App Install Ads Make Their Way To Search

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Being able to tie in app install prompts to advertising can be quite effective for both a company and a consumer. The company benefits from more attention to given products, while the consumer has the convenience of installing an app on the fly, without needing to do an additional search through a separate program.

According to TechCrunch, a change has come to Google’s mobile search results for Android devices, which now provides a prompt that automatically ties in any mobile apps that fit in with the search inquiry. As a result, those consumers that were looking for apps relevant to their topic will now have a more direct opportunity to download them through the mobile search results page.

This could essentially mean a spike in business for developers that were looking to spread word-of-mouth on their potential apps. Google has already taken steps to assure that these programs could be found easier, thanks to the introduction of App Indexing back in 2013. This enables the search engine index content from certain apps to link through search results pages. The latest update makes it easier to do that, as relevant content can now be found via apps, even if they aren’t already installed to Android devices.

How deep does App indexing go now Approximately 30 billion links deep, according to Google. It didn’t state just how many developers would benefit from the program, but it’s easy to see that it’s going to be big business for some. App discovery will no doubt play a part in drawing a new audience.

“The goal is for developers to continue to create great content in apps and create deep links into that content so users who have particular questions can directly access that content,” said Rajan Patel, a principal engineer for Google that was close to the project, speaking with TechCrunch.

As far as when the program will grow even further – like to IOS and other mobile-based devices – Patel didn’t provide a timeline, but the team is certainly working on new ways to expand it, in the hopes of improving business for itself, participating developers, and, obviously, consumers that want to discover these new apps in the first place.

‘Star Wars’ Celebration Gives Fans A Force-ful of Fun

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This year’s Star Wars Celebration is said and done, although its impact will certainly be felt within the science fiction-based universe for at least the next year, leading up to next year’s event that will take place in London in July 2016.

The four-day event, which was held in Anaheim, California, brought fans, celebrities and cosplay fanatics in droves, where nearly every corner of the Star Wars universe was tackled. I attended as well, and although it was only my second Star Wars Celebration event in the 16 years since it began, it still felt like I was home.

Obviously the new film The Force Awakens took an enormous focus, as a second trailer for the film debuted on Thursday and instantly drove fans into nostalgic overdrive. If early indications show anything, the film should have no trouble breaking box office records when it debuts on December 18. A report from Comicbook.com shows that it’s already shattered YouTube viewership records, with the trailer getting 88 million views in a 24 hour time period. That destroys the previous record of 62 million held by Furious 7 back in November.

The show was also the place for various panels that spanned the Star Wars universe, from talking with iconic stars like Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher to showcasing new products like the second season of Disney’s Star Wars Rebels animated show and EA’s forthcoming Battlefront game, which debuted with flying colors. The event also dug deep into more “hardcore” Star Wars elements, including tattoo competitions, comic books, art and much, much more.

Star Wars Celebration turned out to be immensely popular over the span of its four days, as all tickets sold out by the time it began, and thousands lined up the doors to take part in a number of exhibits, including a Battlefront X-Wing simulator that inputted players into the action. You can see my personal foray into this experiment below. (And yes, I’m already told that I look like Porkins from the original A New Hope film.)

 

Over Half Of U.S. Teens Are On Instagram

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If you’ve been around or live with a teen these days, glued to their phones, you can bet that they are spending a good portion of their time scrolling through their Instagram feeds. According to research by Defy Media, 52 percent of U.S. teen Internet users are on the platform. To put that in perspective, Instagram is the second most adopted platform by the age group behind Facebook of which 71 percent of teens use.

US Teen Instagram Users

eMarketer estimates that this year, Instagram’s proportion will move up significantly to 61.9 percent penetration and may stand to surpass Facebook’s stronghold in 2019.

But who is Instagram *more* popular with Instagram users tend to be just slightly older than young teens, as 58 percent of 15 to 17 year-olds say they use it compared to 44 percent of 13 to 14 year-olds. Instagram is also more popular among females (61 percent) than males (44 percent).

Income, is of course, also another major factor in its userbase as Instagram is primarily a mobile platform. It makes sense that Instagram would be most popular among teens with a household income of over $75k. It also makes sense for it to be second most popular for under $30k household income as the traditional notion of Internet access is changing, with the key entrypoint being mobile.

Despite Instagram’s dominance, it appears many brands are not taking advantage of the platform. Predominantly, restaurants, hotels and retailers are more keen on Instagram, but adoption rates for those brands are still barely over 30 percent {link no longer active} or below.

IAB Finds 35% Increase In Connected TV Streaming From Last Year

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by Jessica Klein

TV watchers in the U.S. are continuing on the multi-screen track. According to data from a new study carried out by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, “The Changing TV Experience: Attitudes and Usage Across Multiple Screens,” US adults are are getting “smarter” TVs, streaming more content, and letting their TVs share the spotlight with other devices.

Smart TVs and/or connected TVs have entered the homes of more than a third of the US population over age 18, with about 38 percent of those viewers spending half their viewing time with streaming content. Time spent watching streaming content is up 35 percent from last year amongst connected TV viewers. Meanwhile, people in the country are watching 19 percent less traditional TV than they did the year before.

 

IAB more people have connected TVs this year

Read more…

This article was originally posted on VideoInk and is reposted on [a]listdaily via a partnership with the news publication, which is the online video industry’s go-to source for breaking news, features, and industry analysis. Follow VideoInk on Twitter @VideoInkNews, or subscribe via thevideoink.com for the latest news and stories, delivered right to your inbox.

 

Creating A Competitive Mobile MOBA

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The massive success of eSports has led to plenty of competition on PCs, but so far mobile games that are ready for professional competitive play have yet to really break through. The latest entrant to throw its hat into the competitive mobile gaming ring is Spacetime Studios, a Texas-based independent mobile game developer and publisher best known for its mobile MMO Pocket Legends. The studio is preparing a mobile multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game, Call of Champions, and they’ve enlisted the help of three professional gamers to sharpen the game’s competitive edge.

Spacetime Studios CEO Gary Gattis talked with [a]listdaily about Call of Champions, competitive gaming, and why the company brought in pro gamers to consult.

How did Spacetime Studios get started, and what led to your developing a competitive mobile game?

Spacetime was formed back in 2005 to build a very large MMO for NCsoft. It was a very large-scale product — $25 million — and we invested maybe $15 million in the tech. The game was canceled in 2008 but we got to keep the technology. So we’ve got very, very powerful client-server, enterprise-class technology. We didn’t really know what to do with it. We’ve been watching the rise of competitive gaming on PC for several years. We thought that was something we wanted to take on, so our latest game Call of Champions is an expression of that.

Dealing with real-time multiplayer gaming on mobile is a technical challenge. How have you approached it?

Our tech is fairly unique in that it lets us have global synchronous PVP on iOS and Android, so everyone around the world plays on the same server set, even through very high-latency connections, all the way down to EDGE. When we started looking for consultants we talked to a whole bunch of guys. We think we are the future of competitive gaming, and the guys we’re talking to are also very interested in the future of competitive gaming. That’s really how we linked up with these three dudes.

Tell us about the professional players you have consulting with you on the design of Call of Champions.

The three professional gamers serve as independent consultants, having extensive experience in the MOBA genre and on the Esports circuit. James “PhantomL0rd” Varga began his professional gaming career with Team Fortress Classic, Counterstrike, Quake3 Arena, and World of Warcraft before immersing himself in the competitive League of Legends community where he co-founded the original V8 Esports team. Joedat “Voyboy” Esfahani is among the most accomplished and well-known League of Legends players in the world; he has represented teams such as Dignitas, Counter Logic Gaming, and Curse in tournaments as large as the World Championships. Stephen “Snoopeh†Ellis is a former professional League of Legends player who has competed with and against the best players in the world for more than four years.

What makes these gamers the right ones to help you with your game design?

James, Joedat and Stephen have helped level up competitive gaming and define what it means to be a pro gamer today. Their extraordinary ability to understand MOBAs and how players interact with these games makes them the perfect partners to blaze new trails on the mobile platform alongside our Call of Champions development team.

How will you be marketing Call of Champions?

We’re community-centric, and we’re going to start with the community. We’ve got a very active group of players that already play our games, and at the high end of our MMOs it’s all PvP, and so we’ve got a very core group of highly active PvP players that we will cross-pollinate. We’re also building up a community from the competitive gaming scene through our early alpha program which is a pretty exclusive thing to get into. For us, it’s all about building a great group of competitive players and a community that knows that they can hang out and talk to devs and we’ll listen to their feedback.

Outside of that, we’re looking at the same things that most other people look at. Performance marketing is crazy on mobile right now, and you’re right, it is tremendously difficult to get noticed. We’re hoping we have a very. Very high-quality product that is absolutely unique in the market. I can tell you there’s nothing like this game on PC or mobile right now. So we’re relying on a huge amount of innovation, plus a very, very active and competitive community group, hopefully led by our professionals that will consult with us to make it the best product out there.

Trailer Highlights: ‘Guitar Hero’ Returns And ‘Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture’

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Guitar Hero: Live – World Reveal Trailer

 

If anything, a trailer is supposed to make the consumer curious about a game they’ve never seen much of to the point where they want to learn more. Gazing upon The Escapists for the first time, all I want to do is learn more. A sandbox prison setting with a heavily reliance on crafting and a simple overarching goal (ESCAPE!), this indie shows all of the promise without having to flaunt production value. You know what denotes solid production value Making an enjoyable, immersive game. This looks like a damn good game.

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture – Available Summer 2015 Trailer

 

Take the time to watch this a couple times over – you’ll catch something new every time. A rapture would make you assume that people just went *poof* ala The Leftovers, but that doesn’t seem to be the whole story. Quarantine and Influenza flyers litter the empty room, and empty mattress with splatters of blood increase the mystery, not to mention the mysterious wisps of light speaking remorsefully to one another. Mystery created, interest piqued.

BONUS: Star Wars Battlefront – Reveal Trailer

 

MUST REMAIN CALLM. SO MUCH EPIC STAR WARS’ING HAPPENING. OH MAN.

Seriously, every Star Wars fan, especially the ones that wore their original Battlefront discs raw, must have lost their collective s**ts when they watched this. Personally it took three views until I remembered to breathe again. The Dice engine is perfectly suited for this franchise, and I can’t wait to see more of what EA is doing with this fan favorite. November 17 is too far away.

Let’s also take a moment to acknowledge how fast you throw “no man left behind” when you come face to face with Vader himself. BRING ON THE BATTLEFRONT, BABY!