San Francisco-based mobile marketing infrastructure company, Tenjin, is bringing its analytics software to Google’s Daydream mobile VR platform.
What does that mean? Well, basically Tenjin’s tools allow developers to track user behavior inside Daydream apps, mainly relating to marketing. So if a developer was to implement in-app advertising into their Daydream game they’d be able to generate statistics on things like visibility and engagement within the app.
Using an app in VR is obviously very different from using traditional software. Rather than needing to track where a user is tapping, Tenjin’s software will likely be more concerned with where they’re looking. The company’s services tie analytics, attribution, and ad network data integration into a simple dashboard that gives creators quick access to information.
While VR as a whole remains a relatively niche concept, in-app advertising is a major source of revenue for developers in the wider smartphone ecosystem, thus it makes sense tools to measure their effectiveness would come to mobile VR platforms eventually. In fact, some developers on the Google Cardboard platform, which has shipped over 10 million units, have already created free-to-play VR apps that generate revenue from advertising.
Just how viable a revenue stream this is for platforms like Daydream remains to be seen, though, as the install base there is no doubt lower. Resolution Games, for example, recently brought its mobile VR game, Bait!, over from Gear VR to Daydream, but in the process changed the game from free-to-play to a premium product, suggesting the latter option might be the better path.
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