• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, October 31, 2016

About a month back, Apple officially added Search Ads to its App Store. The move was designed to give developers a simple way to show off their apps to potential users.

How are developers responding?

Well, since the beginning of October, they have nearly doubled their investment in Search Ads, according to fresh findings from mobile analytics and attribution firm AppsFlyer.

How are the ads performing? On average, the Search Ads are generating six in-app actions per install, which is the fourth-highest ratio among top media sources.

Also of note, 72% of search queries that resulted in an install were not based on the actual name of the app, AppsFlyer finds.

Bigger picture, “Apple is seeking to emulate the success of [Google] that built an empire from one concept: the value of search intent,” notes Shani Rosenfelder, a content marketing lead at AppsFlyer.

The effort comes as Apple’s hardware business continues to decline. Year-over-year, in fact, iPhone sales have declined by about 13% to 45.5 million units.

Increasing demand for Search Ads, the App Store is expected to expand dramatically over the next few years.

Indeed, based on data stretching back to the App Store’s debut in 2008, the active app catalogue in the store will increase by 73% from the end of 2016 -- reaching a total of 5 million apps -- according to recent findings from Sensor Tower.