OEM Advertising for Business Promotion

The mobile app market is growing. In 2023, user spending on non-game apps increased by 11% compared to 2022, and companies’ spending on mobile advertising increased by 8%. What happened in 2025?
HunterMob Mobile Agency , Advertising for Business Promotion  HunterMob

What is OEM Advertising

 

OEM — original equipment manufacturer — translated from English means “original equipment manufacturer”. OEM advertising is the promotion of a brand in smartphones with the Android operating system, for example, through app stores and pre-installed applications.

The ad is organically integrated into the smartphone interface. It can look like icons on the desktop, banners in the app store, or keyboard input prompts. OEM advertising differs from the usual formats in its minimalism, it is more native, so it inspires more trust in people.

Featured Apps in Honor App Store

Featured apps in Huawei AppGallery. Latest and trending apps boost user engagement and loyalty

The top 12 world leaders in non-game applications for Advertising for Business Promotion  Android include four mobile phone manufacturers: Xiaomi, Huawei, OPPO, Vivo. They provide their own application stores for promotion: on their platforms or through aggregators.

A single manufacturer’s platform can only reach users of a specific smartphone brand or its partners: this is how Xiaomi Ads or Petal Ads (former Huawei Ads) work.

For example, Petal Ads displays ads in Huawei branded services — AppGallery, Huawei Video, Huawei Music, Huawei Books, Huawei Assistant, Petal Search, Huawei Browser and Huawei Themes. Users quickly download the app — no need to go to other pages. In addition, the platform creates retargeting lists so that the advertiser can return users who previously showed interest in the product.

When a user searches in the

AppGallery store and enters keywords, the promoted apps are shown first.

To cover several traffic sources at once, it is easier to promote through aggregators. Popular platforms that are used to launch OEM advertising:

Appnext is the most famous source of OEM advertising. It cooperates with major smartphone manufacturers: Xiaomi, Samsung, OPPO, Vivo, Lenovo, ZTE. The main feature of Appnext is the Timeline technology, which analyzes user behavior. For example, when a person is driving from work, they will be recommended food delivery services.

Xapads is a platform with artificial intelligence. It promotes applications on Xiaomi, OPPO, Vivo devices, as well as in its own in-app network. It differs from other platforms Advertising for Business Promotion  in that it has a Russian-speaking team and prompt support, and an agreement can be concluded with a Russian legal entity and services can be paid for in rubles.

AVOW is a lesser-known platform. It launches app advertising on Xiaomi, Samsung, Huawei, Vivo, OPPO, Realme, Transsion, OnePlus smartphones. AVOW partners account for 54% of the global Android market. The service allows you to reach users from India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America.

IronSource Aura — in Russia, the platform works on Samsung devices, and in other countries — also on smartphones of other brands, such as Huawei, ZTE, HTC. When people turn on a new smartphone or update software, Aura recommends them a set of applications depending on the region, needs and interests. Users themselves decide whether to install the applications or not. The advantage of the service is that advertisers can draw people’s attention to their product on the very first day of the smartphone’s operation. After that, throughout the life cycle of the device, Aura shows users notifications based on their preferences.

Pros and Cons of OEM Advertising

Five years ago, there were about 1.5 million applications  Advertising for Business Promotion on Google Play, and now there are more than 2.3 million . Standing out in the mobile devices and applications market is becoming more difficult. OEM advertising is a new channel that helps to attract potential users.

Why I suggest trying OEM advertising:

  • The ad looks like a recommendation from the smartphone manufacturer. Users trust OEM ads because they perceive them as advice from a favorite brand whose products they already use. It’s a less intrusive format that increases engagement.
  • There is less competition for attention, and the traffic is similar to organic, so OEM advertising allows you to attract users at lower costs compared to traditional channels. Practice shows that eCPA of this format is 20-30% lower than advertising in social networks.
  • The ad is shown to people who are suitable

  • for it according to their individual preferences. The application algorithms independently select the desired audience. They use anonymized information about users from social networks, sites they visited from smartphones, and analyze already installed applications. This allows you to determine the target audience as accurately as possible and increase conversion. In addition, the recommendation style of OEM advertising increases LTV – the lifetime value of the customer.
  • You can reach users who are not attracted by other advertising formats. At HunterMob, we worked with a large marketplace that purchased advertising in Yandex Direct, VKontakte, Unity. After connecting Appnext, the daily number of installations increased by 13.5%, CPI turned out to be cheaper by 22.8%, and the cost of the first purchase – by 31.4%.

However, OEM advertising also has its downsides:

  • There is little scope for creativity. The ad looks like an icon or a banner in a minimalist style. This is due to the main feature of OEM advertising – nativeness, so that people perceive the ad as a recommendation from a brand they trust.
  • Affects the audience that uses only the Android  phone number list operating system. This restriction narrows the target audience and excludes the solvent segment – iPhone users.
  • It is difficult to set up and manage advertising campaigns. The advertiser needs to understand the specific inventory of each platform.

As HunterMob’s practice shows, OEM advertising is a powerful marketing tool that brings results even with a limited budget.

Who is OEM Advertising Suitable For?

 

OEM advertising can be used by any business with an Advertising for Business Promotion  app, from e-commerce to flower shops and billboard services. Test it out if your company:

Well known in the market.  Large banks, branded online stores, delivery services, and housing booking services can be successfully promoted with the help of OEM advertising.

Aimed at a broad target audience. People will see  you could run “plain-text” style marketplaces, travel apps, online education platforms, lottery apps on their smartphones. They can interest users or remind them of themselves.

Wants to increase recognition. Gaming apps, reading services, discount aggregators can attract the attention of the audience. Users will see the app in the recommended ones and, perhaps, go to its page in the store to learn more about it.

Looks for alternative marketing strategies. Marketplaces, trading apps, music or movie subscription services can find an additional source of traffic.

Aims to attract an untapped segment of your  usa lists target audience. If your goal is to attract Android users who are not being reached through traditional advertising channels, OEM advertising is a good fit.

OEM advertising is not suitable if the majority of your target audience uses iPhones. Also, if your brand has just entered the market and is still unknown to people, the application must have a recognizable icon for OEM advertising to work most effectively.

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