For those not up to date, it came to light yesterday that Google is playing with a new feature which is allowing some people the ability to install apps when searched in the Google Search app, without going to Google Play to complete the installation process. The feature has also been seen in the YouTube app when an app available on Google Play is being advertised.
The YouTube ads are the pre-roll ones you occasionally get in YouTube prior to your video starting, the app matches up with the ad playing (obviously) and if you like what you see you can install the ad by clicking the Install button, all without leaving the YouTube app.
Similarly to how app installs are being handled in the new feature in Google Search at least for some users, the app can be installed directly from the YouTube with no need to go into Google Play. When installing the app, you get the same popup windows prompting you to install the app, with lists of the permissions required to install the app. At this stage we can’t find any paid apps being advertised to try it on, so it’s unclear on how the app would handle these types of installs.
Ads without an app to advertise simply don’t offer an option to install an app, but so far we’ve found a few of the usual suspects such as Bomb Beach, Heart of Vegas and a couple of others offering an ‘install’ prompt on their YouTube ads – but there’s possible a lot more.
Have you seen app installs in YouTube previously? Which games or apps were associated?
