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Tapping Into a Mobile Media Revolution
Tapjoy Korea’s mobile ad network brings together mobile app users with mobile advertisers and app developers

Tapjoy Korea, a mobile advertising and monetization platform, is just a year old. Then again, the mobile marketing industry took off with the launch of smartphones and is just four years old. And in the world of mobile anything, where it’s gotta happen yesterday, a lot can change in a couple of years.

Consider the following:

Internet traffic is shifting quickly to mobile devices. In 2010, global mobile traffic represented 4 percent of Internet traffic. In 2012, it was 13 percent, according to StatCounter Global Stats.

It’s fast become an app world. Eighty-five percent of the data consumption on mobile devices happens via apps, not the Web.

Games. They’re not just for kids anymore. With the popularity of titles including “Anipang” last year and “Everybody Cha Cha Cha” this year, all generations are playing games. Which is why advertisers are going there.

The convergence of these factors has led to growing demand for app monetization and mobile advertising, especially in Korea, the second-largest market for the San Francisco-based Tapjoy, which boasts a network of 387 million active monthly users and which wholly invested in Tapjoy Korea in March of 2012.

“Korea is the perfect market for our business because it has the confluence of all the key factors,” said Charles Rim, Managing Director of Tapjoy Korea, listing them to be lots of gamers and game developers, high network speeds and a robust online advertising market.

Another key to the success of Tapjoy Korea is the popularity of the “freemium” gaming model, where users download game apps for free but pay or play for coins in-app for a premium experience through a mobile ad network of advertisers and app developers, referred to as publishers. Most of Tapjoy’s partners are developers, with 80 percent of them being game app developers. Tapjoy’s advertising partners are more mixed and run the industry gamut.

“So it’s not about advertising on Web pages anymore,” said Rim. “It’s going to be about getting into that app somehow and getting in front of the user.”

In its short lifespan, Tapjoy Korea has grown 10-fold in partnerships, from 20 at the outset to more than 250 today, including with every major game studio in Korea. The country has become a leading market for Tapjoy, second only to the U.S., and Tapjoy Korea ranks in the top 3 for revenue generation among the company’s 14 locations worldwide.

Peak conversion numbers — the number of times an app gets installed by a user — for Tapjoy Korea reach 150,000 a day. And last fall, Tapjoy became the only ad network to officially partner with Korea’s SK Planet, through which it now provides their developers with ways to better monetize and distribute.

Another way Tapjoy supports developers is through the Tapjoy Asia Fund, which gives promising app developers free marketing credit to use the Tapjoy system on the condition that they recoup their earnings through the company. If they can’t fulfill this condition, they are not held liable. Korea has had the most awardees since the fund was created last year.

“Our hope is that we end up with a lot more stronger publishers and partners,” said Rim, who emphasizes staying ahead in an industry where every quarter brings new players and products.

Fortunately, Tapjoy headquarters understands that Korea’s local companies are quick to act, giving Rim and his staff the localization support they need to move with the market.

“So I’m very happy that Tapjoy gets it. Google Play’s Q4 earnings say it all: Korea is a critical market in this business, not a secondary market,” said Rim. “In the mobile world, Northeast Asia is where the money is now, and this opportunity will only continue to grow.”

By Chang Young (young.chang@kotra.or.kr)