Off the back of an update to its targeting capabilities, Google says its Play store ads have generated over three billion app installs. Now the tech Giant wants to make it easier for marketers to promote their apps.

Now, Google has unveiled three new features for to promote apps with its Universal App Campaigns service.

Autodirector automates video ads

With AutoDirector, Google gathers your app's description and rating then selects the best images of your app from the App Store or Google Play. It even picks the music to give your app a soundtrack.

I've had a look at some examples, and they remind me of Prezi with music. Pretty slick, considering how simple the process is for the user.

There's also talk of Google tracking which version of your promo video gets people to install and engage with your app. It then distributes the successful video across Google’s video inventory. For a fully automated process, it's pretty fancy stuff.

You might also like…

One of the highest exposure passive channels for apps is the ‘You might also like’ carousel that appears whenever users install or search for an app in the Google Play store. Now, Google is opening up ad inventory into the “You might also like” carousel.

Targeting to increase in-app purchases

Google is also offering Android developers a broader suite of metrics by which to measure their marketing successes. No longer are they limited purely to installs. Now, they can choose in-app purchases as the conversion type they want to measure. Using the big data that marketers have come to know and love, that information can then be used to model a high-converting customer base. Of course, that can then be used to target similar users.

In a freemium dominated marketplace, this sort of tool is shaping up to be invaluable.

App campaign basics

Universal App Campaigns are accessed through AdWords. The service automatically syndicates app promotion ads across Google search, YouTube, Play Store and Google Display Network.

Copy Transmission is a Melbourne-based agency :: Better Brands. Loud & Clear.