September is the month of summer ends, colder evenings, and the yearly Apple event! What did this month have in store for the mobile world? Let’s find out!

Apple held its September event

While everyone was going back to school (or work), Apple held its yearly September events. Aside from announcing a new iPhone (the iPhone 14), they also announced the launch of iOS 16. 

iOS 16’s major new additions are lock screen customization and iMessage edit and undo options. After users briefly experienced App Store errors when installing iOS 16 updates, the new OS seems to be adopted faster than its predecessor, iOS 15. 

In other App Store news, inflation will hit the store starting October 5. According to Apple’s official statement, “prices of apps and in-app purchases (excluding auto-renewable subscriptions) on the App Store will increase in Chile, Egypt, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, South Korea, Sweden, Vietnam, and all territories that use the euro currency. In Vietnam, these increases also reflect new regulations for Apple to collect and remit applicable taxes, being value-added tax (VAT) and corporate income tax (CIT) at 5% rates respectively”. 

Meanwhile, Apple is having a pretty good year, its Apple Search Ads business is gaining ground on ad giants Google and Facebook. The launch of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency tool helped boost ASA. 

source: Business Of Apps

Play Store’s updates

Google Play’s ratings and reviews are now based on device. Google announced the upcoming change earlier this year, but it seems like it is finally live. 

source: Android Police

It’s a small change, but it could still have an impact on users’ decision to download. It’ll help them figure out if the app will work on their device or not.

In addition to that, Google will also allow alternative payment methods to more countries including: India, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, and the European Economic Area. This only concerns non-gaming apps, they will need to apply to the program to check their eligibility beforehand. Google announced a 4% discount on fees for developers using third-party billing with more details to come later. 

Meta now supports CPPs

Meta finally added support for Apple’s Custom Product Pages. This means you’ll be able to link Meta ad campaigns back to a custom product page on the App Store. It’s an excellent addition to UA campaigns and will allow a seamless link between UA and ASO. 

To find out more about CPPs and how you can leverage them to market your app, read our post about it. 

Zynga acquires Storemaven

Zynga (owned by Take-Two) has acquired Storemaven. There’s not a lot of information about what the acquisition will look like for Storemaven as of yet but their joint announcement said that Storemaven’s “innovative mobile technologies” would be combined with “Zynga’s expansive global portfolio and Chartboost’s advertising platform”. 

YouTube is betting it all on Shorts

After trying to show more ads in front of its videos, YouTube has decided to bank on its latest tool, its very own TikTok rip-off: Shorts. According to numbers shared by Google, Shorts seems to be doing pretty well.

Aside from starting to monetize Shorts for creators, the video platform is also testing a conversion tool that would automatically convert landscape ads into portrait ads that could be shown on Shorts. 

This is still in beta testing and focused on video ads for apps so far. 

TikTok stays ahead of Instagram and copies BeReal to be sure to stay in the race

Recent reports have shown that TikTok settling in a lead in front of both Facebook and Instagram. Consumers are using Instagram and Facebook less now and spending their extra time on TikTok. 

Additionally, Reels is not doing well enough to really compete with TikTok, even with the new topic option. A document internal to Meta showed that Reels’ engagement is falling (minus 13,6% in the last weeks), and users spend 17,6 million daily hours on Reels versus 197,8 million daily hours on TikTok. 

TikTok may be doing good, but it’s not about to let new players take the helm. The video app just launched TikTok Now, a BeReal clone that comes either as a separate app or a new tab inside TikTok depending on where you’re located.

You will finally be able to edit tweets for the right price

As promised before, Twitter is finally bringing the edit option to its (paying) users. Testing started this month, before expanding to some Twitter Blue subscribers. It will gradually become available in more countries as testing goes on. 

Once a tweet is edited, a complete edit history including the past versions of the tweet will be available. 

September’s lawsuits

What kind of monthly recap would it be without a nod to the latest lawsuit news of the mobile world:

• The EU fined Google over $4 billion for antitrust behavior (using the Android operating system to hold back competitors)
• South Korea fined both Google and Meta over $70 million for not getting legitimate consent when collecting user information
• The EU fined Instagram 405 million euros for violation of children’s privacy, including the publication of kids’ email addresses and phone numbers

Numbers of the month

• Completion rates for rewarded video ads in puzzle games are 97% 
• 38% of user acquisition marketers increased Apple Search Ads spend
• Rollic celebrates a milestone as it achieves 2 billion downloads across its portfolio
• Candy Crush Turns 10
• Mobile video ads achieve up to 88% in viewability rates
• Apple Search Ads sees a 5% year-on-year increase in share-of-wallet
• 89% of publishers monetize their apps using in-app advertisements
• 61% of top apps are using Apple Search Ads 
• Average IAP price increased 40% on iOS and 9% on Google Play
• Player Spending to Fall by 2% Year-Over-Year in 2022
• Business app installs up 70% since 2019
• 65% of app marketers looking for new ways of audience targeting 
• Android’s share of hyper casual game ad spending climbs to a record 57% 
• The top 1% of publishers generated 91% of all app revenue in H1 2022

September’s App Marketing Snack Episodes

• ASO tips you need to know with Artiom Tzaczuk, ASO Specialist for Onde ⎮ The App Marketing Snack #17
• How to start an influencer campaign for your mobile game with Marion Balinoff⎮App Marketing Snack #18

What we talked about this month

• How to best use gamer motivation to level up your mobile game’s creative assets
• How a good first impression can boost your conversions
• A dive into UGC (and UGC-like) video ads, the latest app marketing trend
• Engage, Retain, Earn: Growth Strategy for Game Apps [Based on Data]

• Author
• Recent Posts

Marine Nozerand

Hi there, I'm Marine (she/her), I'm a Content Manager at Apptamin. Apptamin is a creative agency specialized in app videos (video ads, app store videos, etc.).

Latest posts by Marine Nozerand (see all)

• Mobile Video Monthly #38 – November 2023 - 5 December 2023
• Disturbing ads, a new trend for mobile gaming creatives? - 28 November 2023
• The Power of Holiday Marketing in Boosting Mobile Game Engagement - 21 November 2023