Adjust launches Subscription Tracking product to help tackle challenges of subscription attribution
David Hartery, Senior Content Marketing Editor, Adjust, Oct 14, 2020.
One trend that Adjust believes will continue through 2020 is the domination of subscription apps. Apps that use a subscription-model - such as Tinder, YouTube Premium and HBO Go - led the Top App charts across both the App Store and Google Play Store in 2019.
According to research carried out by Adjust, using Apptopia data, some 79% of the top 225 apps in the Google Play Store and 49% of the top 225 apps in the App Store are subscription-based — despite making up less than 1% of apps overall.
But up until now, there’s been no easy way for subscription apps to track the user events that lead to subscription and seamlessly attribute these events back to the source. With this in mind, Adjust has launched its latest product, Subscription Tracking, to allow even more apps to benefit from actionable data.
Introducing Subscription Tracking
Adjust is aiming to help brands manage their consumers’ subscription events and revenue, giving them a better understanding of how users engage with subscription models.
With the Subscription Tracking feature, brands will now have access to brand new subscription events. These events will give them unprecedented access to the full user journey, arming them with actionable data on how subscribers are behaving in-app. Some of these new events will let clients track whether:
- A user started a trial.
- A user converted after the trial.
- A user subscribed with a discounted offer.
- A user experienced issues paying their subscription
- A subscription was renewed or not.
According to research carried out by Adjust Product Strategist Dr. Gijsbert Pols, based on data from Apptopia, some 50% of subscription-based apps do not currently have a mobile measurement partner. Gijsbert expects this to change with the launch of Subscription Tracking: ”Adjust is the only mobile measurement provider that offers complete visibility into subscription events, without the need to work across multiple dashboards or undergo complicated integrations. This makes it much easier to calculate a real lifetime value, which is the missing piece of the jigsaw for mobile subscription apps.”
And what is this real lifetime value solution?
“The key benefit is that we can measure subscription data — so in other words, the LTV — independent of the app lifecycle. And nobody’s able to do that. Suppose somebody uninstalls an app on their mobile phone. In that case, we'll still be able to attribute the money that comes in via the subscription to this particular device — that's the gap that so far nobody has been able to bridge. And that’s what makes it so exciting.”
And it’s a development that has significant implications for the growing subscription app space.
Why do subscription apps need attribution?
It’s easy to see why the subscription model works for both users and app developers. Users get a premium experience for a small fee, while developers get a steady income source, recurring periodically. And recent research by Adjust, conducted by Censuswide, found that it’s 25 - 34-year-olds that spend the most on subscription apps — $25.85 a month — while those 55 and over spend the least — $13.97 a month.
Streaming apps were the most frequently downloaded subscription-based app (30.7%), followed by Gaming (9%) and News (4%).
Outside of purely app subscriptions, OTT is another thriving subscription-based market. Consumers surveyed spend an average of $33.58 a month for streaming and on-demand entertainment services — with Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Disney+, and YouTube TV listed as respondents’ top five favorite streaming services.
With opportunities as rich as these, apps that aren’t putting data at the center of their decision-making are risking missing out on crucial growth possibilities.
You can find the details on how Adjust can help you measure subscriber LTV here, or talk to your dedicated Adjust account manager or customer success manager to find out more.
Be the first to know. Subscribe for monthly app insights.
