Robert Wildner, CEO of AVOW explains how mobile OEM marketing can help marketers drive app installs in a privacy-friendly way. 

With over 7m apps available across iOS and Android, competition for users is fierce. In the quest for new installs, marketers must explore every option – leaving no stone unturned. While many user acquisition campaigns may focus on the duopoly of Google and Facebook, there are many avenues outside of traditional search and social, including original equipment manufacturer (OEM) placements.

In the mobile context, OEM refers to a mobile phone manufacturer such as OPPO, Vivo, Xiaomi, and Huawei. These manufacturers monetize their inventory in various ways, including new device activations, push notifications, pre-loaded apps, and more. Generally only available on Android devices, these placements are especially helpful for companies looking to reach new users and for those who want to reduce the risk of being only dependent on the mercy of Google Play.

An increasing number of Android mobile OEMs dominate the smartphone industry in important markets. For instance, they have more than a 73 per cent market share in Asia. That has only continued to grow in other key markets as OEM’s reputation for delivering a quality audience has made them a cost-efficient favorite for advertisers. Mobile marketers looking to ramp up their efforts, and find new sources of users, would be wise to consider adding OEM to their channel mix.

Why mobile marketers should consider OEM

1. Improve your global market presence
A growing number of mobile OEMs who are monetizing their inventory are increasing their market share. In Europe over 60 per cent of the market share goes to OEMs with ambitions to market their own app store and sell advertising opportunities, giving advertisers a direct route to millions of users in mature and developing markets.

2. Mobile OEM is cost-effective
Forget cost-per-click (CPC) models – with mobile OEM, advertisers only pay for installs. When marketers are focused on actual installs and not just clicks, budgets are used more efficiently to gain better-quality users. In turbulent economic times, mobile OEM presents a trustworthy way to find quality users on a tight budget.

3. Ease of targeting
Mobile OEM placements make it easy to target users based on everything from device to carrier to location or even demographic. For instance, fintech apps often target people based on income or credit scores. An app looking to target users with poor credit scores could choose OEM carriers that cater to lower-income customers with less desirable credit scores.

4. Fraud-free
With no additional layers between users and advertisers, mobile OEM makes fraud virtually impossible. For this reason, advertisers find OEM to be a trustworthy channel and an efficient way to spend their budget.

5. Mobile OEM is privacy-friendly
In the era of App Tracking Transparency (ATT), OEM placement – which is only available on Android – is a privacy-friendly way to find new sources of users in non-traditional app stores. Even if Google decides to deprecate its advertising ID to make it more difficult for all marketers to run efficient campaigns outside the Google ecosystem, mobile OEMs will still allow you to do optimization based on advertising ID. All marketers who don’t want to have a second iOS debacle on Google should take action now because OEM attribution will not be affected and still have full optimization capacity.

Navigating mobile OEM advertising strategy
Mobile marketing teams are often strapped for time and resources, forcing them to stick to familiar channels such as Facebook and Google ads. But scaling global growth means testing new sources of inventory and branching out beyond what you know. Still, navigating user acquisition outside of traditional search and social media can be time-consuming, which is where award-winning companies like AVOW come in. Mobile OEM experts can help small and larger teams develop and execute a mobile OEM strategy that works for their region.

For instance, Xiaomi, the largest Android smartphone manufacturer, which runs Mi Ads to manage sales activities across its devices, has engaged AVOW in EMEA, SEA, and LATAM. AVOW’s role is to help clients gain access to exclusive ad formats and reach untapped users from Xiaomi’s diverse user base by offering managed campaigns, as well as brand awareness activities.

This partnership comes at a crucial time, as marketers looking to promote apps are bound to rely upon third-party advertising sources with no guarantee of fraud detection, booming costs, and user engagement. Xiaomi’s advertising placements allow app marketers to achieve incremental user growth from customers who are brand loyal to Xiaomi.

AVOW specializes in mobile OEM on-device user acquisition, providing app developers and brands with unique opportunities to access untapped mobile advertising inventory and scale their businesses globally. Mobile OEMs offer an unprecedented opportunity for advertisers to explore on-device advertising. Still, the OEM market is vast and requires expertise the average marketing team – or even agency – does not have. After years of working with all major mobile OEMs – including Samsung, Huawei, Vivo, Oppo, and, of course, Xiaomi – AVOW has amassed the know-how to help mobile marketing teams make OEMs a top-performing mobile marketing channel.