Is Google Inc., trying to strangle the viability of developers creating apps for Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Phone by cutting back their ad returns?

That what at least some Windows Phone developers believe, with reports over the weekend that ads returns from Google’s AdMob mobile advertising service plummeted off a cliff following the announcement at Microsoft’s Build 2015 conference that the Redmond, Washington-based tech giant was going to make it easier to port Android apps to Windows Phone.

Complaints first appeared on a Google Groups support forum May 8 from developers claiming to be seeing massive drops in ad serve rates, and, as a result, huge reductions in the amount of money they were earning.

“The fill rate now is kissing the floor… 99 percent to 7 percent in one day” one user wrote, with another claiming “now the AdMob is a waste of time and money. No reply from support, really bad ads/fill rate/rpm…AdMob is only profitable on Android, as iAds is profitable on iOS and pubCenter on WP. Or AdMob is dying (I think no) or trying to kill us.”

The complaints continued, with “One week, no response from AdMob support, the fill rate is 8 percent,” with another adding “Revenue decreased by 80 percent. Why this has happened?”

After others contributed, the conspiracy theories arched up, with one writing “Sure, the [sic] google is trying to kill the WP platform (and this huge drop was after the Build 2015, coincidence?), that’s obvious.”

Interesting coincidence

The claims from a number of Microsoft blogs make for an interesting read, with one saying “It is no secret that Google has done everything in its power to stifle Windows Phone…the drop may be a coincidence, but an alternate explanation is that Google may be getting ready to starve Windows Phone developers into submission,” with another adding “we reckon there’s something really suspicious here.”

Or it could just be a coincidence, be it an interestingly timed one.

It’s somewhat fanciful to believe that Google would restrict or cut back ads for Windows Phone apps when Google’s bread and butter is advertising; Google doesn’t really care where that ad is (well, as long as it’s not porn or illegal), as long as it’s their ads being shown.

Mobile advertising always has been a fickle game that is hard to get strong, constant returns out of, and it could simply be a case of mobile ad orders not being as strong for the second quarter over the first (presuming an April 1 Q2).

We may never know.

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Image credit: 15216811@N06/Flickr/CC by 2.0