SmartyAds and Reface Interview

As we know, the significance of in-app advertising is only growing over years. Mobile advertising accounts for a large part of digital ad spending and the great share of it originates from the in-app ecosystem. The more time people spend looking at mobile screens, the greater the urge of advertisers to invest ad budgets in this ecosystem. SmartyAds is always looking for a chance to expand existing in-app and mobile capabilities. For this reason, we recently partnered with Reface and talked to their Head of Monetization Dmitry Gannoshenko on in-app advertising practices.

Taking a glance at Reface and in-app advertising practices

On March 15, Reface officially reached 100 million downloads. Amazing results for such a short period of time, just 14 months. What are your key marketing strategies for growth success?

First of all, we are actively monitoring the flow of organic traffic. For us, this is a critical metric, since organic influences the likelihood, and shareability, which in turn, affects recognition. The second metric is shareability itself. Yes, a lot of factors influence it, especially what kind of content is in the application.

Speaking of content, what kind of ads do you use to monetize the content?

At the moment we only use video ad formats. This is primarily due to the fact that this format looks more native since advertisements are displayed during the refacing process.

What industries do your advertisers typically come from? What do they typically expect from advertising in your app (interactiveness, tracking, targeting, or else)

Most of our advertisers are brands that focus on performance and reach. Since our application is in the entertainment category, placement by advertisers for such purposes will be more effective. People spend time in our application in order to have fun themselves and share positive emotions, so remarketing campaigns by a sneaker store, for example, are unlikely to be as successful.

When it comes to traffic to Reface by country, what are your top geos?

Of course, this is primarily the United States, along with Tier 1 countries. We also have a large share from Asian countries such as India, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Thailand. And we are strong in Latin America.

What marketing approaches would you recommend to your advertisers to make the most out of your inventory?

Adapt creatives specifically for Reface. Due to the specifics of the content, and the subject of the application, creatives that have a "WOW" effect, with action, and dynamic scene changes work better.

How do you think ML and AI will help advertisers personalize their ads in the future?

I cannot divulge all the secrets yet, but I can say that Reface plans to develop its own ad formats using ML mechanics. Stay tuned for more information soon.

We're glad to have a direct partner with a truly unique in-app inventory. What aspects do you find the most valued in this partnership for you?

Of course, this is an opportunity to appeal to a high-quality, engaged audience, as this is the most valuable thing for us. Our core users are 20+.

You've been leading the charts of the most downloaded apps all over the world. Is there anything left? What’s the roadmap for the next couple of years?

At the moment, we are actively rolling out features based on new ML mechanics. Our goal is to enable users to personalize content. We see a great future in this and, moreover, providing them with innovative functionality to realize self-expression that they never had before can lead to new emotional experiences and perspectives.

About Reface

Reface uses artificial intelligence-based technology to help users express themselves. The company’s app has a core feature of swapping faces in videos, gifs, and animations. Google featured Reface among the best entertainment apps of 2020.

Summing it up

The experience of Reface proves - the in-app ecosystem is unique in its ability to foster user engagement and deliver an immersive advertising experience. As one of our direct publishers Reface will now provide their exclusive in-app inventory to SmartyAds DSP which means our advertisers will be able to serve effective and memorable ad campaigns.

Monthly we integrate with new publishers and supply-side platforms in order to magnify advertising opportunities for our advertisers. Make sure to follow our social media for updates and interviews with our partners.