In an earlier post, I wrote about the revenue hit to Facebook in the wake of Apple’s AD ID policy change. Now onto a change Facebook has made…
The standard app store model is that whenever a user makes an in-app payment, the store charges the app developer up to 30% as a fee. This has become an increasing point of contention, particularly in South Korea, where, in September, a law was passed which prohibits app stores from mandating that developers can only collect payments using the store’s own payment methods. Now, a developer is free to use any payment route they choose.
No comparable law exists anywhere else yet, but expectations are that other countries will follow South Korea. Then, a few weeks ago, Facebook identified a way to allow publishers on its platform to bypass the app store payment “monopoly”. ‘Creators’ on Facebook will soon be able to share links allowing their customers to pay for subscriptions via Facebook’s own payment system, avoiding the app store’s payment system (and the 30% commission they charge) altogether. What’s more, Facebook won’t be taking a commission until at least 2023. What’s the loophole? Technically, the store prevents the app itself from offering alternative payment routes but, in this case, the ‘creator’ will be offering an alternative payment route directly to its customer, not the app (Facebook) [1].
The mounting pressure on app stores to open up payments is likely to be a tailwind for Bango. Two reasons app stores use to justify their commission is the reliability they provide and their subscription management capability – but 30% is seen by many developers to be a high price to pay. The Bango Platform provides the same reliability, high performance and great coverage. For all of this Bango charges between 0.5-3% of the transaction value – not up to 30%. Many app developers already use Bango Audiences, so are well poised to access alternative payment methods through Bango. This means for a growing number of developers Bango becomes the ideal platform both to market towards paying users and to collect payments directly.
[1] https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/3/22761620/facebook-apple-app-store-fees-subscription-links-creators
