Though the network’s new suite of ad products have been greatly hyped their performance is still lagging.
Even though Twitter’s newest suite of social media marketing products for mobile has experienced massive hype, it still appears that the microblogging network is falling behind its two giant competitors over this channel.
A recent report has shown that the ads from Twitter aren’t doing as well as Facebook and LinkedIn.
John Blackledge, an analyst from Cowen & Co. has reported that social media marketing ads on Twitter mobile are not performing as well as those that are posted on Facebook and LinkedIn. This suggests that Twitter may not be the dream ad opportunity that many of its investors have come to believe it to be. Blackledge explained that “Twitter is a popular social platform, but shares are too rich in our view.”
The focus on mobile social media marketing has reflected very positively in Twitter’s share prices.
The fall IPO price for Twitter shares in 2013 was $26. That said, by the end of December, that stock had exploded to $74 per share. Equally, though, the social network has not sustained the valuation.
Blackledge conducted some research making social media news, that involved fifty buyers and their opinions regarding the effectiveness of social media companies such as Twitter, and their mobile ads. Only 5 percent of the participants stated that Twitter provided the best ROI. Comparatively, the ads over Facebook were considered to provide the best performance by 60 percent of the participants, with 25 percent giving their applause to LinkedIn.
Those figures suggest that the low ROI is linked to pricing. Blackledge also pointed out that the respondents to his survey commented that some of the downsides of Twitter’s social media marketing tools with regard to advertising value proposition were “high minimum ad spend” and the “cost of campaigns”.
This year is supposed to be a defining one for Twitter, as its numbers and usage continues to grow. It will be interesting to see how today’s figures compare to those that will be generated later on in 2014 or those at the same time next year.
Developer raises $80 million in series C funding
Linekong, a developer of mobile games based in China, has announced that it has raised $80 million in series C funding. China is quickly becoming a prominent market when it comes to mobile app development, especially when these apps have to do with gaming in some way. Mobile apps are quite popular among consumers throughout the country and the demand for more engaging and entertaining applications has been on the rise for some time. The funding that Linekong has managed to acquire may help it compete with the multitude of developers that are already active in China.
Market continues to prove accommodating of mobile games
China’s mobile app development market is saturated. There are numerous organizations that are working to engage consumers with their applications and many of these groups are copying one another in an attempt to find success. It can be difficult for any one company to stand out amongst the crowded market, but Linekong has managed to attract a great deal of attention with its games. The funding that the developer has received will be used to further its growth in the gaming sector through the development of games that have already proven quite popular among consumers.
Linekong intends to release 15 new games this year
Linekong specializes in online role-playing and action games, two genres that are quite popular throughout China. Notably, Action RPGs are the most popular types of games among Chinese gamers, with 64% of consumers spending money on these types of games every month. Linekong intends to release 15 new mobile games this year, the majority of which will adhere to the developer’s genre preferences. Two of the games that the developer plans to release are to be classified as “leisure” games.
China establishes itself as prominent market for mobile games and gaming in general
China’s online games are expected to generate approximately $16 billion in revenue throughout 2014. This makes China one of the most attractive markets in the gaming world. The country is still relatively closed to foreign developers, but the Chinese government recently lifted a ban that had been imposed on foreign console platforms.
