We are thinking about making a free version of our app, ad-supported.
What is your experience? iAd, Admob, Mobclix... which one is performing the best based on your experience?
thanks!
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We are thinking about making a free version of our app, ad-supported.
What is your experience? iAd, Admob, Mobclix... which one is performing the best based on your experience?
thanks!
thanks all, great info, keep them coming if others has more.
NER Brothers, even better info , and congrats on your results ;-).
When you say "use iAds and then integrate with Mobclix and admob", what do you mean? Implementing a mechanism where if one network doesn't return an ad quickly enough you replace w/ the other? or something else?
How many downloads do you have in that category btw? can you share? I assume it's free.
__________________ iSocialize - The All-in-1 app for Social Networking
thanks all, great info, keep them coming if others has more.
NER Brothers, even better info , and congrats on your results ;-).
When you say "use iAds and then integrate with Mobclix and admob", what do you mean? Implementing a mechanism where if one network doesn't return an ad quickly enough you replace w/ the other? or something else?
How many downloads do you have in that category btw? can you share? I assume it's free.
Yes if one network doesn't get an ad, try an other one.
But all that stuff does mobclix for you.
1) You simply implement mobclix. (developer.mobclix.com)
2) add the iAd framework
3) add the admob sdk
4) make money
now you can set the priority from over 15 networks and iAd and admob on your dashboard at developer.mobclix.com
The app had more than 2.500.000 downloads since it is available.
But 2.000.000 downloads was in June. A great time! today it has only 4.000 downloads. But it's enough for a 20 year old student
But note: the revenue is only so good, because the CTR is by about 11%
Great! I didn't know we could add iAd to mobclix (we used it long time ago). Will try.
Last QQ now: did you do anything in particular to get 2 million downloads in Jun or it just happened? That's impressive too!
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I managed to integrate mobclix in my app. Can anybody clarify that if I want to use also iAd and Admob with mobclix what I should actually do? Or, for example with iAd, I only need to link iAd.framework and all background work is done by mobclix sdk? What about Admob?
I managed to integrate mobclix in my app. Can anybody clarify that if I want to use also iAd and Admob with mobclix what I should actually do? Or, for example with iAd, I only need to link iAd.framework and all background work is done by mobclix sdk? What about Admob?
We're working on some new documentation for integrating iAd and Admob into the Mobclix SDK. Shoot me a note if you want a draft version. Should make things pretty clear. adam(at)mobclix(dot)com
We're working on some new documentation for integrating iAd and Admob into the Mobclix SDK. Shoot me a note if you want a draft version. Should make things pretty clear. adam(at)mobclix(dot)com
I've send you draft documentation request to your email. Btw, can you give more information about basic analytics integration with mobclix?
I implemented Mobclix long time ago into my soon to be released apps, but I also have read that Mobclix has problems with payments.
Now I think about changing to AdWhirl, because I have never experienced payment problems with AdMob.
Can somebody tell me, what is better?
I want to think, mobclix is a better system (even if the dasboard is very confusing and complicated for me), but AdWhirl seems to be more trustworthy for me.
I've got an app that I released about a month ago. I won't pimp it here, but you can figure it out if you look for the free app in my signature below.
I went through the comparison process, and ended up going with Mobclix. It looked like the best way to integrate several ad networks. In my case, that meant iAd; Admob; In-House ads; and a handful of smaller networks that integrate with Mobclix.
Pros
Mobclix is fairly easy to integrate into your app. Setup only took about an hour.
Mobclix handles the fulfilment process. They figure out if Network A can't provide an ad, and call Network B automatically
Mobclix (theoretically) also handles prioritization. If Network C makes you more money than Network A or B, Mobclix will give you more ads from Network C.
Cons
The documentation for Mobclix is very sparse, not complete, and omits a number of key details.
The customer support at Mobclix is ... limited. Issues raised with their Help Desk tend to go untouched until you start complaining. Say something on Twitter and you'll get a quick response. Follow the normal support process and you probably won't hear an answer for weeks.
Many of the features mentioned throughout the site are not (yet?) working
The fancy optimization techniques they promote as their major advantage don't work with iAd, Mobclix or AdSense. They only work if you stick to the smaller, lesser-known ad networks. This is a major drawback.
Their reporting system is broken. It's been broken for about 2 months now, and despite many assurances that it will be fixed "soon", it still doesn't work reliably. This makes it impossible to rely on their reports.
Serving up iAd and Admob ads through Mobclix works, but the other networks are more questionable. In my particular case I've asked Mobclix to allocate a small percentage of my views to the lesser-known networks. Either they convert very, very badly, or their ads are not being shown at all. I've had nearly 100,000 ad views through Admob, and a small but steady conversion rate. According to Mobclix, not a single penny has been made from any of the smaller networks. This seems unlikely.
Overall, I'm disappointed with Mobclix. The idea seems great. Their sales pitch is slick, but the actual product is very, very beta software.
If I had it to do over again, I would either look elsewhere for a different aggregator, or just implement the ad swapping myself by hand.
The customer support at Mobclix is ... limited. Issues raised with their Help Desk tend to go untouched until you start complaining. Say something on Twitter and you'll get a quick response. Follow the normal support process and you probably won't hear an answer for weeks.
I get mixed reviews on our support. Some people say our support is the best out there, others say we're totally absent. We're cleaning up our process and hiring a dedicated support person shortly and this should make things dramatically better. Or email me directly if you're caught in support ticket purgatory.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Axeva
Many of the features mentioned throughout the site are not (yet?) working
RTB, Mobile Web and Windows Phone 7 are still in private beta due to limited demand. Are those the items you're referring to?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Axeva
The fancy optimization techniques they promote as their major advantage don't work with iAd, Mobclix or AdSense. They only work if you stick to the smaller, lesser-known ad networks. This is a major drawback.
Not technically true. I find that most people just aren't sure how to properly set-up and optimize open allocation. Either the impressions aren't going where you think they're going or the optimizer isn't working as you expect. Granted it's complicated and info isn't where most people look. Check out this article for a how-to.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Axeva
Their reporting system is broken. It's been broken for about 2 months now, and despite many assurances that it will be fixed "soon", it still doesn't work reliably. This makes it impossible to rely on their reports.
We've had some analytics issues, is this what you mean? Reporting occasionally hits hiccups but without reporting we can't collect money for developers, it's one of our companies highest priorities to fix if something's wrong.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Axeva
Serving up iAd and Admob ads through Mobclix works, but the other networks are more questionable. In my particular case I've asked Mobclix to allocate a small percentage of my views to the lesser-known networks. Either they convert very, very badly, or their ads are not being shown at all. I've had nearly 100,000 ad views through Admob, and a small but steady conversion rate. According to Mobclix, not a single penny has been made from any of the smaller networks. This seems unlikely.[/list]
Completely agreed, I would hazard a guess that they aren't getting your impression requests (if they aren't responding) or if you're sending a very small number of impressions and there aren't any clicks, they're CPC based. Read this and file a ticket on this if something's still amiss.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Axeva
Overall, I'm disappointed with Mobclix. The idea seems great. Their sales pitch is slick, but the actual product is very, very beta software.
If I had it to do over again, I would either look elsewhere for a different aggregator, or just implement the ad swapping myself by hand.
I'm really sorry to hear this, we have many happy customers and do what we can to be of assistance. If you (or anyone else) would like to give us a try, please email me (adam(at)mobclix(dot)com) and we'll do what we can to make sure you get the best experience we can offer.
Adam -- thanks for the reply. It's nice to have hands on comments from someone at the company.
I want to touch on a few of your responses:
Quote:
Originally Posted by AdamL
Not technically true. I find that most people just aren't sure how to properly set-up and optimize open allocation. Either the impressions aren't going where you think they're going or the optimizer isn't working as you expect. Granted it's complicated and info isn't where most people look. Check out this article for a how-to.
I'll look at that guide. I am by no means a Mobclix expert, so it's quite possible that I need to tweak my configurations.
That said, why should the onus be on me? The way the optimization process is setup is not at all user friendly. For example, why isn't the distinction between iAd, Admob and Adtini handled behind the scenes by Mobclix? I'm sure there are technical issues in trying to support all three, but that should be a Mobclix problem, not my problem.
In my mind, the Mobclix optimization process should be as simple as saying "I want to ensure 10% of my impressions go to house ads. You figure out the rest so it makes me the most money". I shouldn't have to work about which network it is -- you handle that.
Also, why isn't there a report that shows me the breakdown of ads? I should be able to see that on a given Tuesday there were 1,500 ad requests. 42% went to Admob, 17% went to iAd, 3% went to Adtini, and so on. Right now it's a mystery.
This is particularly problematic because the smaller ad networks are a black box. I have no idea how many ads were requested; how many were shown; how many were clicked; etc. It's a mystery, so I have no way of knowing if it's all working or not.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AdamL
We've had some analytics issues, is this what you mean?
See ticket #6305 on your help desk. It's been open for a month with no progress. I've spoken to a handful of people at Mobclix who confirm it's a problem, but it still has never been fixed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AdamL
I would hazard a guess that they aren't getting your impression requests (if they aren't responding) or if you're sending a very small number of impressions and there aren't any clicks, they're CPC based.
This goes back to my transparency concern above. Since I have no way of seeing how my ad requests are distributed, I have no way of knowing if JumpTap, Velti, Adtini or any of the other small networks are getting any requests at all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AdamL
I'm really sorry to hear this, we have many happy customers and do what we can to be of assistance. If you (or anyone else) would like to give us a try, please email me (adam(at)mobclix(dot)com) and we'll do what we can to make sure you get the best experience we can offer.
As I said above, I appreciate your hands-on approach. I like the idea of Mobclix in general, but the way your operation is being run makes me nervous. Documentation is sparse; Support is minimal; Reporting is missing and unreliable; It leaves me with the impression that this is more of a hobby than a business.
A twitter stream filled with photos of your parties at MacWorld -- and no mention of service enhancements -- make me wonder where your priorities really lie.
Hearing that you're expanding in to Windows Phones before the iOS support is reliable makes me scratch my head as well. I can't even run an iAd on an iPad app, but your diverting resources towards Windows Phone 7???
guys, I'm new in ad network. I have a question:
If I use iAd from Apple, then I will get paid from Apple and I am able to track money from iTune Connect. So if I use others like Mobclix or admob, who will pay me? and where can I track the revenue?
I'll forgo the quotes because the response is getting a bit long, instead summarizing:
Lack of reporting clarity/transparency:
I think I see where your confusion lies, it's our fault, I'm not a big fan of the dashboard layout, it's kind of confusing to see the network request breakdown, so I made a video. This will show you how to see the breakdown of the networks
Complicated Optimization:
I'm with you, we designed it so you could just flip a switch, by turning optimization on for all the networks. It handles the optimization and the priority. Unfortunately it's not that easy with Admob and iAd. They don't send revenue numbers with impressions, so we can't optimize on their feed. To us, it looks like they're sending $0 impressions, so they fall to the bottom. So we allow you to manually allocation and prioritization their feeds amongst our others. We're working on things so you can enter the average CPM and our optimization will take care of the rest of it, it's something I'm pushing for.
Clouds brings up this point, iAd and Admob revenue isn't collected by us, it's collected by them, so you track it and receive it through their dashboard, we never see how much they're earning you.
Analytics Issues
There is a portion of the analytics that isn't working, it shows 0. We're meeting with development to discuss the status Monday, I'll get a notification on the dashboard of our direction. Quite honestly our development team is focused on the ad serving as we see much higher demand (and return) on revenue-producing ads. So analytics has fallen by the wayside. We just recently had to rebuild the engine from the ground up. I believe some features where left off of the rebuild.
iAd for iPad
We aren't planning to support iAd for iPad. Apple went ahead and decided to build units that are nonstandard and non IAB approved. Because of this, no other ad networks have inventory to fill into their ad spaces and we've decided not to pursue support of the non-standard units. We recommend you call iAd separately if you'd like their inventory for iPad.
WWDC
It's our biggest event of the year, most of the folks there were our developers. It's our thank-you to the community. We don't tweet pictures of ourselves at our desks cranking out work.
I have my own simple ad mediation layer that shows an iAd if available, and then if not shows Mobclix. I used admob for quite some time before switching to Mobclix because of the low CPC. Mobclix CPC is has been better for me than admob. But, iAd blows them both away though.
Best Ad Network?
)
, and congrats on your results ;-). 
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