(Newswire.net — January 26, 2020) — I bet most of you once wondered how free mobile applications manage to make money. I mean, they are free to the public, right? How can they stay afloat then? Well, the answer for this question is because of a few app monetization strategies.
This type of strategy helps turn one’s idea into a business. It is one of the key factors that must be taken into consideration when thinking about starting any enterprise.
Do you rely on subscriptions? Or people simply pay every time they use your services or products? That’s what a monetization strategy.
When it comes to mobile apps, there are many ways they can create revenue, even if they are free of charge to the public.
So, with those being said here are some of the most popular ways which free apps use to make money.
1. Advertising
Because of its easy implementation, effectiveness, and versatility, this is strategy is the most popular that developers chose to rely on.
In-app advertising can take many forms, such as pop-ups, videos, banners, or even playable ads. The latter is mostly tackled by game developers. This sort of ad lets users play a small portion of the advertised game.
2. In-App Purchases
This type of monetization work best on mobile games. It gained a lot of popularity lately and even caused a bit of controversy in some cases.
It offers players to spend money in the app itself, for virtual content. Things such as extra lives, new levels, or any sort of cosmetic item used for customizing your character, can be put behind a paywall. That’s what in-app purchases means.
This method is very profitable for game developers because once the public gets hooked into their video-game, they’ll start putting money on the table in order to get better or improve the experience.
3. Freemium
Another popular way developers manage to create some revenue is by using the “freemium” tactic. This strategy is somewhat similar to in-app purchases.
However, freemium appeals to a much wider range of apps. The way this method is implemented is by making a part of the app for free, and the other paid, as the name suggests.
The premium part of the app mostly contains more in-detail features, and quite ironically, some disable the annoying video ads you get every 5 minutes in the non-premium version.
Conclusion
With those being said, there were some answers to the mysterious question of how free apps make money. In general, each one of these tactics is better suited for a certain type of app.
As we mentioned before, in-app purchases are best for mobile games, while freemium offers much more variety. Fitness trackers, gym apps, music players are just a few examples that come off the top of my mind and use the freemium tactic.
Simple advertising is mostly used when developers don’t actually want to get money off of its user’s wallet. They rely on the traffic of their app.