“Google leads in scale while Facebook rules in terms of quality”. The statement we have just articulated is backed by the fact that Google is a wide-reaching and extensively used platform and Facebook’s rapid attention to user privacy and fast adoption of digital transformation has started changes in consumers’ behavior.
It has closed now, yet the race proceeds. Google expanded its lead over Facebook at the highest point of Retention Index’s Universal Power Ranking: from 69 versus 68 powers positioning score in Index 11 (for the first half of 2020) to 69 versus 64 in Index 12 (second half of 2020). By the end of March 2021, AppsFlyer delivered the twelfth release of its Performance Index (XII Edition), in which it not only ranked the top media sources in mobile marketing but also provided comprehensive insights on the digital landscape.
For the most recent version, AppsFlyer analyzed 580 media networks, 29 billion installs, more than 16,000 applications, and 60 billion apps opens, for the period of July to December 2020.
Google’s fair share in the worldwide ranking
Google showed a noticeable development on Android, and Facebook’s quality across various indices has been significant. Google has been rising up to offer non-organic (promotion driven/prompted) application installs expanded by 15% in Index 12 worldwide, driven by its Android development. Google’s trend has particularly been observed in developing markets and India.
On the other hand, Google’s share in Android remained moderately unaltered in North America and Western Europe, also in the worldwide iOS rankings.
Facebook’s performance in the global consumer market
Facebook dropped 10% in Index 12, which is attributed basically to iOS losses (as the social media giant significantly dropped in the overall iOS categories). However, as far as quality is concerned, Facebook takes the lead and is positioned second in the average score of quality metrics across the entirety of the indices. The retention rate of Facebook has proved to be 16% higher than Google’s, which AppsFlyer saw as the consequence of an increasing gap in Android and among non-gaming applications. In any case, on the gaming iOS front, Google limited the quality hole, yet Facebook actually has the competitive advantage in the overall scenario.
There are other metrics in which Facebook has an upper hand. Facebook is ruling the remarketing (recovering previous users) record, notwithstanding that Google is showing remarkable growth. It has essentially expanded endeavors here, developing a lot of app remarketing changes by 65% in the third quarter of 2020.
The report showed a 20% drop in non-organic iOS app downloads among by far most media sources. Apple’s ATT structure will not be implemented until the beginning of this spring; however, it is currently causing shifts, as per AppsFlyer’s Performance Index. “The descend was far and wide, affecting the rankings of 17 of the top 20 media sources on iOS,” AppsFlyer said.
At the same time, the number of organic installs on iOS did not alter, as did the number of applications running campaigns on this platform. Android’s net operating income showed the inverse, as it expanded by 6% in a similar timeline.
How about TikTok – Yay or nay!
TikTok for Business showed critical development in iOS gaming and kept up its situation in Index 12 in the No. 6 positions in worldwide volume ranking, with huge increases in gaming. There was a 37% increase in worldwide gaming applications and an extra 55% ascent in the number of gaming applications running on its platform. In non-gaming power rankings, TikTok went up one level to No. 7 in iOS and No. 8 in Android. “On cross-platform classification level, it arrived at a main five power ranking in following categories: Entertainment, social, health, and fitness, photography and photo cleaner, lifestyle, finance and utility apps group,” AppsFlyer detailed. Users who enabled Limited Ad Tracking expanded by 40% proceeding with the increase of past evaluations which had LAT at 23% to 32%.
Conclusion
Unity Ads is in front of its gaming rivals ironSource and AppLovin, which are making progress on the Google-Facebook “duopoly,” AppsFlyer reported. Unity Ads took the No. 2 situations in the Retention Index’s Global Gaming power positioning, and that’s taking it ahead of Facebook. AppsFlyer further detailed, “On the genre level, Unity Ads hit the main spot in the power rankings for Hyper Casual, Arcade, Puzzle, and Word.”
