Conducted semi-annually, the AdColony User Acquisition Survey gathers insights, benchmarks, and trends from the top 100 grossing app developers. While many mobile user acquisition surveys poll publishers of varying successes, this survey features data from only the top grossing iOS and Android developers. These developers already know how to build high quality apps, and their UA teams drive an average of 500,000 paid installs per month. So what are the top developers doing to acquire high quality users at scale? What is their user acquisition strategy, what are they most excited about, and what has been the most successful for them? The answer is video. 98% of respondents turn to video for mobile user acquisition, making it the channel of choice among top grossing publishers. Interstitials, Facebook display, and other display ads follow closely behind as the top tier choices. According to the survey, 50% of performance advertisers are most excited about video as a UA channel this year, making video 2.3x more popular than social and 23x more popular than display. Interestingly, while the majority of respondents who use video are excited about the format, only one fourth of advertisers using social are excited about it, suggesting a level of discontent with social channels as optimism shifts to video.

1. Q1 2015
User Acquisition Trends
from Top 100 Grossing
App Developers

2. Insights, Trends and Benchmarks from Top 100 Grossing App Developers
User Acquisition Trends

3. 3
The Survey
#4
4th Iteration Over 2 Years
90
Detailed Questions
46%
Survey Response Rate
Top 100
Grossing App Developers
$1,000,000
Average Monthly UA Spend*
500,000
Average Monthly Installs*
Insights, benchmarks and trends
from the top 100 grossing app
developers.
FORMAT & DATA RESPONDENT PROFILE
*Based on aggregated market data of top 100 grossing ad spend & install volume.
.

4. Top Formats and Channels
Video, full-screen interstitials and display lead the way.
4
Source: AdColony Q1 2015 Top 100 Grossing Developer Survey
UA Channel Jan’13 Jul’13 June’14 Jan’15
Video Ads 100% 100% 100% 98%
Facebook App Install Ads (Display) 68% 94% 92% 96%
Interstitials 100% 83% 90% 96%
Display/Banners 89% 86% 86% 93%
Direct Publisher Deals 63% 72% 59% 54%
Cross Promotion 68% 53% 49% 54%
Offer Walls (Incentivized) 100% 64% 47% 54%
Facebook App Install Ads (Video) 69% 52%
Television 22% 35%
Free App Networks 95% 64% 35% 41%
OOH (e.g. Billboards, Posters) 6% 15%
Print 0% 0% 2% 7%
Other 5% 3% 2% 2%
Video, Facebook, interstitials,
and banners continue to
dominate the media mix.
Traditional media formats (TV,
Print, Out of Home) are
enjoying adoption and growth.
Incentivized channels and
formats continue to decline.
Q: Which of the following UA
channels do you currently use?

5. Mobile Video is the “Most Exciting” Format of 2015
Top grossing developers rate mobile video as the “Most Exciting” User Acquisition channel for 2015.
5
Source: AdColony Q1 2015 Top 100 Grossing Developer Survey
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
50%
21.7%
8.7%8.7%
2.2%2.2%2.2%
4.3%
Other
Out of Home
Interstitials
Banners
Television
Playable Ads
Social
Video
Q: Which UA channel are you
most excited about in 2015?

6. 6
Why? Mobile Video is the Most Effective Format.
Mobile video ads rank #1 in user acquisition effectiveness against campaign objectives.
Other
Free App Networks
Offer Walls
Playable Ads
Native Ads
Display (banners)
Direct Deals
Cross-promo
Display (interstitial)
Facebook
Mobile Video Ads
Very Effective
Most Effective
Source: AdColony Q1 2015 Top 100 Grossing Developer Survey
Mobile Video is #1 in Effectiveness
98% of top grossing user acquisition
advertisers report that video ads are
“very effective” if not the “most
effective” format they use

7. Growth in Traditional Media
Television, out-of-home and print all growing.
7
Source: AdColony Q1 2015 Top 100 Grossing Developer Survey
TV Out of Home Print
7%
15%
35%
2%
6%
22%
Jul'14
Jan'15
Top apps are becoming
franchises and are being
supported with ad spend
across traditional marketing
channels.

8. Campaign KPIs of Top Grossing App Developers
Quality is king, but volume and scale are also important.
8
Source: AdColony Q1 2015 Top 100 Grossing Developer Survey
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
96%
82%
81%
78%78%
Targeting
Service
Price
Volume
Quality of User
Q: How important is each of the
following in terms of evaluating
ad network and UA campaign
performance?

9. Shift to Display
Shift to Interstitials
Shift to Direct Sales
Focus more on CPI
Focus more on CLV
Shift to video
Shift to social
Increase in reach (geo)
Fewer partners
Testing new channels
Increase in size
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Somewhat Agree
Strongly Agree
Top User Acquisition Campaign Trends for 2015
Budgets are getting larger, campaigns are becoming more global and focused with fewer advertising partners.
9
Source: AdColony Q1 2015 Top 100 Grossing Developer Survey
Q: Compared to last year, my UA
campaigns will ________ in 2015.
Focus on Global Campaigns
As campaigns become more
global, UA teams look to work
with fewer teams that can drive
increased reach.

10. 98%
96%96%
93%
54%54%
52%
46%
41%
35%
20%
15%
7%
2%
Other
Print
Out of Home
Playable
TV
Free App Network
Native
FB Video
Cross Promo
Offer Walls
Display
Facebook Display
Interstitials
Video
User Acquisition Formats
Which user acquisition formats/channels do you use?
10
Source: AdColony Q1 2015 Top 100 Grossing Developer Survey

11. Targeting
Which targeting parameters are most important to you and help maximize the performance your UA campaigns?
11
Source: AdColony Q1 2015 Top 100 Grossing Developer Survey
OS
Geography
Device
Source App
Age
Gender
Behavior & Demo
Connection
Carrier
Key Requirement
Nice to Have
Not Required
OS, geography and and device
are all top key requirements.
3/4 of top advertisers say that
source ID’s are a key
requirement.
1/3 of top advertisers require
full transparency into inventory
sources.

12. 89%
76%
33%
17%
11%
4%2%
Friend Invitation Positive Review Session Time Social Log-In Tutorial Completion Early IAP Retention
Leading Indicators of High Quality Loyal Users
What are some of the early indicators of a high quality loyal user
who is likely to monetize via IAP?
12
Source: AdColony Q1 2015 Top 100 Grossing Developer Survey
Day 2, 7, 14 retention and early session IAP purchases are the
best leading indicators of a high quality (LTV) loyal user

13. UA Team Size
What is the size of your UA team?
13
Source: AdColony Q1 2015 Top 100 Grossing Developer Survey
Small UA teams remain common, with 72% of
teams having 5 members or less.
24% of respondents only have one person on
their UA team.
48% of respondents have 2-5 people on their
UA team.
9%
20%
28%
20%
24%
1 2-3 4-5 6-10 10+

14. Frequency of Campaign Analysis and Optimization
How often does your team review UA campaign results and optimize campaigns?
14
Source: AdColony Q1 2015 Top 100 Grossing Developer Survey
71% of top app developers optimize campaigns multiple
times per week, and 30% optimize campaigns daily.
2%
26%
41%
30%
Every Day
Multiple Times a Week
Once a Week
Less Than Once a Week

15. Localization
Most top grossing developers are localizing ad creatives for at least 5 languages.
15
Source: AdColony Q1 2015 Top 100 Grossing Developer Survey
17%
83%
Yes
No
Do you produce localized creative assets?
42%
15%
42%
10+
5-9
1-4
How many geographies do you localize for?

16. Thank You