App Annie acquires analytics firm Libring, bringing ad tech-related insights to its platform

App Annie, a go-to source for mobile app market data and analytics, is expanding its platform with the acquisition of mobile analytics provider Libring. The deal will allow App Annie to present its mobile app market data side by side with advertising analytics data, in order to paint a more complete picture of an app's performance and revenue.

Already, App Annie customers leverage its platform to track key metrics related to their app's growth and usage, like downloads, active users, retention numbers, demographics, rankings, reviews, competitive analysis, and more. But the company said it heard from publishers and brands how it's still difficult to analyze their user acquisition efforts, including their ad spend and related costs.

With the addition of Libring, App Annie is integrating ad tech insights into its platform.

This includes the ability to combine the ad spend and monetization insights from over 325 data sources including Supply Side Platforms (SSPs), Demand Side Platforms (DSPs), app stores, and analytics platforms.

This data is then presented in a single dashboard so it's easier to understand critical metrics - like the customer acquisition cost, the lifetime value, the return on ad spend, and the return on investment.

It's ideal for larger organizations who have outgrown the spreadsheet, as it's been sort of the App Annie of revenue aggregation, so to speak.

"The most successful companies find a way to capitalize on mobile, yet they have been struggling to maximize its value to their business," explained App Annie CEO Ted Krantz, in a statement about the acquisition. "Today, this requires custom work to stitch together multiple point solutions, spreadsheets, business intelligence teams, agencies, and consultants. We are committed to solving this by applying data science and machine learning to automate these composite metrics for brands and publishers," he said.

The deal comes at a time when mobile ad spend is continuing to grow rapidly - it's expected to double to $375 billion globally by 2022, the company noted. It's now a massive part of the overall app industry, at triple the amount of consumer spending on the app stores.

As a result of the deal, Libring's 30-plus employees are joining App Annie.

In the near-term, Libring's current customers will continue to use its product as they do today.

But App Annie tells us there's only some overlap between the two companies' respective customer bases. For now, App Annie will work with its customers who want to purchase the new analytics service and find out what sort of enhancements they are looking for in an analytics solution. Libring's customers can also choose to buy App Annie's analytics, if they choose.

Later, App Annie will migrate the Libring backend to the same infrastructure provider the rest of App Annie uses, and will then integrate the front-end so customers can log in and visualize the new analytics and other market data together. More information about how this will all work will be shared when those tools are closer to being available, which is still several months from now.

Going forward, App Annie says its data science team will also offer predictive and prescriptive insights based on the new data.

According to Libring's website, its customers included SEGA, Slickdeals, Reddit, Jam City, Wooga, EA, Zynga, Next Games, Meet Me, GameInsight, Deviant Art, Webedia, Ubisoft, theChive, saambaa, badoo, textnow, and others.

App Annie declined to disclose the deal terms.

Related to the changes and expansion, App Annie also today introduced a new brand which features a gem logomark. The gem is meant to be a tribute to mobile gaming and the idea of "leveling up" while also a reflection of the value of actionable data, the company says.

The acquisition comes on the heels of several notable milestones for App Annie, including the launch of a product development testing ground, App Annie Labs; plus the addition of mobile web analytics in March - the same time when App Annie passed $100 million in annual recurring revenue.

The company is soliciting feedback about its plans for Libring and will post updates about the project on App Annie Labs, it says.