I’ve made a line graph of fifteen months of asset store sales.
I’ve drawn some conclusions for myself and I thought I’d share with other Unity users.
Check it out here:
http://ryanjamesblanchard.com/?p=168
Great analysis. I want to add that it might be not neccessary to build a web player demo to every type of product, but for some, it is. Effects for example are hard to judge by only pictures or a video.
A youtube video is always a good idea ofc.
I thought that a webplayer would be way more beneficial than a video. It’s more like an interactive video and a quick demo of what you’re getting before you get it. I think the reason why most people decide not to try the webplayer is because they don’t have much trust in it. They don’t want to download it and get a virus. The webplayer excited me the most when I made some products for the asset store. It was the best way that I knew of that I could show off what was in the product. Making a static video seems kind of meh to me. If you update the product, you have to make a new video. If you have to update the webplayer it only takes a few clicks and you’re done.
Web demos have no impact on package sales. A video on Youtube is much more important
I think that depends on the asset. A video is always important. But for things like fluid dynamics, I’m going to want to see it in a player. For things like warehouse objects, I’m much less interested in a webplayer.
Thanks for sharing your info and insights!
I’ve seen several assets that had a webplayer and no video and I was somewhat interested in them. When I clicked on them, the webplayer was loading so slow that it was going to be minutes before they loaded. I just clicked ‘close’ and went away. A video would have played instantly, and I might have ended up buying them. As it is, I don’t even have an image of them in my head to remember them by, so I don’t remember enough of what they were to even search for them.
Screenshots and videos are very important.
That really doesn’t apply to the Asset Store, since you’re using Unity by definition and already have the webplayer installed.
–Eric
I’m glad I made a couple of webplayer demos. I set them up in such a way that I can add new effects to the scene in about five minutes, including export. But, they haven’t impacted sales of assets for me.
Youtube videos are watched much more often than people play a demo. I think it is a time commitment issue.
I’m probably going to keep adding to the spreadsheet and graph to analyze number of Youtube views vs. Number of sales. I can see some patterns without graphs, but it will be interesting to confirm with numbers.
Update
And here it is: Dollars vs. Number of Youtube Views
http://ryanjamesblanchard.com/?p=171
Hi,
Thanks for sharing your findings.
I think that regarding marketing tools, the question is not A or B, it is more like “use as much as you can, again and again” 
I have bought a lot of assets from Asset Store. A web demo or youtube video is important, but if your asset is a 3D model PLEASE include the polygon count. I can’t stress how much important it is. I couldn’t buy most of them just for that.
Long tail indeed. Here is the breakdown of 19 months for me.
(Scales are offset to fit in the same graphic)
The big spike is the Madness! sale from last march/april, hence why the sales/revenue gap is much smaller.
I’m doing a sale again this month, hence why it’s spiking + having a smaller gap again.
Cool, thanks for sharing. That’s a huge spike! I’ll have to give some serious consideration to a sale.
Keep in mind this was the very first asset store madness sale, done in march/april, that had its own website and which many of us took part of. We all got massive exposure by coordinating our efforts (and making the prices mad mad mad!).
It all started here.
The Madness sale is now part of the Asset Store itself and has its own section!
I’ve been influenced to buy with a working Unity (web) demo but never a youtube video. I guess a lot of your sales must come from those that do youtube searches on a topic and buy package(s).
The majority of my Youtube views come directly from a link in the asset store. The next biggest group is links I post in 3D artist forums. Very few people find my videos through keyword searches. This info is available directly in Youtube.
When is the next sale and how do I participate? I’ve found links to past sales but nothing about upcoming sales. Thanks!
Interesting, thanks for sharing.