To build or buy is one of the questions the agency panel today is tackling, and it seems sponsoring an app rather than starting from scratch is getting strong support from the group assembled. Hooking
into another app, especially one moving up the App Store charts has the benefit of being less risky and less costly than building a branded app that could cost into six figures at the high end. "There
won't be an app for every movie" said Courtney Renaud, supervisor at mec:interaction, but a new movie can be promoted via third-part app sponsorship or ads within an app.
That approach also
cuts down on the cost of having to promote a branded app--which is required with 185,000 titles in the App Store. That could add up to double whatever the cost to create the app was. Then again, with
the iAd going for $10 million, in-app advertising isn't necessarily a low-budget play.
