There’s an app for that — at least, that’s how the saying goes. But while mobile apps tend to take the spotlight in the eyes of consumers and advertisers, their desktop counterparts are quietly powering productivity, creativity, and even entertainment for millions. Unfortunately, that potential often goes unnoticed. 

While total mobile usage has skyrocketed in the past decade, the average pages per visit, total visit duration, and bounce rate remain better on desktop than mobile. Thus, the sector has simply become a vast, overlooked opportunity for the digital advertising industry.

Why? As noted, while desktop apps are doing well, they lack the straightforward advertising potential that mobile apps do. For advertisers, desktop apps pose an unknown risk, even with big-name IP driving engagement. But that’s changing.

We believe desktop apps are the unsung heroes of the digital world, offering a plethora of untapped potential, and it’s time they get the recognition and revenue they deserve.

Here at Playwire, we’re developing a framework that connects this untapped digital resource with the proper advertising partners, to understand this industry blindspot better.

The Mobile App vs. Desktop App Conundrum

While there is no denying the gap in usage between mobile and desktop apps, with mobile taking a 59% share of the market to desktop’s 38%, these environments are two sides of the same coin. 

They both offer valuable ad inventory, and both face unique challenges in monetization.

For mobile apps, developers often deal with clunky mobile ads SDK integrations and compatibility issues. Revenue models also need more transparency, frequently leaving publishers in the dark. Add to that the simple fact that many publishers must survive with limited and outdated ad tech tools, further raising the difficulty bar for effective mobile app ad monetization.

What about desktop apps? Unfortunately, for most people across the ad tech industry, desktop publishers are nowhere near the top of their minds due to the challenges historically associated with monetizing desktop apps.

“Desktop applications are built using numerous different frameworks including React, Electron, C++, and C#, making creating a unified solution difficult,” explains Playwire Chief Technologist, Jarrett Abello, “Commonly used tools and SDKs used for mobile app monetization do not natively offer support for these environments, and the basic signals that advertisers are used to receiving from web browsers are not always present by default, which makes targeting a challenge.”

The challenges these publishers face can be broken into two parts.

First, SSPs and DSPs traditionally rely on URLs and cookies, which simply aren’t compatible with desktop apps. Secondly, desktop publishers face a glaring challenge: a lack of viable monetization solutions, which leaves most taking matters into their own hands, leading to the development of less-than-quality “technical workarounds.”

On the other side of the equation are advertisers. Without the traditional URL-based reporting structure of mobile and web advertising, they don’t have access to the metrics they rely on to understand performance. Without the critical ability to understand the audience they are trying to reach, advertisers need to rely on the developer or publisher to cough up the truth about their performance, which, as you might imagine, is a considerable risk in terms of trust.

And without reputable third parties for authentication, it’s a non-starter for many advertisers. 

To that, Playwire is choosing to tackle these challenges head-on to create a seamless and profitable experience for all publishers, regardless of their environment. However, building trust is difficult, especially in an environment without the proper infrastructure to support it, which is why we’ve spent the better part of the past year listening, learning, and building. 

Building Innovative Solutions for Desktop Apps

It all starts with a unified approach. We’re not just offering separate solutions for mobile and desktop, but rather building a unified platform that addresses the unique needs of each environment while maximizing revenue potential across the board.

For Playwire, the mobile app revolution starts with a lightweight SDK that eliminates the need for cumbersome integrations, a fair revenue-sharing model that ensures publishers get a transparent and equitable share of the ad revenue, and overall access to the same cutting-edge technology as web publishers to optimize performance and maximize yield.

On the desktop side, the main issues are trust and transparency.

However, companies like Playwire have the earned ability and industry pedigree to step in and act as intermediaries for demand generation. With a long-standing history of industry trust, we actively cultivate relationships with SSPs and DSPs to open new doors for desktop app inventory to be seen and valued.

Taking it one step further with premium brand partnerships, Playwire is not just filling space with any old ad, but rather securing quality, award-winning ad campaigns that align with each publisher’s unique audience and brand.

Beyond advertiser and demand relationships, there is the technical side of desktop apps challenges.

To that concern, Playwire’s engineers are continually developing solutions to address the unique technical challenges of desktop app environments, with an unmatched willingness to navigate the complexities of advertising in desktop apps and offer a voice to these publishers and developers.

“At Playwire, we’re capitalizing on proprietary tools that we built to support our web business, like our DMP, and bringing their functionality into desktop applications. Leveraging these tools and our experience working hand-in-hand with desktop app publishers, we have enhanced and fine-tuned targeting by unique device hardware characteristics, geographical segments, and more,” noted Playwire Chief Technologist, Jarrett Abello, “Through our extensive experience working with these unique publishers we can quickly identify and configure desktop applications to make them compatible with and friendly to advertisers.”

Navigating the Quality-Driven Advertising Era

While plenty of industry players are still making sense of the current advertising landscape, it’s important to look ahead. As we all know, if you only observe the present ad tech landscape, you’re probably already five steps behind.

It’s a matter of shifting priorities. Today, the industry is going through some incredible changes. Instead of a “spray and pray” approach, quality is the big emphasis these days where viewability metrics reign supreme.

More than just quality, though, advertisers are looking for transparency and the absolute certainty of brand safety — a hard ask across the entire industry with the rise in MFA and arbitrage sites, especially for desktop app publishers. Advertisers want to know where their ads are running and that they appear in brand-suitable environments.

But really, this is nothing new. Trust is the foundation of any successful advertising partnership. 

Playwire’s solutions are inherently designed for this quality-driven era, with a laser focus on viewability, transparency, and brand safety ensuring that publishers and advertisers see actual results. This applies to all their publishers, especially those in the overlooked desktop app space.

What’s the Future of In-App Advertising?

There’s little doubt that the digital advertising landscape is shifting, especially for those publishers who sit somewhere in the middle of it all with the most uncertainty about who to trust. Middle-sized and desktop app publishers are two prime examples of this. 

Today, viewability and quality are key to success. While, historically, this has been a thorn in the side of desktop app developers, this reality is also changing. 

Unlike the cluttered mobile landscape, where banner blindness is a genuine concern, desktop apps provide a cleaner, more focused environment for ads to shine.

What does this mean? Simply put, it means higher viewability rates and increased engagement.

But to get in good graces with SSPs and DSPs, desktop developers and publishers need the right partner — one that can make their inventory a prime target for those seeking quality above all else. 

Those first eyeballs are the most important.

And desktop applications? They provide a unique opportunity to capture those valuable impressions in a less saturated environment. 

By forging strong relationships with demand sources, developing innovative technology, and prioritizing quality, performance, and transparency, Playwire is paving the way for the new era of monetization — for mobile, desktop, and web publishers.