Start Your Alexa User Ad Targeting with Cuebiq IoT Audiences
Amazon Alexa skill developers may still be restricted from serving ads to generate revenue, but they can now spend money to advertise to Alexa users. Cuebiq is offering Alexa user ad targeting audiences that you can use to promote your skill.
Limited Alexa Skill Discovery Options Today
We talked yesterday about the voice app discovery challenges facing Google Home users. These also exist for Amazon Alexa users. Most developers have had two strategies. Get PR placement about your launch or hope that Amazon promotes you in the weekly newsletter or in a banner on the skill store page.
Nick Schwab mentioned that the newsletter and banner placement are a big deal for trying new app trials in a Voicebot Podcast interview earlier this week. It can drive an 8x growth in traffic in a single day. But hope is not a strategy if you want to build a sustainable user base around your Alexa skill or Google Assistant app for that matter. Up to this point there has not been a good way to target Alexa users other than the Amazon Alexa Skill Store. Advertising targeting company Cuebiq is now offering an option.
How Do Cuebiq IoT Audiences Work?
Cuebiq has anonymous user information from 61 million mobile devices. For these devices:
[Cuebiq’s] technology can discern when an anonymous user’s mobile device is paired with an IoT connected device. For example, when a smartphone is paired to an Amazon Alexa.
This means that the company can segment these anonymous users into IoT users generally and then divide them further into user groups of specific products. Thus, Alexa audience segments and Google Home segments within their IoT audience. Cuebiq’s technology groups together audience segments of anonymous users who connect their mobile devices to IoT connected devices. This allows advertisers to target consumers with specific IoT devices. For example, leveraging Cuebiq’s IoT audience segments, GE can reach anonymous users who connect their mobile phones to an Alexa or Google Home. This allows GE to better target ads for its connected home devices compatible with Alexa or Google Home. This builds awareness around the integration of voice assistants with the company’s products. Similarly, an Alexa skill game could be promoted to build awareness and grow the user base.
Okay, this is all obvious stuff for anyone familiar with digital ad placement. The new thing here is the ability to target consumers that own smart speakers. Where do you buy the ads? A company spokesman commented, “Our audience segments are available via all main DMPs and DSPs, such as Oracle BlueKai, LiveRamp, Tremor Video.”
App Installs All Over Again
Facebook claims it has facilitated 4 billion apps downloads and Google claims another 2 billion. There are many other players that are smaller, but its safe to say that billions of apps downloads found their users through digital ads. Voice apps aren’t quite the same as mobile apps, but at one time both faced a discovery problem. Mobile apps largely solved this through app download ads. The ads provided both awareness and conversion to use. Voice apps haven’t had that type of mechanism to drive user adoption. Cuebiq might be at the front end of another trend. This time to help voice app publishers find users to try out their offerings.
Google Home Voice Apps Grow to 568, Tightly Integrates Google Assistant for Discovery
