Amazon will start selling ads to developers to promote their Alexa skills and apps on the platform, according to a Bloomberg report on Wednesday.
According to Bloomberg, Amazon is “inviting developers to advertise their apps”on Alexa in the form of pop-up ads on the company’s Echo Show smart display screens. The goal is to keep the interest of developers who gravitate more toward smartphone apps while creating a new revenue stream. Bloomberg said the former is a priority.
Amazon VP Aaron Rubenson, who works on developer tools, told Bloomberg that paid advertising is “what the developers have been asking us to do.”
Eight years later, there are now about 130,000 Alexa skills (essentially apps) in existence, according to Amazon. The more people use Alexa’s unique features, the more committed they will be to using the service. This is especially important for new technologies such as Amazon’s smart displays, which are still proving their value to consumers.
Surveys have shown that people mostly use their Echo devices for simple tasks like finding facts or as a timer, Bloomberg said. As Bloomberg reported in December, Amazon’s concern is to keep customers using Echo products long-term.
When we tested the Echo Show 15, we wished there was an easier way to navigate its feature set. The device provides Alexa tips and suggestions through the Alexa Suggestions widget and a home screen section that sometimes shows “popular”or new Alexa skills. However, the random nature of these proposals eventually made them confusing.
Amazon also has a consumer blog that showcases the latest Alexa features, but the website can’t force information on people in the same way that pop-up ads can.
Amazon just couldn’t come up with a simplistic and effective way to advertise Alexa skills in a way that consistently reaches users. It seems that instead of solving this problem on their own, the company is asking developers to spend their own money on educating users about Alexa skills, and Echo Show users on advertising.
Amazon is reportedly increasing the amount of money it gives developers for in-app purchases and subscriptions from 70 percent to 80 percent if they make less than $1 million. These developers will also be able to receive a 10 percent cash rebate, and Amazon may provide credit for advertising and other uses in the future, Reubenson told Bloomberg.
For developers of non-revenue Alexa skills, Amazon expects to increase payouts if those skills are particularly perfect or popular, Bloomberg reports.
Thankfully, the Echo speakers, which are a bigger product for Amazon than the Echo Show displays and include the best-selling hardware in the form of the Echo Dot, are hype-free for now.