What Is Cross-Promotion?
Cross-promotion is advertising one app within another to share users across a portfolio. If you have a fitness tracker and a meal planner, showing a banner in the fitness app about the meal planner is cross-promotion.
You can also partner with other developers, exchanging placements instead of paying for ads. CPI for cross-promoted users is typically 70-90% lower than paid advertising.
When It Makes Sense
- You have multiple apps with overlapping audiences
- Apps have meaningful DAU (5,000+ daily active users)
- The apps serve related needs (photo editor + collage maker, not photo editor + calculator)
- You want to maximize LTV per user across your portfolio
Placement Types
Banner ads: Top/bottom of non-critical screens. Low friction, low conversion.
Interstitial ads: Full-screen between natural transitions (level complete, section change). Higher conversion.
Native cards: "You might also like..." integrated in content feeds. Feels organic.
Smart pop-ups: Behavior-triggered. A fitness user logging meals manually sees: "Tired of manual logging? Try our meal planner." Context-aware cross-promo converts 3-5x better.
Settings page: "More apps from us" section. Low visibility but high intent.
Timing and Frequency
- Never during onboarding (first 3 sessions)
- Maximum 1 impression per session
- Show after positive moments (completed workout, saved recipe)
- Provide "Do not show again" option
- Stop after 3 dismissals
Partnerships With Other Developers
Finding Partners
Look for adjacent categories (fitness + nutrition, todo + calendar). Check competitors' partners. Reach out through Indie Hackers, X, or Reddit.
Partnership Models
1:1 Exchange: Equal impressions traded. Simplest model.
Weighted exchange: If you have 10x their traffic, adjust the ratio accordingly.
Revenue share: Split revenue from cross-installed users who purchase. More complex but aligns incentives.
Featured placement: One-time prominent placement exchange for launches.
Agreement Essentials
Duration, placement type, impression targets, creative approval, measurement methodology, and exit terms.
Cross-Promotion Networks
- Chartboost: Gaming-focused. Earn credits by showing others' ads, spend credits on yours
- AdColony Exchange: Similar model with video support
- Unity Ads: Built into Unity engine for game developers
Avoiding Cannibalization
The biggest risk: users switch from App A to App B and stop using App A. Prevent this by:
- Cross-promoting to highly engaged users (they can handle another app)
- Avoiding promotion to at-risk users with declining activity
- Timing carefully (never during core workflows)
- Monitoring source app metrics after campaigns launch
- Framing as complementary: "Use alongside" not "Use instead of"
Measuring Performance
| Metric | Target |
|---|---|
| Impression rate | 30-50% of eligible users |
| CTR | 2-5% |
| Install rate | 40-60% |
| Cross-app D7 retention | Match or exceed organic |
| Source app engagement drop | Under 2% |
Portfolio Strategy
- Build apps for the same audience
- Share accounts with single sign-on
- Share data with consent across apps
- Create subscription bundles
- Add light features of App B inside App A to drive curiosity