IronSource launches new ad platform for app-focused mobile campaigns

Today, app marketing company ironSource announced it has released the Luna Search Ads platform for general availability. Previously in closed beta, the platform automates and streamlines app-driven mobile campaigns.

What it does. When marketers promote an app, Luna Search Ads improves discovery by helping determine the best keywords to use and how to manage them in Apple Search Ads. The platform also provides data analysis and automated optimization for ads in this channel alongside the performance in other channels managed by other Luna products.

Competitive landscape. When there isn’t a clear leader in an app category, competition for the right keywords can fluctuate. Examples of such categories include photo and video editing apps, some game sub-categories and VPN apps that provide secure wireless connections for mobile devices, according to Peli Beeri, general manager, Luna .

“When the goal of a campaign is post-install performance (ROAS, CPA, etc.) and when there’s fluctuation in the amount of competition the keywords are getting, marketers need to be able to keep a close eye on the performance of that campaign and be able to very quickly iterate and optimize the campaigns,” said Beeri.

Multichannel capabilities. Marketing teams can connect this management of Apple Search Ads with other mobile discovery channels.

“While Luna Search Ads provides a management and optimization layer to Apple Search Ads, the wider Luna software does that for campaigns on every major channel – such as Facebook, TikTok, Google search, and SDK Networks like ironSource, Unity and Applovin – all in one place,” said  ironSource CRO and cofounder Omer Kaplan.

Why we care. Luna Labs was acquired by ironSource in 2021. Automating the search discovery of apps on different channels, in one place, helps scale a team’s mobile marketing.

Read next: What you need to know about mobile game advertising

About The Author

Chris Wood

Chris Wood draws on over 15 years of reporting experience as a B2B editor and journalist. At DMN, he served as associate editor, offering original analysis on the evolving marketing tech landscape. He has interviewed leaders in tech and policy, from Canva CEO Melanie Perkins, to former Cisco CEO John Chambers, and Vivek Kundra, appointed by Barack Obama as the country's first federal CIO. He is especially interested in how new technologies, including voice and blockchain, are disrupting the marketing world as we know it. In 2019, he moderated a panel on "innovation theater" at Fintech Inn, in Vilnius. In addition to his marketing-focused reporting in industry trades like Robotics Trends, Modern Brewery Age and AdNation News, Wood has also written for KIRKUS, and contributes fiction, criticism and poetry to several leading book blogs. He studied English at Fairfield University, and was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. He lives in New York.