Introduction
With the explosion of mobile ad networks, it can be difficult to find the right one. There are so many choices out there that it’s easy to get lost. The good news is that top AdOps partners now allow you to take advantage of multiple mobile ad networks at once, which means less work on your part and more money in your pocket!
In this post, we’ll go over some things to consider when choosing an ad network for your app.
1- Global Reach of the mobile ad network
When you’re choosing an ad network, you’re looking for one that offers the most reach. Reach is a measurement of how many publishers are using their platform and how many app developers are leveraging that particular ad network.
There is a great deal of importance to the number of advertisers and their geolocations on the ad network. A global ad network means more demand for your inventory. Revenue increases as demand increases. As a result, your inventory is always fully utilized because the ad network can find the right match for your ad space.
Let’s say there are two networks and they both have 2 million apps in their portfolio (which is common because they’re probably pretty big). Both networks also have 10 million impressions available per day, but one network has 4x more publishers than the other. When you look at publisher numbers alone, it looks like both networks are comparable; however, if we do our math correctly we can see that this network has 20x more available impressions per day!
2- Yield Optimization
Yield optimization involves leveraging existing data that publishers can use to maximize revenue by optimizing their ad inventory. Yield optimization involves choosing which ads will be shown to users in different parts of your app, based on the value of those ads and where they are placed in the app.
Yield optimization is different from bid optimization because you are optimizing not only for clicks or impressions but also for revenue. The whole Yield Optimization process involves determining the best ad placements, native ads, CPM flooring & deploying header bidding.
Better fill rates and eCPMs require better yield optimization support from ad networks. The majority of ad networks offer a solid support team simplifying ad operations for publishers while helping fix policy compliance discrepancies.
3- Do they help with SDK integration?
In order to monetize your app, you will need to integrate an ad network SDK into it. The SDK is the software development kit that a developer uses to create an app. It contains all of the code and instructions for integrating ads into your app’s codebase. Basically, publishers on Google Ad Manager must use a video player with IMA SDK integration to enable seamless ad serving and reporting. IMA SDK can be integrated with video.js player with the use of IMA SDK Plugin to enable ads on video content.
If you’re a publisher, you know what it’s like to have a lot going on. Your app is constantly changing and growing, so finding an ad network that’s easy to integrate with your codebase is critical.
If they don’t provide SDKs for both iOS and Android, they’ve already lost your business. At least 95% of the apps in our industry are cross-platform these days, so having SDK support from day one makes all the difference when it comes time for implementation or testing. It also means less work for you as a developer—so it’s just better overall if the network offers this kind of assistance upfront.
4- Ability to block ads from specific advertisers
Be careful when it comes to displaying ads around sensitive topics (Violent, Adult, gambling ads, etc). These ads need to be blocked at all costs to avoid AdSense bans and revenue clawbacks.
You can also block individual ads from specific advertisers. This is especially useful for publishers that want to protect their brand messaging, or when a particular advertiser may be violating your terms of service. To do this, you’ll need to create an ad-block list and upload it to the network you’re using. Ads on your app will continue to display as normal, but they will not show up when users visit websites in your ad-block list.
By using better ad blocking controls, you can ensure that the user experience is not messed up, which in turn increases the app’s lifetime value (LTV).
5- Offers multiple ready-to-use ad formats
If you’re a publisher, you’re probably looking for a partner who can offer multiple ready-to-use ad formats like Rewarded, Interstitial, and Banner ads.
Rewarded ads are rewarded for the user taking action on a specific call to action. They are typically used as a form of advertising whereby users complete an objective to receive an award such as in-game currency or points that can be used in the game or other offers.
Interstitial ads are the screen dominating ads that helps capture user attention, & native ads are ads that look similar to the content on the publisher’s web page blending seamlessly.
The ad network that you are utilizing needs to be able to offer all these ad formats and more. MonetizeMore’s Pubguru dashboard offers the best ad formats for your site. To find the highest-earning ads, you can easily switch between ad formats within the same placement in the Pubguru dashboard.
6- Offers granular reports that include real-time ad metrics & user-level insights
Ad networks offer a plethora of data and insights on the performance of your app’s advertising campaigns. This can be anything from real-time reporting to user-level insights, ad metrics, and advertising insights.
Ad network data is basically the meat and potatoes of what an ad network offers – it gives you a clear picture of details such as how much revenue you are making through ads, which ad formats are generating the most revenue and what types of users engage with them. The more granular this information is, the better equipped you will be to make informed decisions when determining which advertising network is driving the most revenue.
7- How many advertisers are using their ad network?
This is a great metric to look at when you’re deciding which ad network to work with. Not only does it give you an idea of how popular and established the network is, but it also gives you an idea of how much competition there will be for those advertisers who are already using the network. You want to make sure that the ad network has solid testimonial reviews as it confirms the credibility of that ad network.
8- What’s the eCPM of your niche?
It stands for “effective cost per mille” and is the average revenue generated per 1,000 impressions. This is the most important metric when choosing an ad network because it determines your revenue as well as your ad network performance.
In other words, if you want to make money from ads in your app then you need to know how much they’re worth—and just how good they are at generating revenue!
9- Do they optimize towards the highest paying ads or the latest bidding ad exchange?
To optimize for the highest-paying ad, you need to know which ads are coming on top. This can be tricky because a lot of ad networks don’t share this data with publishers, but it is possible to find out how much they pay per impression. Make sure your AdOps partner has built their own SDKs that provide open access to this information so that you can make informed decisions about where they should spend their dollars.
10- Do they have a varied inventory of ads or do they only provide one format?
When it comes to the type of ads you use, having a varied inventory can be key. For example, if your ad network only offers in-content ads but your app is full of video content and users aren’t interested in watching them (or they’re not allowed to), then you won’t be able to monetize that traffic.
On the other hand, if an ad network has a wide variety of formats including banners and interstitials as well as static images and video, then you’ve got options!
11- What’s their fill rate like?
The first thing you should know is that fill rate is one of the most important metrics when it comes to ad networks. Fill rate refers to the percentage of ad impressions that actually get served—that is, displayed on someone’s screen in your app.
The higher your fill rate, the better! This means that for every 1000 impressions, you will have x number of actual ads being displayed as opposed to just showing blank spots where no ads are being shown (which would mean a 0% fill rate). For example, if you have 20 active network partners and each has an equal chance at showing their ad in front of users on your app then the best case scenario would be having all 20 filled up with various types and sizes of ads (as well as any other types they might offer).
On average though when you mix multiple networks with varying quality levels together, this often results in lower than expected fill rates due simply because there aren’t enough advertisers who want to spend money promoting themselves through those particular channels or there aren’t enough eyeballs seeing those banners/text links/etc., etc., etc…
12- Ad mediation helps to maximize your revenue because it bridges any monetization gaps.
Ad mediation is a decent way to maximize your revenue. It bridges any monetization gaps by showing ads from multiple ad networks at the same time, giving you more choices and control over how you make money. Ad mediation works best in conjunction with a mobile analytics platform that can track the performance of each different ad network so you know which one is performing best for you and where to invest your money in order to maximize return on investment (ROI).
Conclusion
Still confused?
It’s best to consider a top-rated ad revenue optimization platform like MonetizeMore’s Pubguru dashboard which gives you access to the best ad networks, dedicated account management, top-dollar ad formats, granular reporting, and one-click ad integration.We hope that this post has helped to clear some of the confusion and given you a better understanding of what goes into the choices that need to be made when monetizing your app.
