Mobile applications are trying their best to occupy human time: increasing stickiness features, data analysis, and commercial monetization have become the three core issues for developers. Many internet giants and startups are providing either general or niche market SDK services in these three areas.
A few weeks ago, at the Google 2016 I/O conference, Google launched a brand new solution for FireBase, which redefines Google’s SDK solution for developers. Previously, Google’s data analysis (GA), mobile monetization (AdMob), and cloud service features (Cloud Service) were all independent solutions. In the latest FireBase solution, it integrates these three into one FireBase SDK for easier integration and use by developers.
There are many reasons why Google is once again focusing on SDKs, and here are a few guesses:
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The rapid growth of Facebook’s Audience Network, whose native advertising experience far exceeds that of AdMob.
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There are many disruptors in the data analysis market, such as MixPanel, Flurry, and GA, which need more entry points.
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Developers’ dependence on Google’s SDK services is decreasing: he who has developers has the future.
Seeing FireBase’s SDK layout, I suddenly became very interested in the analysis of SDK usage in Android, and coincidentally, SafeDK announced a research report on May 26, 2016, including “Mobile SDKs Data Trends in the Android Market”. It organizes and processes data by analyzing over 35,000 Android APKs from the market, creating its first SDK usage analysis report. There aren’t many SDKs for Android, only a few hundred in the entire market, but they need to support millions of Android applications and games.
The report is very comprehensive, and I summarized some points of interest from the report to share with everyone:
(If you need the full report download, you can go to http://www.ouyangchen.com to download)
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SDK Classification and Penetration Rate
It is obvious from below that the top 5 strong demands are: analysis, advertising, social (accounts), payment, and location.
2. Each App/Game connects to about a dozen SDKs.
Games tend to connect to more SDKs because they have a strong demand for data analysis and monetization, and often multiple SDKs are integrated for cross-data usage.
For example, using SafeDK’s analysis tool, you can see the SDK usage of Meituan. A total of 17 SDKs are used, including those from FB, Tencent, Flurry, etc. Interested students can try it out at https://www..safedk.com.
3. The number of SDKs used by Apps
The graph is peak-shaped; medium-sized Apps are most willing to connect to more SDKs, small Apps are not yet able to connect, while large Apps, usually giants, tend to be cautious about SDK integration and prefer to develop in-house.
4. Comparison of Penetration Rates
The highest penetration rate is Google Play Service, followed by Facebook and Flurry, ChartBoost. No wonder Google needs to refocus on SDK strategy.
5. Ranking of Advertising SDKs
AdMob has the leading penetration rate, but the long-tail App phenomenon is obvious; FAN performs well in many top applications, especially for native ads; ChartBoost has some advantages in the gaming market. Due to technical reasons, this report tends to favor SDKs that perform well in games.
6. Statistical Analysis Market
The penetration rates of Flurry, Facebook Analytics, and MixPanel are continuously increasing.
7. Attribution Analysis Market
Only Google Play exists abroad, thus there is a relatively mature technology for tracking App downloads, installations, and activations, which is the role of Attribution SDK. This attribution (Attribution) market is still not very mature in China, as the domestic application market is diverse, and traffic cheating is serious, making attribution analysis very difficult in China. Overseas, Facebook uses third-party download tracking methods when calculating App download ads, for example, if a user downloads and uses the promoted ad within a month after clicking the Facebook App promotion ad, this will be attributed to Facebook’s advertising effect. Facebook exchanges data with attribution data companies, such as AppsFlyers, AdJust, etc.
8. Payment, social, etc., no need to say more, no suspense
9. SDK Situation in China
Since the data did not distinguish between games and regular applications, many results have been influenced by game data.
Finally, let’s talk about technology: analyzing APP/APK is simple to say, but actually not simple, as there are many black technologies involved because many SDK versions are obfuscated and require technical solutions to handle. Peking University has a research group that specializes in analyzing Google Play’s APKs, providing insights into SDK analysis. I have previously used their APK analysis tool http://radar.pkuos.org, which is very helpful for researching APKs. Interested technical students can give it a try.
Many SDKs are the basic frameworks of various Android applications, such as analysis, accounts, payments, customer service, live broadcasting, etc., all of which affect the dissemination effect and service quality of an application. In the long run, except for core modules developed in-house, other functions can be quickly realized through SDK integration, such as language, artificial intelligence, image recognition, VR, etc.
Students who need the full report can go to http://www.ouyangchen.com to download.
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Author’s Profile:
Ouyang Chen, a veteran in internet advertising technology, is the architect supervisor of Xiaomi’s advertising platform, responsible for advertising platform architecture and big data. He previously worked on Microsoft’s mobile Contextual Ads advertising platform and participated in the core module development of Bing’s search engine IndexServe. He also shares some insights on internet technology in his personal WeChat public account “Interconnected Residence” when he has time. Subscribe to “Interconnected Residence” public account to communicate directly with the author.
