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OpenTable grows Android app install base with mobile ads

Author

Giselle Tsirulnik

OpenTable ran a campaign via Google's AdMob to increase the install base for the Android version of its application.

The campaign was a cross-platform application promotion on the AdMob network. The Android-targeted campaign is claimed to have driven a 125 percent increase in daily downloads at 42 percent lower cost-per-install than past iPhone campaigns.

?We?ve been able to increase the pace of Android mobile user acquisition with mobile advertising,? said Scott Jampol, senior director of consumer marketing at OpenTable.com, Los Angeles.

?App promotion has proven to be as effective on this platform as it is on iPhone for OpenTable,? he said.

OpenTable is a provider of free, real-time online restaurant reservations for diners. 

The company also offers reservation and guest management services for restaurants.

Besides its mobile applications, the company also has a mobile-optimized Web site at http://www.m.opentable.com.
 
Cost per click
The OpenTable campaign ran on the AdMob network of thousands of mobile Web sites and Android applications. The units used were cost-per-click text ads leading users directly to the Android Market.

After a user clicked on an ad, the Android Market opened to the OpenTable download page.

OpenTable used descriptive ad text such as ?Get the New OpenTable Dining App." Sending users directly to the Android Market maximized the conversion rate from mobile advertising.

By reaching Android users on the Web sites and applications they use most often, mobile advertising drives a high install rate from ad clicks, according to Vicky Homan, product marketing manager at Google Mobile Ads, Mountain View, CA. 

Cross-platform approach
OpenTable has developed mobile applications for Nokia, BlackBerry, webOS, iOS and Android.

The purpose of the AdMob campaign was to drive installs and usage of the Android application specifically. The Android application was recently built.

?The goal of the campaign was to drive installations of the Android version of the OpenTable app,? Ms. Homan said.

?Given the recent explosion of Android devices in the market and the fast-growing user base on this platform, OpenTable wanted to partner with Google Mobile Display based on their past success with us on iPhone app promotion campaigns and the reach of our Android network,? she said.