Motility Ads Luring App Developers To The Big Screen


Motility Ads, a company that brands itself as a “mobile marketplace for app discovery,” is expected to Tuesday announce ActivateTV, a technology that allows app developers to send consumers to their download screen by way of television advertising.

ActivateTV uses technology that has existed for a while now: “short codes” and texting keywords. For example, consumers will be prompted to “text APPS to 5555” during a TV spot. Once that text is sent, the consumer will receive a text back with link. The link will take them directly to the app download page.

“We leverage a technology that’s not exactly new but it’s being applied in a new way,” Josh Rinsky, the company’s VP of business development, said to RTM Daily. “There’s clearly some familiarity with [this method] among the TV viewing audience at large.”

Rinsky said that because the campaigns are tied directly to certain TV ad spots, its easy to measure the impact the ads have on consumers. “We are able to track the entire process,” he claimed. “We can track an install all the way back to the commercial that aired.”

He asserted that this is important because it has been “difficult, if not impossible, [for app marketers] to prove that a TV campaign had a direct effect on ROI.”

It’s not all about downloading games, either. For example, retail stores could deliver in-store coupons this way, and app developers of any kind could offer exclusive content.

“It’s time to think more creatively about television’s role in the mobile ecosystem,” said Robert Derow, managing director of Motility Ads, in an earlier statement. “So often, the focus has been on how mobile devices can enhance the TV experience. ActivateTV makes it possible for TV to enhance the mobile experience.”

Motility is currently running pilot campaigns with leading game and app developers, including King.com, the creators of "Candy Crush Saga." The company is also currently working with Wooga, SGN and GREE.

For now, mobile app stores dominate the conversation, but Rinsky has his eyes on other “stores” that have taken a similar form, including consoles and social media sites.

“Right now, it’s heavily in the mobile space,” he said. “But those channels have app-like stores on their own devices.”

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