A Beginners Guide to Ad Monetization: The Fundamentals by Felix Braberg

00:31:19
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BY5THj6vQuE

Resumen

TLDRIn this episode of 'Two and a Half Gamers', Felix provides a comprehensive introduction to mobile ad monetization, focusing on essential metrics like eCPM, fill rate, and ARPU. He explains how ad networks function, the importance of mediation platforms, and strategies for scaling ad revenue. The video emphasizes the need to track daily metrics, understand ad impressions, and optimize user engagement rates. Felix also discusses how ad networks generate revenue and offers insights into choosing the right networks for effective monetization. This session serves as a valuable resource for developers looking to enhance their ad monetization strategies.

Para llevar

  • 📊 Understand eCPM: It's crucial for measuring ad revenue.
  • 📈 Track fill rate: A higher fill rate means more revenue.
  • 💰 Monitor ARPU: Essential for assessing daily ad performance.
  • 🔍 Choose the right mediation platform: It impacts ad revenue significantly.
  • 📅 Update ad settings regularly: Keep your ad networks optimized.
  • 🤝 Engage with ad networks: Building relationships can improve terms.
  • 📉 Balance ad placements: Too many ads can hurt user retention.
  • 📊 Test different networks: Find the best fit for your app.
  • 💡 Focus on user engagement: Higher engagement leads to better ad performance.
  • 🚀 Scale your ad strategy: As revenue grows, expand your ad network.

Cronología

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The video introduces the concept of Ad Revenue per Daily Active User (ARPU) as a crucial metric in mobile ad monetization, emphasizing its importance in tracking performance despite user acquisition fluctuations. The host, Felix, shares insights on the significance of daily tracking of ARPU and its relevance in discussions with ad networks.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    Felix welcomes viewers to the 'Two and a Half Gamers' series, focusing on ad monetization. He outlines the topics to be covered, including basic terms, eCPM, ad networks, and mediation platforms, aiming to provide a comprehensive introduction to mobile ad monetization.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    The video explains key terms such as eCPM (effective cost per mille), fill rate, and ad viewer rates. Felix highlights the importance of both eCPM and fill rate in determining ad revenue, advising viewers to consider fill rates alongside eCPM for maximizing revenue.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    Felix elaborates on ad viewer rates, discussing the expected engagement rates for different ad formats like rewarded videos, interstitials, and banners. He emphasizes the need for high engagement rates to ensure effective monetization while also cautioning about the potential negative impact of interstitial ads on user retention.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:00

    The discussion shifts to how ad networks determine eCPM, mentioning various factors such as click-through rates, install rates, and user geolocation. Felix explains the concept of the recency effect, where the value of impressions decreases with each subsequent ad shown to a user throughout the day.

  • 00:25:00 - 00:31:19

    Felix concludes the introduction by discussing the importance of choosing the right mediation platform and scaling ad networks effectively. He provides recommendations for networks to consider based on ad formats and emphasizes the need for regular communication with account managers to optimize ad monetization strategies.

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Vídeo de preguntas y respuestas

  • What is eCPM?

    eCPM stands for effective cost per mille, which indicates how much a network pays for a thousand ad impressions.

  • What is fill rate?

    Fill rate is the percentage of ad requests that are successfully filled with ads.

  • What does ARPU stand for?

    ARPU stands for ad revenue per daily active user, a key metric in mobile ad monetization.

  • How do ad networks make money?

    Ad networks make money through margins on user acquisition campaigns, charging publishers a fee for showing ads, and reselling their inventory.

  • What are the main mediation platforms?

    The main mediation platforms include AdMob, AppLovin, and LevelPlay.

  • What is the importance of ad viewer rate?

    Ad viewer rate indicates the percentage of users interacting with ads, which is crucial for optimizing ad placements.

  • How can I increase my ad revenue?

    You can increase ad revenue by optimizing eCPM and fill rates, choosing effective mediation platforms, and scaling your ad networks.

  • What is the recommended number of networks to use for ad monetization?

    For daily ad revenue up to $500, using three to four networks is recommended.

  • What is the significance of the ad impression value?

    Understanding the value of ad impressions helps in budgeting and balancing the ad monetization strategy.

  • How often should I update my ad network settings?

    It's recommended to update your ad network settings and reseller lists at least once a month.

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  • 00:00:00
    is AD arpal so that's the ad Revenue per
  • 00:00:03
    daily active user and it's one of the
  • 00:00:06
    most important metrics in mobile ad
  • 00:00:09
    monetization because basically it's the
  • 00:00:12
    Clear Channel metric that you look at
  • 00:00:14
    because essentially it gives an
  • 00:00:16
    indication of what your performance is
  • 00:00:18
    that is to say the ad Revenue despite of
  • 00:00:21
    UA fluctuations so adarp is one of these
  • 00:00:24
    things that you should always track
  • 00:00:26
    Every
  • 00:00:27
    Day ring the dice Dr made of gold and
  • 00:00:30
    Ice fix with making those coins R jack
  • 00:00:33
    up World chasing with the two a Gamers
  • 00:00:36
    the midnight crew talking you and game
  • 00:00:39
    design to M bring the inside we're
  • 00:00:42
    rocking those vies till the early
  • 00:00:44
    daylight on the pr tracking data through
  • 00:00:47
    the cyers Felix dollers like a wizard in
  • 00:00:50
    Disguise Jack cters us to the two and a
  • 00:00:53
    half Gamers talking smack slow hockey
  • 00:00:55
    stick got your back ads are beautiful
  • 00:00:58
    they light the way click it fast don't
  • 00:01:00
    delay
  • 00:01:07
    ah hello everyone and welcome to another
  • 00:01:10
    very special episode of Two and a Half
  • 00:01:12
    Gamers this is part of our individual
  • 00:01:15
    series I guess we call them ASMR
  • 00:01:18
    insights where essentially one of the
  • 00:01:20
    hosts of Two and a Half Gamers Trio just
  • 00:01:22
    goes through something that they know
  • 00:01:24
    quite well uh ma couple weeks ago had a
  • 00:01:28
    great episode on on the introduction of
  • 00:01:32
    uh introduction for beginners on user
  • 00:01:34
    acquisition so I thought I'd spend the
  • 00:01:36
    next 20 or 30 minutes doing exactly the
  • 00:01:40
    same so I'm going to give you guys a
  • 00:01:43
    introduction on the most important
  • 00:01:45
    aspects of ad
  • 00:01:47
    monetization uh the things I'm going to
  • 00:01:49
    go over I'm going to go over the basic
  • 00:01:51
    terms and go through each one of them so
  • 00:01:53
    you understand it explain how the
  • 00:01:55
    overall Marketplace actually works we're
  • 00:01:58
    going to go in a bit depth onto ecpm and
  • 00:02:01
    exactly how it's calculated and I'm
  • 00:02:03
    going to go into how networks make money
  • 00:02:06
    uh soft launching and the value of an
  • 00:02:09
    impression uh then also I'm going to
  • 00:02:11
    touch on what you should think about
  • 00:02:13
    when you choose a mediation platform
  • 00:02:15
    what you should think and what metrics
  • 00:02:16
    you should look at when you're scaling
  • 00:02:18
    with ad revenue and then also go over
  • 00:02:21
    the main ad un uh main ad networks that
  • 00:02:23
    you can actually work with today and I
  • 00:02:25
    think that will take us about 20 or 30
  • 00:02:28
    minutes but basically this is just
  • 00:02:30
    designed to give you a great
  • 00:02:32
    introduction into how mobile ad
  • 00:02:34
    monetization Works uh but enough about
  • 00:02:37
    that uh who am I uh I'm Felix uh I'm one
  • 00:02:41
    of the co-hosts on Two and a Half Gamers
  • 00:02:43
    and essentially I've been in the mobile
  • 00:02:45
    industry now for close to eight or nine
  • 00:02:48
    years uh I started off working in two
  • 00:02:50
    dsps and one ad Network so basically
  • 00:02:53
    I've seen both sides of the coin dsps
  • 00:02:55
    and AD networks are the companies I
  • 00:02:58
    guess that are buying the ads and in the
  • 00:03:00
    games that you're monetizing with ads
  • 00:03:03
    and Bas yeah and essentially for the
  • 00:03:05
    last couple of years I've been helping
  • 00:03:07
    uh Publishers increase their ad Revenue
  • 00:03:10
    um so without further Ado uh what I want
  • 00:03:13
    to start to talk about here is just the
  • 00:03:16
    basic terms and essentially the main
  • 00:03:19
    basic terms are that you need to know is
  • 00:03:22
    ecpm fill rate add Revenue obviously add
  • 00:03:26
    ARP out and add viewer rates and we'll
  • 00:03:28
    go through all of them now so so first
  • 00:03:30
    of all the basic term that you need to
  • 00:03:32
    know the most when it comes to mobile ad
  • 00:03:34
    revenue is ecpm or effective cost per
  • 00:03:37
    melee that essentially means what a
  • 00:03:39
    network pays you for a thousand
  • 00:03:42
    Impressions inside of your application
  • 00:03:44
    or game so they're grouped together in
  • 00:03:47
    groups of thousands thousand intitial
  • 00:03:49
    Impressions thousand rewarded
  • 00:03:51
    Impressions and thousand Banner
  • 00:03:53
    Impressions right uh so that's
  • 00:03:54
    essentially what you get paid we'll go
  • 00:03:56
    into that one in a bit deeper when we're
  • 00:03:58
    done with the basic terms because it's
  • 00:03:59
    quite important one the next one is fill
  • 00:04:02
    rate that is the percentage of AD
  • 00:04:05
    requests that are actually sold to a
  • 00:04:07
    network when you show an impression to
  • 00:04:10
    your user so if you have a thousand
  • 00:04:12
    Impressions and if you essentially uh
  • 00:04:15
    fill 900 of them then you have a fill
  • 00:04:18
    rate of 90% so that is actually if you
  • 00:04:20
    can sell all of these Impressions that
  • 00:04:23
    you're wanting to sell as well for a
  • 00:04:25
    price so ecpm plus fill rate together
  • 00:04:29
    together equals ad Revenue so
  • 00:04:32
    essentially ecpm and fill rate that's
  • 00:04:34
    how much together is how much money you
  • 00:04:37
    actually get paid for the ads that you
  • 00:04:39
    have in your game so those two
  • 00:04:42
    components right and what a lot of
  • 00:04:43
    people get quite wrong is that they
  • 00:04:45
    always chase after the highest ecpm but
  • 00:04:47
    also you should also be looking at fill
  • 00:04:49
    rates because I would gladly take a
  • 00:04:53
    lower ecpm if it meant higher field
  • 00:04:55
    rates that resulted in a higher ad
  • 00:04:57
    Revenue right so that's how you need to
  • 00:04:59
    think about that the next one uh which
  • 00:05:02
    is probably one of the most important
  • 00:05:04
    terms is AD arpal so that's the ad
  • 00:05:08
    Revenue per daily active user and it's
  • 00:05:11
    one of the most important metrics in
  • 00:05:14
    mobile ad monetization because basically
  • 00:05:17
    it's the Clear Channel metric that you
  • 00:05:19
    look at because essentially it gives an
  • 00:05:21
    indication of what's your performance is
  • 00:05:24
    that is to say the ad Revenue despite of
  • 00:05:27
    UA fluctuations so Adar one of these
  • 00:05:30
    things that you should always track
  • 00:05:31
    every day and you should also refer to
  • 00:05:33
    Adar when you're talking to networks
  • 00:05:35
    because if you only talk about ecpm they
  • 00:05:37
    might think you're a bit dumb and we
  • 00:05:40
    don't want that uh the next one is more
  • 00:05:42
    on the design terms which is AD viewer
  • 00:05:44
    rate or engagement rate that is the
  • 00:05:47
    percentage of users that actually
  • 00:05:50
    interact with your ads and there's
  • 00:05:54
    different metric on the different ad
  • 00:05:55
    units what's considered a good ad viewer
  • 00:05:58
    or a good engagement rates typically you
  • 00:06:01
    say that with rewarded video anything
  • 00:06:05
    below
  • 00:06:06
    45% of overall ad view rate on rewarded
  • 00:06:09
    ad means that either the placement is
  • 00:06:12
    not visible enough or the reward is not
  • 00:06:14
    high enough to essentially watch these
  • 00:06:15
    rewards and that's a good sign maybe to
  • 00:06:18
    rethink one of these two aspects and
  • 00:06:20
    make the rewarded ad placements
  • 00:06:22
    better uh on intertial typically if you
  • 00:06:26
    actually want to earn money with intials
  • 00:06:28
    you ideally want to have interstitials
  • 00:06:30
    in the 70 to 80% range and that is
  • 00:06:33
    essentially because the interstitial ad
  • 00:06:35
    unit is not a optin format right you
  • 00:06:39
    don't choose to watch an interstitial
  • 00:06:40
    you get served in interstitial right so
  • 00:06:43
    usually you want to have that as high as
  • 00:06:45
    possible because essentially you're
  • 00:06:47
    monetizing your users when they have no
  • 00:06:49
    choice the thing to be careful usually
  • 00:06:51
    when interstitial ads though is that is
  • 00:06:53
    quite a big drag on retention and
  • 00:06:57
    usually what I sometimes recommend to
  • 00:06:58
    people we'll get to that on the
  • 00:06:59
    mediation setups but if you're running
  • 00:07:02
    intertial ads what I usually recommend
  • 00:07:04
    is actually testing out various bid
  • 00:07:06
    floors which means that essentially in
  • 00:07:08
    the mediation platform you say that I
  • 00:07:11
    don't wish to have an intertial ad
  • 00:07:13
    unless they pay at least x value and
  • 00:07:16
    essentially that means you're not
  • 00:07:18
    serving a justicial ads that otherwise
  • 00:07:20
    wouldn't be worth that much and
  • 00:07:22
    essentially you're saving your retention
  • 00:07:24
    that way so banners is another ad unit
  • 00:07:29
    uh uh that's yeah used quite widely here
  • 00:07:32
    I would also say at a good ad view or
  • 00:07:34
    engagement rate is usually anywhere
  • 00:07:36
    between 80 to 90% right so if you think
  • 00:07:39
    about it the banner ad is a very small
  • 00:07:42
    compact ad unit that's usually at the
  • 00:07:44
    top or at the bottom of a game and
  • 00:07:47
    usually when this makes money is that
  • 00:07:50
    you need to have a big user base that
  • 00:07:52
    watches these type of ads during
  • 00:07:54
    gameplay and they watch it for a long
  • 00:07:56
    time right so the ad viewer rate here
  • 00:07:58
    needs to be quite high and need to be
  • 00:08:00
    visible at all times typically the
  • 00:08:02
    puzzle genre monetizes banner ads the
  • 00:08:04
    best I would say which also brings us
  • 00:08:07
    quite neatly into impression per daily
  • 00:08:11
    active user or the Imp Dow so that is
  • 00:08:15
    how many Impressions you're serving over
  • 00:08:17
    your daily user base so what I usually
  • 00:08:20
    say here as a good metric to start with
  • 00:08:22
    is that you want to have around five
  • 00:08:25
    rewarded ads uh in Impressions per Dau
  • 00:08:29
    interstitials the closer to seven the
  • 00:08:31
    better or higher is always better and
  • 00:08:34
    Banners typically you start to play
  • 00:08:38
    around with something called the refresh
  • 00:08:40
    rate of the banners in the olden days on
  • 00:08:42
    Adon mediation refresh rate typically is
  • 00:08:44
    around 30 seconds so one new Banner out
  • 00:08:47
    every 30 seconds and on other mediation
  • 00:08:50
    platforms like level play and Max you
  • 00:08:51
    can even set it to every 10 seconds so
  • 00:08:53
    the trade-off you're doing there is that
  • 00:08:55
    you're showing a lot more banner ads and
  • 00:08:57
    that means actually The Impressions per
  • 00:08:58
    da on on level player max can actually
  • 00:09:01
    get up as high as maybe 90 or 120 in
  • 00:09:05
    some of the best games that I've worked
  • 00:09:06
    on so those are the main kind of
  • 00:09:09
    beginner or terms that everyone should
  • 00:09:12
    be familiar with and those are some good
  • 00:09:13
    benchmarks I think as well right but in
  • 00:09:16
    general it's quite simple right uh the
  • 00:09:18
    more users you have that watch the more
  • 00:09:20
    ads the more you're going to get paid
  • 00:09:21
    right so that's kind of the supply side
  • 00:09:24
    uh where basically you get users in your
  • 00:09:26
    gameer app to watch ads and then you
  • 00:09:28
    sell them we'll get on to the demand s a
  • 00:09:30
    bit later but just also wanted to talk a
  • 00:09:33
    bit about ecpm right so this title is
  • 00:09:37
    essentially what we talked about before
  • 00:09:39
    effective cost per melee that's what we
  • 00:09:40
    said you get paid for a thousand
  • 00:09:43
    Impressions and the interesting the here
  • 00:09:47
    is like what actually do you think
  • 00:09:50
    decides what the ecpm is like how do
  • 00:09:52
    networks actually know what to pay you
  • 00:09:55
    for your impression right so the
  • 00:09:59
    different ad networks they work with
  • 00:10:01
    different amount of inputs so basically
  • 00:10:04
    it's rumored that Google uses 91
  • 00:10:06
    different factors uh in determining the
  • 00:10:09
    ecpm they're willing to pay app I think
  • 00:10:12
    I've heard uses 70 or 71 uh iron Source
  • 00:10:15
    uses 61 and basically they're weighted
  • 00:10:18
    to different things but all networks
  • 00:10:21
    have access to certain yeah data points
  • 00:10:26
    that everyone has access to and pretty
  • 00:10:28
    much the main main ones that decide
  • 00:10:30
    actually what your network pays you for
  • 00:10:33
    Impressions is they track the last seven
  • 00:10:37
    days of data of their actual performance
  • 00:10:40
    in your app or in your game and
  • 00:10:42
    basically that decides what they're
  • 00:10:44
    willing to pay for Impressions when they
  • 00:10:46
    see new users so the main things they
  • 00:10:49
    look at is clickthrough rates what's the
  • 00:10:51
    average click-through rate they saw in
  • 00:10:52
    the last seven days so how often do
  • 00:10:54
    users actually click on the ads that
  • 00:10:56
    they show them what is the install rate
  • 00:10:58
    like the users actually download and
  • 00:11:00
    start using these apps that were shown
  • 00:11:02
    in user acquisition
  • 00:11:04
    campaigns uh the competitiveness so how
  • 00:11:06
    often they bid for a user or lose so
  • 00:11:09
    that's the win rate so how often do
  • 00:11:12
    users actually win bids or how often do
  • 00:11:14
    they actually win bids in the last seven
  • 00:11:16
    days obviously geolocation is one of the
  • 00:11:19
    most important factor because that
  • 00:11:21
    decides usually on average how wealthy a
  • 00:11:23
    user is so the guard geolocation that
  • 00:11:26
    still pays the highest ecpm is the state
  • 00:11:30
    and then one other thing that they
  • 00:11:32
    actually look at is the percentage of
  • 00:11:34
    the user base that has made an iip
  • 00:11:37
    before in that Network's history so one
  • 00:11:39
    interesting factor to know is that if
  • 00:11:42
    you're running UA the ecpm or average
  • 00:11:45
    value of your users tends to increase
  • 00:11:47
    now why is that so let's say you're
  • 00:11:49
    running UA with a company like Minal and
  • 00:11:53
    they bring a user to your app they're
  • 00:11:55
    using it and then they see it in the
  • 00:11:57
    mediation platform as essentially that
  • 00:12:00
    means that mgal for that user has tagged
  • 00:12:03
    a bunch of data that they already know
  • 00:12:05
    about that user to yeah their backend
  • 00:12:09
    which means that they can assign a more
  • 00:12:12
    accurate value of that user to the game
  • 00:12:15
    uh or to the to the actual app which
  • 00:12:18
    means that they can make a more informed
  • 00:12:19
    decision on what they're willing to pay
  • 00:12:20
    so that's typically why you see ecpm
  • 00:12:22
    increase when you doing paid search
  • 00:12:24
    right or paid uh paid
  • 00:12:26
    UA and one other thing uh is called or
  • 00:12:31
    is like based that ecpm has decided on
  • 00:12:33
    is the number of Impressions that was
  • 00:12:35
    shown to the user before so all networks
  • 00:12:41
    basically have algorithms based on
  • 00:12:42
    something that I call the recency effect
  • 00:12:44
    which essentially means that they assume
  • 00:12:46
    that the first impression a user sees
  • 00:12:49
    every day has way more attention span
  • 00:12:53
    than subsequent impression which means
  • 00:12:55
    that the highest price you'll ever get
  • 00:12:57
    paid for an impression for a user is the
  • 00:12:59
    first one that they see in a day so why
  • 00:13:02
    is this important so if you're showing
  • 00:13:04
    let's say 12 rewarded videos on an impal
  • 00:13:08
    uh in your app that means that the value
  • 00:13:12
    will gradually decrease of each
  • 00:13:14
    impression uh as you reach the 12 right
  • 00:13:16
    so it yeah one is worth more than two
  • 00:13:19
    two is worth more than three and so on
  • 00:13:21
    and so it goes
  • 00:13:22
    right so those are the main things that
  • 00:13:26
    networks actually take into account when
  • 00:13:28
    deciding the
  • 00:13:30
    ecpm and kind of you think about it the
  • 00:13:34
    we'll get into optimization a bit later
  • 00:13:36
    but the only thing you can kind of do
  • 00:13:38
    here because you need to be okay with
  • 00:13:40
    the fact that you know these networks
  • 00:13:42
    get paid to show ads for users install
  • 00:13:45
    other apps right so you only truly get
  • 00:13:48
    quite high ecpm if you have a quite
  • 00:13:50
    valuable user base and that's usually
  • 00:13:52
    what decides the ecpm right so one other
  • 00:13:56
    thing uh that you can do as a studio
  • 00:13:59
    uh to actually increase the ecpm is to
  • 00:14:02
    play around essentially with
  • 00:14:03
    competitiveness which we said was a
  • 00:14:05
    third factor that they look at right so
  • 00:14:08
    what you can actually do to increase
  • 00:14:10
    competitiveness and we'll get on to this
  • 00:14:11
    later is to add more partners that
  • 00:14:15
    contribute to the overall share of AD
  • 00:14:18
    Revenue in a meaningful way to your
  • 00:14:20
    users we'll get on to that later but I
  • 00:14:23
    also just wanted to spend a bit of time
  • 00:14:26
    talking about how ad Networks actually
  • 00:14:30
    make money because it's one of these
  • 00:14:33
    things that a lot of people who start up
  • 00:14:34
    in the industry don't quite understand
  • 00:14:37
    so at its core a network or an ad
  • 00:14:40
    Network on mobile they
  • 00:14:43
    connect uh people who have user
  • 00:14:45
    acquisition budgets to people who want
  • 00:14:47
    to download apps right so if you're
  • 00:14:49
    playing another game if you're in
  • 00:14:51
    another app and you see an ad you
  • 00:14:52
    essentially sometimes want to download
  • 00:14:54
    that right but that essentially means
  • 00:14:56
    that what the network actually does is
  • 00:14:59
    two main things right they provide the
  • 00:15:01
    connection or that's the SDK connection
  • 00:15:03
    link where they can put a ad in front of
  • 00:15:06
    that user and what that also means is
  • 00:15:09
    that they also have algorithms based on
  • 00:15:11
    top to ensure that the ad they're
  • 00:15:13
    putting in front of the user is more
  • 00:15:16
    likely to match up with the targeting
  • 00:15:18
    that you're doing and actually monetize
  • 00:15:20
    in some points right so ad networks make
  • 00:15:23
    money typically in three main ways
  • 00:15:25
    that's through margin that they take on
  • 00:15:28
    the user requis I campaign so you bring
  • 00:15:30
    them $1,000 a day uh to reach x amount
  • 00:15:33
    of targets they charge anywhere yeah I
  • 00:15:37
    no one really knows what the exact
  • 00:15:38
    margins are they're quite secretive
  • 00:15:40
    about this I mean from the end of year
  • 00:15:42
    statements of appin it looks like
  • 00:15:43
    they're charging anywhere between 40 to
  • 00:15:45
    60% and you have to assume that it's
  • 00:15:48
    kind of the same across the board at
  • 00:15:49
    Google Maloo and all these other uh ad
  • 00:15:52
    networks the other thing that networks
  • 00:15:55
    do to make money is that they charge
  • 00:15:58
    actually their
  • 00:15:59
    Publishers actually that's what you call
  • 00:16:01
    an app or a game that has ads inside of
  • 00:16:03
    it Publishers because they're publishing
  • 00:16:05
    ads right so they also charge a
  • 00:16:09
    typically a 30% fee to show the ad and
  • 00:16:13
    then a 70% of the rest of the revenue
  • 00:16:15
    actually goes to the publisher which
  • 00:16:18
    showed the ad right and these things two
  • 00:16:21
    together the user acquisition margins
  • 00:16:22
    and the ad monetization margins together
  • 00:16:25
    make up the majority of ways that uh ad
  • 00:16:29
    networks actually make money and then
  • 00:16:32
    there's a third way and it's quite
  • 00:16:33
    interesting also so ad networks also
  • 00:16:35
    make money a third way through reselling
  • 00:16:39
    their inventory so what a lot of people
  • 00:16:42
    when you start start off in the ad
  • 00:16:43
    monetization industry don't realize is
  • 00:16:46
    that when you're starting ad
  • 00:16:47
    monetization you think that 100% of
  • 00:16:50
    let's say you install uh vungle the
  • 00:16:52
    vongal SDK you assume that 100% of the
  • 00:16:55
    vongal SDK ads that you get through
  • 00:16:57
    vungle is
  • 00:16:59
    essentially all vungle demand but it's
  • 00:17:01
    not uh so what you can also do is you
  • 00:17:04
    have the SDK link as a network right
  • 00:17:07
    with the Publishers and that means that
  • 00:17:09
    you can actually also de uh also earn a
  • 00:17:13
    margin by allowing something called
  • 00:17:15
    exchanges or resellers to bid in on your
  • 00:17:20
    inventory and what you can do then uh is
  • 00:17:23
    essentially you can actually see this in
  • 00:17:25
    something called an adaps txt file so
  • 00:17:28
    when you're actually starting off with
  • 00:17:29
    ad Revenue you have to add something
  • 00:17:31
    called an adapt file and an info. pist
  • 00:17:35
    uh for each and every Network that
  • 00:17:36
    you're carrying and you have to put that
  • 00:17:37
    on your web page and what that list
  • 00:17:40
    actually is and you get that list from
  • 00:17:42
    networks is a list of all the resellers
  • 00:17:45
    that are currently buying
  • 00:17:47
    into uh the inventory and bolstering
  • 00:17:51
    that inventory essentially so typically
  • 00:17:53
    networks charge a 36% fee for resellers
  • 00:17:57
    to actually buy via their SDK and this
  • 00:18:00
    varies quite a lot between Network and
  • 00:18:02
    network so sometimes reselling is like
  • 00:18:04
    50% of a Network's traffic and sometimes
  • 00:18:06
    it's 30 for big ones like meta Google
  • 00:18:09
    and apple is quite a lot less but for
  • 00:18:11
    the other ones sometimes it's quite big
  • 00:18:14
    so that's actually why you need to keep
  • 00:18:17
    your adaps txt file up to date uh when
  • 00:18:21
    you actually make it so as soon as you
  • 00:18:23
    actually start launching ads and you
  • 00:18:25
    have a mediation platform and multiple
  • 00:18:26
    networks you actually need to set up an
  • 00:18:28
    ad file how this works is that a crawler
  • 00:18:33
    for every Network goes into your store
  • 00:18:36
    listing your iOS and apple one uh IOS
  • 00:18:39
    and Android one and what they do is they
  • 00:18:41
    look at the publisher website that
  • 00:18:43
    you've listed there and then they look
  • 00:18:45
    at the extension ad apps. txt and
  • 00:18:49
    essentially what they look for there is
  • 00:18:50
    the codes that you actually given an
  • 00:18:52
    approval for resellers to show ads and
  • 00:18:54
    it's essentially a anti- frud tool uh so
  • 00:18:57
    you should never really
  • 00:19:00
    change this on request the only thing
  • 00:19:02
    that you should do with this file is
  • 00:19:04
    maybe once a month start to update it
  • 00:19:06
    because essentially the amount of
  • 00:19:07
    resellers that networks work with varies
  • 00:19:10
    quite a lot and if a network is 50%
  • 00:19:12
    resellers you're actually losing quite a
  • 00:19:14
    lot of money if you haven't updated this
  • 00:19:16
    file so once a month is really good the
  • 00:19:18
    seller's Json is exactly the same uh but
  • 00:19:21
    it's based on iOS and it does the same
  • 00:19:23
    thing
  • 00:19:25
    so that is a good introduction for the
  • 00:19:28
    first first I don't know 20 minutes
  • 00:19:30
    right now on what actually and how the
  • 00:19:33
    industry works with some metrics so I
  • 00:19:36
    just wanted to go into also on soft
  • 00:19:39
    launching and how you should think about
  • 00:19:41
    ads when you're actually scaling or
  • 00:19:43
    getting started with ads so the most
  • 00:19:45
    important thing that I usually tell
  • 00:19:47
    developers is that during soft launch or
  • 00:19:50
    technical launch it's not that important
  • 00:19:52
    to actually have a mediation platform
  • 00:19:55
    set up because essentially what you're
  • 00:19:57
    trying to track in early stage of the
  • 00:19:59
    game or app is essentially how many ads
  • 00:20:03
    you can show or what we talked about
  • 00:20:04
    before what is the ad viewer rat and
  • 00:20:07
    what is the impressions for da right so
  • 00:20:12
    using the metrics that I highlighted
  • 00:20:14
    earlier in this episode that's usually a
  • 00:20:16
    good Northstar metric to think about it
  • 00:20:18
    like don't worry too much about ecpm at
  • 00:20:21
    all when you're getting started because
  • 00:20:23
    there's tons of things that we just
  • 00:20:25
    highlighted you can do to actually
  • 00:20:26
    increase it so usually during launch I
  • 00:20:29
    just recommend to try to get that ad
  • 00:20:32
    viewer rate and impressions for da as
  • 00:20:34
    high as possible and basically what
  • 00:20:36
    you're fighting against then is the
  • 00:20:38
    retention right so if your users are
  • 00:20:40
    watching a lot of ads and that usually
  • 00:20:43
    means that your retention your day one
  • 00:20:45
    day seven all these retention metrics
  • 00:20:47
    will actually drop quite significantly
  • 00:20:50
    because ads do drag quite a lot on when
  • 00:20:53
    you're adding them but usually like here
  • 00:20:57
    what I would say is uh if you're running
  • 00:20:59
    a game I sorry here I guess what I'm
  • 00:21:02
    trying to say is like the main question
  • 00:21:04
    that you think about is kind of what is
  • 00:21:06
    the value of an impression and how you
  • 00:21:09
    should think about that when you're
  • 00:21:11
    actually doing your economy and
  • 00:21:12
    budgeting balancing so typically for a
  • 00:21:16
    game that's 100% ad Revenue driven this
  • 00:21:20
    usually means in the states that you're
  • 00:21:23
    pretty much getting paid about 2 cents
  • 00:21:26
    per rewarded impression and then
  • 00:21:28
    globally excluding the United States
  • 00:21:30
    this typically means that you're getting
  • 00:21:32
    paid 08 of one
  • 00:21:35
    cent uh intertial ads you typically have
  • 00:21:37
    paid in the states uh on IOS and Android
  • 00:21:42
    around two or one cents per impression
  • 00:21:45
    all this factors depending on what the
  • 00:21:46
    ecpm is Right which we talked about a
  • 00:21:48
    bit earlier and a banner impression in
  • 00:21:50
    the states is yeah typically for one
  • 00:21:53
    impression is like
  • 00:21:56
    0.019 of one cent so it's quite low
  • 00:21:59
    right which is why you need to get the
  • 00:22:00
    impression per da and AD viewer rate so
  • 00:22:03
    high to actually earn any meaningful
  • 00:22:05
    revenue from ads right so now we can
  • 00:22:08
    kind of move on to choosing a mediation
  • 00:22:13
    provider so choosing a mediation is
  • 00:22:16
    quite interesting right because there's
  • 00:22:17
    three main mediations that you can
  • 00:22:20
    currently use uh there's a couple of
  • 00:22:22
    more but basically the three Mains that
  • 00:22:24
    are usually used that basically I would
  • 00:22:26
    say is probably 95% % of the whole
  • 00:22:29
    mediation Market is admob app Lovin and
  • 00:22:33
    level play and I'm planning to do a
  • 00:22:37
    video each covering how basically the uh
  • 00:22:40
    mediation platforms work that I will be
  • 00:22:42
    released in the next coming weeks but
  • 00:22:44
    essentially I'll just go quickly through
  • 00:22:47
    uh the main three mediation platforms
  • 00:22:49
    here so admob is the first one it was
  • 00:22:52
    basically launched in 2007 then it got
  • 00:22:54
    bought by Google it's basically the OG
  • 00:22:56
    it's been around for ages and what admob
  • 00:22:59
    does extremely well is Banner revenue
  • 00:23:02
    and add quality right so basically
  • 00:23:05
    typically the banner revenue on admob is
  • 00:23:08
    the highest and Native so basically
  • 00:23:10
    that's what they do extremely well uh
  • 00:23:13
    intertial and rewarded Revenue typically
  • 00:23:16
    has been higher on either APPL or level
  • 00:23:18
    play but that's what admob does really
  • 00:23:20
    well applen is uh also has their own
  • 00:23:24
    mediation platform called Max which is
  • 00:23:27
    kind currently the indust leader uh
  • 00:23:29
    probably the share of yeah percentage of
  • 00:23:33
    apps that are actually using Max that
  • 00:23:34
    have ads is probably anywhere between 75
  • 00:23:36
    to
  • 00:23:37
    85% right now and typically the main
  • 00:23:40
    benefits of working on Max is that you
  • 00:23:42
    get access to ad Ras and Blended Ras
  • 00:23:45
    campaigns for user acquisition which
  • 00:23:48
    means you can actually optimize based on
  • 00:23:49
    people watching ads instead of making I
  • 00:23:52
    APS uh they have really strong ecpm on
  • 00:23:57
    uh rewarded video and interesting IAL
  • 00:23:58
    but ad quality on applin can be quite
  • 00:24:03
    bad which negatively affects your
  • 00:24:06
    overall retention metrics then you have
  • 00:24:08
    level play by unity which is quite
  • 00:24:11
    strong uh on interstitials and rewarded
  • 00:24:14
    uh usually not quite as strong as
  • 00:24:15
    applovin but very strong as well both
  • 00:24:18
    applovin and level play are not as
  • 00:24:20
    strong on the banner side as adwo but
  • 00:24:22
    basically level play Al also has good
  • 00:24:25
    inter and rewarded but what level play
  • 00:24:27
    really does quite well
  • 00:24:29
    is that they have really good data
  • 00:24:32
    manipulation tools which means that you
  • 00:24:33
    can actually uh use it and dive really
  • 00:24:36
    deep into data which is quite good they
  • 00:24:39
    also have a cross promotion tool that
  • 00:24:42
    you can use for a fee I believe but
  • 00:24:45
    that's just a brief overview um I've
  • 00:24:47
    been talking for 23 minutes already and
  • 00:24:48
    I kind of want to keep this
  • 00:24:50
    under uh 30 minutes
  • 00:24:53
    so the next thing I wanted to talk about
  • 00:24:56
    is scaling so you've done
  • 00:24:59
    your soft launch your technical launch
  • 00:25:00
    you see Impressions and before you're
  • 00:25:03
    actually starting to scale your game the
  • 00:25:04
    first thing you want to do then is add
  • 00:25:06
    the mediation platform and if you think
  • 00:25:08
    back to how you as a publisher can
  • 00:25:11
    actually impact the overall ecpm uh one
  • 00:25:14
    of the main things you can do is
  • 00:25:15
    competitiveness right that we talked
  • 00:25:17
    about and the main thing you can do to
  • 00:25:20
    increase competitiveness is actually
  • 00:25:22
    adding networks that compete in your ad
  • 00:25:25
    stack because that essentially increases
  • 00:25:27
    the average value of your impression so
  • 00:25:31
    the first thing you need to start doing
  • 00:25:32
    when you scale is actually think about
  • 00:25:34
    what networks to add so the best rule of
  • 00:25:38
    thumb here is that because mainly all
  • 00:25:40
    networks are now on biders or header
  • 00:25:43
    bidding so it's technically a lot easier
  • 00:25:46
    to manage your mediation platform now
  • 00:25:48
    than it was a couple of years ago but
  • 00:25:50
    what you want to start doing is if
  • 00:25:52
    you're starting off and you have maybe
  • 00:25:54
    $50 to $100 of daily ad Revenue pretty
  • 00:25:57
    much here you only need about three or
  • 00:26:00
    four networks because honestly usually
  • 00:26:02
    what a network impacts if you're adding
  • 00:26:05
    a good network is anywhere a five to 10%
  • 00:26:09
    increase on ad Aral so if you think
  • 00:26:12
    about that right so if you're earning
  • 00:26:13
    $100 a day and you're increasing the ad
  • 00:26:15
    Revenue by 10% if you're adding a really
  • 00:26:17
    good Network that means you're
  • 00:26:18
    increasing by about $10 a day right so
  • 00:26:22
    that's how you should think about it
  • 00:26:23
    right so as much uh effort as you put
  • 00:26:26
    into the daily or optimization of it
  • 00:26:28
    just remember that the returns that
  • 00:26:30
    you're actually getting is like yeah
  • 00:26:32
    that's a good way to think about it
  • 00:26:34
    right so yeah don't spend too much time
  • 00:26:35
    on it for just 10% of $100 a day but if
  • 00:26:38
    you're earning $10,000 a day that's
  • 00:26:41
    actually time quite well spent right so
  • 00:26:44
    uh because that equals like $1,000 do a
  • 00:26:46
    day right so uh if we think about
  • 00:26:49
    Network so usually I'd say up until
  • 00:26:51
    maybe $500 a day it's fine for it's
  • 00:26:53
    three or four networks uh we'll go into
  • 00:26:56
    which ones I would usually recommend but
  • 00:26:57
    basically as you're scaling in Daily ad
  • 00:27:00
    Revenue it's also very important that
  • 00:27:02
    you scale your ad
  • 00:27:04
    stack at the same time right and what
  • 00:27:06
    that means is you basically need to try
  • 00:27:08
    some of the networks and basically see
  • 00:27:10
    if they're actually improving the
  • 00:27:12
    competitiv competitiveness of your stack
  • 00:27:15
    and if they're not you need to remove
  • 00:27:16
    them because they're actually not doing
  • 00:27:18
    anything and then it's just headache to
  • 00:27:19
    get paid from all these various
  • 00:27:20
    different networks so choosing main
  • 00:27:24
    networks uh what I usually see people
  • 00:27:27
    starting with on Android interstitials I
  • 00:27:29
    would usually recommend starting with
  • 00:27:31
    applovin meta Google Unity Maloo Minal
  • 00:27:35
    imobi liftoff and DTX on interstitials
  • 00:27:39
    on rewarded video uh the biggest ones
  • 00:27:41
    that I currently see is app loving
  • 00:27:43
    Google meta Google ad manager surprising
  • 00:27:46
    still holding on quite tightly Min girl
  • 00:27:48
    Unity Maloo iron source and imobi on
  • 00:27:52
    Banner uh the biggest network is
  • 00:27:54
    actually Amazon publisher services on
  • 00:27:56
    Android then Google Bid meta imobi
  • 00:28:00
    PubMatic uh Google ad managers is quite
  • 00:28:02
    good on Banner still on Android mobile
  • 00:28:04
    fuse and digital turbine uh on iOS on
  • 00:28:08
    intials the ones I usually start to
  • 00:28:10
    recommend to work with is app Loven
  • 00:28:12
    Google Unity iron Source mgrl Maloo and
  • 00:28:15
    liftoff that's kind of the same uh on
  • 00:28:18
    both interstitials and rewarded videos
  • 00:28:20
    that's the same list and then again on
  • 00:28:22
    banners on iOS Amazon is still the
  • 00:28:25
    biggest Google bidding is after that uh
  • 00:28:27
    the second biggest maloko is really good
  • 00:28:30
    as well applo anobi Verve uh LIF off and
  • 00:28:33
    somato are also quite good those are
  • 00:28:35
    ones I would usually recommend to start
  • 00:28:37
    with but usually what you want to do
  • 00:28:38
    here is you add a network in an AB test
  • 00:28:40
    when you're starting a new one and you
  • 00:28:42
    just want to make sure that the add art
  • 00:28:44
    out is actually increasing and basically
  • 00:28:47
    also what you want to look at when
  • 00:28:48
    you're running these tests is what is
  • 00:28:51
    the share of Revenue that that network
  • 00:28:53
    is taking right so you want to have all
  • 00:28:56
    your networks over at at least 5% share
  • 00:28:59
    of Revenue and you don't want to have
  • 00:29:02
    ideally a network over 40 because
  • 00:29:04
    essentially then they have pricing like
  • 00:29:07
    power in your app so usually you find it
  • 00:29:09
    that the apps that have the best ad ARA
  • 00:29:12
    or the best metrics in ad monetization
  • 00:29:14
    are usually the apps that yeah have a
  • 00:29:17
    good balance on the network so it's also
  • 00:29:19
    important that you as you scale the game
  • 00:29:22
    right you also need to scale your
  • 00:29:23
    capabilities alongside it so you also
  • 00:29:27
    need to have if you're starting to earn
  • 00:29:29
    usually around 15 to 25k A Day In AD
  • 00:29:32
    Revenue that usually means that you can
  • 00:29:34
    actually have account managers at all of
  • 00:29:36
    these apps and basically you should have
  • 00:29:38
    regular dialogues with them and when
  • 00:29:40
    you're having these regular dialogues
  • 00:29:41
    what's actually important to think about
  • 00:29:43
    is asking Sometimes some stupid
  • 00:29:45
    questions because
  • 00:29:47
    essentially how networks sometimes
  • 00:29:49
    divide Demand on their platform is
  • 00:29:53
    sometimes able to be managed by humans
  • 00:29:55
    right so if you actually push a little
  • 00:29:56
    bit sometimes you can get
  • 00:29:58
    basically better terms and I I always
  • 00:30:01
    joke about the fact that the best ad
  • 00:30:02
    monetization managers are constantly
  • 00:30:04
    grumpy so the best way to actually get
  • 00:30:06
    quite a good outcome with all the
  • 00:30:08
    networks is basically to be grumpy and
  • 00:30:11
    uh yeah I think that sums it up uh in
  • 00:30:14
    the coming weeks I'm going to do a
  • 00:30:15
    in-depth dive on both admob applovin Max
  • 00:30:19
    and unity level play to kind of show how
  • 00:30:21
    it works and how to get started there
  • 00:30:23
    but uh I think that's a good place to
  • 00:30:25
    end it for today uh
  • 00:30:28
    please remember to subscribe and also be
  • 00:30:33
    grumpy I'll see you next time thank you
  • 00:30:35
    so much for tuning in to one of these
  • 00:30:37
    special episodes of ASMR insights this
  • 00:30:39
    has been Felix uh I've been giving you a
  • 00:30:41
    nice little Walkin On introduction on
  • 00:30:43
    how to think about ad monetization um if
  • 00:30:45
    you have any questions message us we
  • 00:30:47
    have a slack group and it's linked below
  • 00:30:50
    best of luck to you all bye-bye
  • 00:30:56
    [Music]
  • 00:31:03
    [Applause]
  • 00:31:05
    [Music]
Etiquetas
  • ad monetization
  • eCPM
  • fill rate
  • ARPU
  • ad networks
  • mediation platforms
  • user engagement
  • ad revenue
  • scaling
  • mobile ads