There's been tons of threads on this forum complaining about low eCPM's from various companies. It seems to be getting worse and worse, against my predictions... a year ago I was struggling to make $1.00 eCPM, now I'm struggling to make close to half that.
I don't have any firsthand experience in the website realm, but it's my understanding that on a non mobile ad on a website can earn 1 eCPM upwards of 40-50 eCPM depending on the niche, so I have always assumed that mobile ad networks would be able to at least close in on these numbers if not surpass them.. but instead the mobile numbers seem to be descending. The outlook has been especially dim this holiday season, with eCPMs not rising near the amount they did last year and the high paying ad networks filling a low percentage of ads.
At the same time I've been hearing success stories from companies like Leadbolt and others who offer interstitial ads that generate large amounts of money... I've been reluctant to integrate with any of these companies as it seems like these types of ads might be intrusive and prone to implementation bugs versus the rather simple and unobtrusive banner ads.
Does anyone see a future in banner ads in mobile advertising? Are developers of free apps going to have to plan integrating interstitial and other intrusive ads in our app designs?
Does anyone see a future in banner ads in mobile advertising?
It can be tough to make decent money from banner ads without a high install base and optimising integration within your app(s).
Beyond that the best you can do is make sure you leverage higher eCPM ad sources, either integrating something like iAds with a backfill like AdMob, or by selling ad space directly to advertisers that might be interested in your specific niche. We have done both of these, and it has doubled the revenues we would otherwise be getting from banner ads.
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Are developers of free apps going to have to plan integrating interstitial and other intrusive ads in our app designs?
We are using interstitial ads in almost all of our free games. They bring in exponentially more revenues than banner ads on a daily basis.
Interstitial ads can be intrusive, so designing them into your app from the outset is important. Trying to retrofit them to an existing design can be tough and more annoying to consumers.
It can be tough to make decent money from banner ads without a high install base and optimising integration within your app(s).
Beyond that the best you can do is make sure you leverage higher eCPM ad sources, either integrating something like iAds with a backfill like AdMob, or by selling ad space directly to advertisers that might be interested in your specific niche. We have done both of these, and it has doubled the revenues we would otherwise be getting from banner ads.
We are using interstitial ads in almost all of our free games. They bring in exponentially more revenues than banner ads on a daily basis.
Interstitial ads can be intrusive, so designing them into your app from the outset is important. Trying to retrofit them to an existing design can be tough and more annoying to consumers.
Good point about retrofiting intersitials being tough.. This is the exact problem I'm having, I can't find obvious places to easily integrate the ads in my apps I suppose this is just another incentive to continue on with new projects with this in mind.
Selling ads directly is an option I hadn't really considered, even though I have gotten a couple requests. I figured since I don't have the infrastructure set up it wouldn't be worth it... but maybe I'll have to take another look into this . I agree also that backup networks are a must. I use at least 4 ad networks managed by AdWhirl currently, yet I'm still struggling :P
Currently using Tremor and backfilling with AdMob. Tremor has a better average eCPM but is highly variable with the number of ads being served to the point where I would struggle to recommend it as a first iteration solution.
I know people, who make 600 dollar a day with AdMob, but for that you need an app which is downloaded a few hundred thousand times and is replayable without end
Normally you will make 1-2 dollars a day.
Banner ads are the worst advertising method IMHO since it was invented.
I would not say that banner ads are dying, my revenue with ads never was so high (I have an small install base, less than 10k, and I make more than 15$ per day just in iAds)
I think it probably depends on the app itself, some apps are meant for use during a long time, others just for some minutes or less, in the later, ads are not going to have much success.
Good point about retrofiting intersitials being tough.. This is the exact problem I'm having, I can't find obvious places to easily integrate the ads in my apps I suppose this is just another incentive to continue on with new projects with this in mind.
Selling ads directly is an option I hadn't really considered, even though I have gotten a couple requests. I figured since I don't have the infrastructure set up it wouldn't be worth it... but maybe I'll have to take another look into this . I agree also that backup networks are a must. I use at least 4 ad networks managed by AdWhirl currently, yet I'm still struggling :P
One of the networks that i am using is adiquity & they proposed me a solution where they will provide the infrastructure for direct sales ads.I dont have any such plan in near future so i have not tried it but you may want to explore it its free...
Revenue is low, but it's better than nothing. Any one can recommend an better Ad Provider? I'm about to release an update so I could change some things.
Revenue is low, but it's better than nothing. Any one can recommend an better Ad Provider? I'm about to release an update so I could change some things.
We are getting much better results
iAds - 2.62 eCPM (average last 7 days)
AdMob - 0.61 eCPM (average last 7 days)
I know people, who make 600 dollar a day with AdMob, but for that you need an app which is downloaded a few hundred thousand times and is replayable without end
Normally you will make 1-2 dollars a day.
Banner ads are the worst advertising method IMHO since it was invented.
Wow seriously 600/day? That's awesome!
What kind of app is it by chance? Like a game, or interactive or something? That would be some crazy income.
Hell I would love to hit $100/day that's some crazy income.
iAds - 2.62 eCPM (average last 7 days)
AdMob - 0.61 eCPM (average last 7 days)
The iAd income sounds good, but I'm guessing like me the fill rate is abysmal.
Interesting to hear you're getting a decent ecpm with admob, I get around .15 or so. Another company that has performed decently for me is mdotm. Two years ago around Christmas time I was getting upwards of 15$ eCPM with 100% fill rate from the Google AdSense beta... those were the days (months)...
Do you have a big userbase in France? I find we tend to get our best eCPMs at around your level there.
We get most request from US, then about half of that from France, Germany, UK and Mexico (no iAd available) each. Others countries generate again half less requests than those four countries.
eCPM per country (last 7 days):
Code:
France $15.55
Germany $13.92
Italy $6.24
Japan $22.50
Spain $6.15
UK $11.73
US $8.14
No idea why our eCPM is so high compared to many others here. We just need more users, getting only around 500-1000 downloads per day. Best daily ad revenue (iAd + AdMob) has been about $70.
We get most request from US, then about half of that from France, Germany, UK and Mexico (no iAd available) each. Others countries generate again half less requests than those four countries.
eCPM per country (last 7 days):
Code:
France $15.55
Germany $13.92
Italy $6.24
Japan $22.50
Spain $6.15
UK $11.73
US $8.14
No idea why our eCPM is so high compared to many others here. We just need more users, getting only around 500-1000 downloads per day. Best daily ad revenue (iAd + AdMob) has been about $70.
Wow congrats man! $22 from Japan that is really good.. I was considering trying out a translation for some of my upcoming ideas but I feel it may take too long.
You've made me reconsider lol. Of course, iAds is USA only but if AdMob is a legit secondary option I'm most likely going with them (which does apply for Japanese reigon I think)
No idea why our eCPM is so high compared to many others here. We just need more users, getting only around 500-1000 downloads per day. Best daily ad revenue (iAd + AdMob) has been about $70.
Another area of banner ads that isn't really talked much about is the placement of them relative to 'action areas' of the app...
I've seen apps, usually games, that have the banner ad in the playing area, so that errant taps are quite likely. Even more blatant is the 'touch banner ad to save' features I've seen in some games. Clearly such techniques increase the click through rate, and I'm guessing this would increase the eCPM quite a bit too.
This is a rather grey area I think... I haven't heard of anyone having their iAd or AdMob accounts shut down due to issues like this (although I think there is some HIG guideline for iAd, and they do approve the apps after all so if they ever have a problem they should just reject it...). On the other hand I've heard of many instances where people get their webpage ads shut down due to issues like this... It's not clear to me what the risks or the payoffs are of trying to increase the erroneous click through rate on your banner ads..
I've seen apps, usually games, that have the banner ad in the playing area, so that errant taps are quite likely. Even more blatant is the 'touch banner ad to save' features I've seen in some games. Clearly such techniques increase the click through rate, and I'm guessing this would increase the eCPM quite a bit too.
Won't work for the ecosystem, if an advertiser gets 1000 clicks and 0 sales (paying $$$) then it won't invest in it anymore, so the publisher gets a lower eCPM, and the whole thing collapses.
Bogus clicks and apps too cheap (or free even) are the main reasons why ads on mobile systems haven't worked great yet. (And I don't think they will anyway until apps will get more expensive)
Won't work for the ecosystem, if an advertiser gets 1000 clicks and 0 sales (paying $$$) then it won't invest in it anymore, so the publisher gets a lower eCPM, and the whole thing collapses.
Bogus clicks and apps too cheap (or free even) are the main reasons why ads on mobile systems haven't worked great yet. (And I don't think they will anyway until apps will get more expensive)
I think you're right about it not working for the ecosystem, and I think it's one of the things that is killing the mobile ad market. 4 years or so in and there still don't seem to be any guidelines or enforcement of apps generating bogus clicks, and you're probably right that this is driving advertisers out of the market. I don't quite follow on the part about apps getting more expensive though... I don't think there will ever be a good case for advertising inexpensive mobile apps, but mobile ads are probably going to be driven by the same big companies that drive the rest of the traditional ad space.
Has anyone tried Greystripe fullscreen ads? I have seen MobilityWare's Solitaire use it quite well in that it displays the ad when you start a new game only. That seems alot less intrusive than a banner ad during the actual gameplay.
I'm preparing to use Mobclix in my next app. Are there advertisers already set up? Or do I need to go into Services and sign up for everything, including iAd and AdMob?
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I don't quite follow on the part about apps getting more expensive though... I don't think there will ever be a good case for advertising inexpensive mobile apps
That's what I meant, until apps are cheap cost per click is too expensive for a positive ROI. If apps were to cost around the $50 mark then probably I would advertise massively. Until they are $0.99 for me there's no chance of ROI, only branding.
Are banner ads a dying medium?
I suppose this is just another incentive to continue on with new projects with this in mind.
. I agree also that backup networks are a must. I use at least 4 ad networks managed by AdWhirl currently, yet I'm still struggling :P
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