Meet The Aptoiders: Rishita Bachu, Head of Advertising & Monetization

The Meet The Aptoiders series rolls on, as we continue to feature members of the international Aptoide team who are leading the change in their respective fields, and helping shape the future of Android and mobile technology.

Today we introduce you to Rishita Bachu, our Head of Advertising & Monetization. Rishita is our in-house mobile advertising specialist with nearly 10 years of experience in the field. With a background in Economics and Marketing Management, Rishita understands app monetization like few - while also reminding us of the importance of finding the sweet spot between the user experience and the business objectives. Read on to find more about one of the leading women at Aptoide.

1. Who is Rishita Bachu? Please tell me a little bit about your background.

Good question! Born and raised in the beautiful city of Lisbon, Portugal, and proudly of Indian origins.

I've been working within the mobile advertisement field for almost 10 years, but at the same time, I'm passionate about food and culinary.

With a Bachelor´s Degree in Economics and an Executive Master Degree in Marketing Management, I'm currently responsible for the definition and management of a successful strategy for Aptoide's Advertisement & Monetization team, establishing partnerships with the largest performance-based mobile advertising networks, developers and optimizing the appropriate business models.

Having worked on both product and user acquisition for the last years, my focus is to exercise a holistic approach to analytics, keeping an eye on customer happiness and engagement, while focusing on growing the business as a whole.

2. You're an Economist turned Marketing manager turned Monetization Specialist. How does it feel being a leading woman in a typically man's world?

I would say that I work in a much nerd-like environment that tends to have more men than women! But I have found my way through this and perhaps even perform better - when I started asking: “how can I be myself in this environment?” - I believe this still might be an issue for many women.

For me, diversity is a good sign of meritocracy. That is why a more diverse talent will give us different perspectives, and innovation comes from different perspectives.

3. What type of apps have been most successful in your experience to this point?

There are over a million apps in dozens of categories available for downloads. But the most popular apps rated by unique visitors per month are owned by large tech firms.

I would say ride sharing/livery service apps are among the most successful one´s - as Uber and Lyft. Also gaming apps such as Angry Birds, Candy Crush, Clash of Clans, Despicable Me… are literally called the “money-making apps”.

4. In your opinion, what do developers need to know in order to make apps successful in order to monetize through advertisements?

Each mobile app is unique, has its unique needs, goals and user journeys.

I believe the best way to start is to make sure that developer´s monetization strategy is in-line with their business goals, market, and users. The simple existence of an app can make money by expanding the ways user can interact with it.

Whatever the strategy is implemented, it is indeed necessary to track data and monitor it. Once there is some data gathered, trying new things based on this will help even more to find the best solution that might fit for the users and the business.

5. What are your main tips for successful mobile monetization?

There isn’t one concrete recipe to follow when it comes to a successful mobile strategy, every company will have to cook up their own approach.

However, as an overall, I would mainly say apply the appropriate business model and make sure user experience is not disrupted. Mobile Ads can be very successful if we are able to collect data about our users, which will allow us to show highly-targeted ads, thus enriching the experience!

Would you like to join our big family and work with us?

Funny you should ask, 'cause we're hiring! Come join us or tag someone below you think would be a good fit! Check out all our job openings and get in touch with us.