Chartboost, TinyCo partnership seeks to ‘boost’ game development on Kindle Fire

Chartboost and TinyCo are launching a program to fuel the creation of games on Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet. The endorsement shows that the Kindle Fire has a future as a platform for games and that two companies hope to drive an ecosystem that leads to a more vibrant game business.

Chartboost makes a platform that drives cheap distribution for apps across popular iOS and Android apps, while TinyCo is a venture-funded mobile game developer with hits such as Tiny Monsters, Tiny Village, and Tiny Zoo Friends. Its aim is to accelerate growth for developers who focus on making games Amazon’s device.

“Developers were thrilled when we announced a similar deal with TinyCo on iOS last November, and the response was overwhelming,” said Maria Alegre, the chief executive and a Chartboost cofounder. “Chartboost and TinyCo have seen the enormous potential of Kindle Fire games and hope to incent first-mover advantage with this uniquely attractive deal.”

Chartboost operates a cross-promotion network that allows successful developers to barter directly with other developers. If one developer has a successful app, it can promote the app of another developer in a direct deal in which the developers don’t have to give money to third-party ad networks.

“Chartboost has great distribution power; we’re pumped to help more developers increase monetization through our partnership,” said Suli Ali, a cofounder of TinyCo.

Developers who participate receive 100 percent of the proceeds using Chartboost’s distribution platform, compared to the 50 percent revenue share typically taken out of the equation by mobile ad networks. Further details are on TinyCo’s site. TinyCo is offering a guaranteed rate of $2.50 per install driven by Chartboost’s ads in the U.S. and the United Kingdom. It is offering $2 per install in other countries, and TinyCo will give other incentives to publishers who generate 20,000 installs or more. Developers can earn $16 to $21 eCPMs from the campaign.

Amazon has more than 31,000 apps in its Amazon Appstore for Android after a year on the market. TinyCo’s own average revenue per user on Kindle Fire is higher than its numbers on the iPad for Tiny Village. It’s making three more titles for the Kindle Fire in the next quarter.

“The Amazon Appstore’s recent expansion into Western Europe and other countries, combined with its strong monetization potential, makes it an even more attractive platform for developers,” Alegre said. “Through the Chartboost and TinyCo program, developers win by getting an early advantage to lock into high rates as they broaden their user base and scalably control the traffic to their game, all while retaining more of the profit through this direct deal.”

Alegre said in a recent interview with GamesBeat that it reaches more than 105 million unique users in 100 countries and 4,000 app developers. Chartboost’s backers include Translink Capital, SK Telecom Ventures, and XG Ventures. Chartboost was founded in 2011, and it recently hired former Google and Admob executive Clay Kellogg as its chief revenue officer. TinyCo was founded in 2009.