SKOverlay is a creative rendering format introduced by Apple with iOs 14.5 (together with SKAdNetwork)
Definition of SKOverlay
SKOverlay is an overlay that recommends another app to the users of your app. In other words we can say that SKOverlay is a mobile banner rendered by Apple and slightly customizable.
This banner (or overlay, as we should call it) is available in any context to app developers to suggest or advertise another app, but is usually rendered as an overlay banner over other advertisements.
The three main advantages of SKOverlay
SKOverlay has proved to be very efficient in terms of conversions and usability. Let's have a look at the main pros of this technology:
- another clickable layer is added to the current creatives. This gives another option for users to click and eventually convert.
- our tests indicate that SKOverlay lifts the conversion rate by up to 30%, depending on the category of the app. The improved conversion rates is due to SKOverlay being directly a StoreKit Rendered ad.
- with SKOverlay the app install happens without leaving the publisher app. This is because the creative is managed by Apple directly and is highly integrated with the store.
This results in a seamless experience, both for the publisher app and the advertiser app, yielding better conversion rates (while being less intrusive for the users, so highly recommendable for publisher apps).
SKOverlay example
Here's a simple example of how SKOverlay is actually rendered over a video AD. The StoreKit class behind this technology has many parameters that might be used to personalize the ad and its appearance.
Our tests indicate that showing the SKOverlay in the bottom part of the screen, covering no more than 20% of the vertical size of the screen yields the better results in terms of CTR and CVR.
SKOverlay best position
As we've said before, the StoreKit class that renders SKOverlay has many parameters that can be used to finetune the way the banner is rendered.
Our tests indicate that showing the banner in the lower part of the screen is best in terms of its efficiency.
This is also natural, because the human eye is used to see banners in the lower part of the screen, and that position is also the position that gets most of the clicks in any web application or native app.
Mapendo has released SKOverlay for all the advertisers, so get in touch with us if you want to give it a try.
