Proper monetization of Android applications is an art in itself. The main source of income in our applications has always been advertising. Over the years, we have tried a huge number of advertising platforms, and now we want to share our accumulated experience with you and help you increase your advertising revenue.
AdMob Advertising
The first advertising platform we tried was AdMob. AdMob has all possible types of ads. The platform demonstrated good indicators. The average eCPM is $0.5 and the high Fill Rate suited us completely. But at some point, we got two ads blocked. After that, we found reviews on the Internet that AdMob can block the entire account with a freeze on funds. Since we have a large number of applications, we were at risk – we had to go in search of a new ideal advertising platform.
At the moment, the last requests from the iOS application are flying away. The statistics for it are shown in the screenshot below. Average eCPM – 0.5$
StartApp advertising platform
We monetized applications with StartApp for literally a couple of months. Because of an ad from this platform, our application was blocked (because the ad contained an ad for an application that was outside of Google Play, and this is prohibited by Google Play policy). We did not see any impressive earnings, so we decided to abandon this platform without the slightest doubt. This incident happened about 3 years ago. The situation with blocking happened 3 years ago. Perhaps by now (2018) the platform has already improved. But the fact remains…
PubNative Advertising
This service specializes in native advertising. We worked with it for about two years. The indicators were very high. But, unfortunately, the platform has recently reduced its turnover and it has become unprofitable to work with it. Let’s hope that PubNative will come back to life.
We have residual traffic from old versions of several applications going to this platform. The screenshot shows the current indicators. Average eCPM – $0.06
AdToApp advertising platform aggregator
We have been working with these guys for over a year, so we were able to study the service well. The description of the aggregator sounded convincing: many platforms, all possible types of ads. In addition, their smart system supposedly determines the best platforms for the application and pours traffic only to them. As a result, earnings should be maximum, and the service takes only a small percentage.
In fact, we had to independently check which sites were generating the most income and ask the manager to switch the levers. But we must give them credit: thanks to this service, we were able to learn about new cool advertising sites. When we connected our own ensemble of these sites, the income increased almost 10 times. We will tell you more about them later.
Google recently removed 2 applications due to a security policy violation. AdToApp sent a request containing the user’s phone number to its server. After that, we finally got rid of this service, but old versions of the applications are still running ads. Here are the current indicators. Average eCPM – $0.49
How to squeeze maximum income out of an application
Next, I will describe the scheme by which we monetize all our applications. For the best result, it is necessary to integrate all the platforms that will be described below. We mainly use interstitial and native advertising, and only in rare cases – video advertising.
The general scheme of work is as follows:
- Load Avocarrot advertising. If there is an ad, then show it. If “no fill” comes in, then go to step 2.
- Load Yandex advertising. If there is an ad, then show it. If “no fill” comes in, then go to step 3.
- Load Mail (MyTarget) advertising. If there is an ad, then show it. If “no fill” comes in, then go to step 4.
- You can stop here, but if you are not afraid of being cursed by your users, you can also add Vungle advertising.
You can also set up Floors for the networks that allow this to be done in order to more intelligently redistribute traffic and get the maximum increase in earnings.
More details on each network from this recipe below.
Advertising from Glispa (former name Avocarrot)
The platform provides all types of ads. Their interstitial ads look neat and do not irritate users too much. It is possible to set Floor for eCPM (minimum cost per thousand impressions). In the best times, traffic from the USA was given more than $1 eCPM for native advertising. It can also be used for Russian traffic, but the fill rate will be low. We use this service in many applications. Average eCPM — $0.15
Mobile advertising from Yandex
Yandex provides native and interstitial advertising. It is integrated quite easily and looks tolerable. In order to become their partner, you need to go through a number of bureaucratic procedures: provide all your documents, sign an agreement and send it by mail. If you do not have an individual entrepreneur, then Yandex will pay income tax of 13% and VAT for you, but despite all taxes, the income from the site remains decent. The average ECPM for native and interstitial advertising is 11.17 rubles, as you can see from the screenshot below.
Mobile Advertising from MyTarget (Mail.ru)
These guys are very similar in their approach to Yandex, which is not surprising. To formalize a partnership – the same bureaucracy. Recently, eCPM has grown significantly and for one of the applications is as much as 63 rubles, which is a very high figure for Russian traffic. The current statistics are below.
Advertising from Vungle
This service bans video advertising. There is also rewarded advertising – this type of advertising allows you to give bonuses for viewing advertising. This service is an absolute record holder in the eCPM category, it reached $ 10 per thousand impressions on users from the USA. Advertising is very annoying, and if you are not afraid of the wrath of your users, then feel free to use this service. Below are the current indicators. Average eCPM — $0.90
Afterword
At the moment, MyTarget has the best indicators, but in my approach, the first ones are the networks that can set thresholds and with their help you can increase traffic to MyTarget. And ideally, make it possible to remotely change priorities. So that the most profitable networks are a priority.
We are still looking for new high-quality advertising platforms for more successful monetization of applications. If you know of any, be sure to write in the comments. We hope this article was useful for you.
Thank you all for your attention and wish you a successful promotion!
If you have any questions, write to Telegram.