Report
Teaser, summary, work performed and final results
Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ZombiApp (RESURRECT YOUR ZOMBIAPP. OR ARE YOU JUST GOING TO LET IT DIE?)
Teaser
The emerging game app mobile market has shown great economy potential. However, revenues are highly concentrated. At the top end of the revenue scale there are just 1.6% of developers, while 57% of app games are below the ‘app poverty line’ due to two main problems:1)...
Summary
The emerging game app mobile market has shown great economy potential. However, revenues are highly concentrated. At the top end of the revenue scale there are just 1.6% of developers, while 57% of app games are below the ‘app poverty line’ due to two main problems:
1) Developers find difficulties for getting their new apps noticed. App developers believe that marketing is necessary for success, but small developers such as SMEs, entrepreneurs and independent developers cannot afford or take advantage of current marketing tools.
2) Obtaining user downloads is no longer enough in order to build a great business with mobile apps. The most successful game apps are free-to-play, monetizing a tiny fraction of their audience via consumable in-app purchases. A recent study shows that, in average, developers invest €139 in marketing for each €100 they earn.
Thus, user attraction can be easily but costly boosted by current approaches but user retention and optimizing revenues per user to support apps with freemium strategies is still an on-going issue. BIKO intends to offer a disruptive game apps marketing tool, the ZombiApp service, with a twofold innovative approach:
1) Automated assessment of user interaction for marketing recommendations.
2) User profiling/segmentation for cross-promotion focused on user engagement, IAPs monetization strategy and user expenditure behavior.
The service will redirect users within the network to indicated games in timely moments taking into account its monetization potential in the current app (the likelihood of these user still spending money on it) and the estimated exhaustion points of the app (when users tend to uninstall the game).
Moreover, BIKO proposes a disruptive business model based on a shared revenue approach easing the access to app promotion tools to small developers.
To validate ZombiApp business model and its initial exploitation plan a market, technical and legal assessment will be carried out during the Phase 1 project.
Work performed
BIKO2 2006, SL, as the coordinator of ZombiApp project, is the responsible of the execution of the WP1. Feasibility Study which Deliverable is D1: Feasibility report. During the last 6 months of Phase 1, BIKO2 has been working in this Feasibility Study with the aim of defining in detail a market, technical and legal assessment.
The main tasks carried out during the project were:
i) Deep analysis of main competitors positioning, value proposition and relevant services. This comparison has concluded that ZombiApp value proposition solves better the customer needs than its competitors.
ii) Potential partners assessment in order to establish marketing networks. A list of potential partners has been elaborated in order to facilitate future contacts.
iii) Business model definition in order to review the economic exploitation model and make it available to all target users, especially small and medium ones. The business model has been refined in order to attract the maximum number of users to the network.
iv) Detail analysis of revenue scenarios based on market collected data, revenue models, investments, etc. A specific estimation tool has been developed to support the update the development of scenarios if conditions change.
v) Service positioning and marketing plan definition: sale channels, promotion and resources. An exhaustive marketing plan including the roles needed and the phases to be implemented has been defined.
vi) Organization model: internal work organization in order to exploit the potential of ZombieApp, as well as the required profiles, selection criteria and optimal location of the company. Estimations until 2022 have been made to come ahead of human resources needs.
vii) Legal assessment, to improve the understanding of IPR issues and areas that may have a legal impact on the project, such as privacy concerns and personal data protection issues. A specific contact template has been developed.
Furthermore, BIKO has recently spun-off a new company, Zombie App S.L., with the aim of making use of this new business line, which needs the impetus of a new company. The main strategy of ZombieApp is to consolidate the company and to boost its revenues allowing an important internal growth within the next years and creating new employments.
Final results
According to all the tasks carried out during the 6 months of the Phase 1 and described previously, it can be concluded that launching ZombieLib service to the market could be a very successful business. Summarizing:
- ZombieLib service will be composed of two main outcomes of the project: ZombieLib SKD and ZombieLib platform.
- Value proposition: to increase revenues of their target users, provide no initial investments, an affordable price, ease of data analysis access, increase user acquisition and visibility and organic positioning.
- High Potential Market specially focused on small and medium game developers.
- Potential Market areas: worldwide.
- Pricing Policy: The main monetization strategy, which is based on a shared revenue strategy.
- Sales Channels: Promotion will be made through specific workshops, internet and direct marketing.
- Legal issues: The analysis was conducted, taking into account legal requirements of Spain (where ZombieApp is based), EU and US market.
Website & more info
More info: http://www.zombielib.com/.