PapayaMobile launched AppFlood, a cross promotional tool for developers, back in July. The service seems to be a hit, and according to Papaya, AppFlood is only getting started.

How It Works

Despite its recent launch, chances are good that if you try out a lot of apps, you've probably already seen AppFlood in action. How it works is fairly simple: developers get to advertise their apps within any of the other apps using the service, and in return, they advertise those other apps themselves. With more than 350 developers using the service, that's a lot of exposure, especially if you've just launched your app.

In addition to exchanging traffic, developers can also buy and sell traffic. While this would seem like a good spot for Papaya to step in and take a cut of the proceeds, they don't. All buying, selling and exchanging of traffic via AppFlood is completely commission-free.

This seems to be working, because Papaya is saying that AppFlood is already generating up to 200 million impressions a month.  Papaya says that AppFlood is also seeing click-through rates of up to 45 percent, and install rates of up to 37 percent. Given the short period of time the service has been around, this is impressive. For developers using the app, this is a lot of exposure that they wouldn't get otherwise.

Looking Forward

PapayaMobile isn't taking this success as a sign that it's time to take a break, either. The company is working on adding support for the Unity game development tool and developing an iOS port of AppFlood. PapayaMobile CEO Si Shen says that ““We are expanding and iterating at break-neck speed in order to become the market leader for cross-promotion by the end of this year.” Seeing how far the company has come in just a few months, this wouldn't be entirely surprising to see happen.

Do you think that services like AppFlood will be the future for developers who want to advertise their apps? Or do you think that traditional advertising methods will stay dominant?