The Role of Ad Networks in Mobile Game Monetization

• By Emily Wilson
• 27-07-2021
• Technology

Finding just the right differences between an ad mediation platform and an ad network for mobile app monetization, people often mix up these two concepts. With in-app advertising revenue expected to soar over $935.2 billion U.S. Dollars, it is important to understand what an Ad Network is and how it makes a difference. Mobile game monetization opens up a publisher to generate incremental revenue with his or her game. Similar is the case with mobile applications where a publisher can effectively monetize it. However, with the urge to monetize, a publisher must clearly understand how ads are deployed within the game/app. For this, one must be able to understand the role of ad networks as well as ad mediation platforms for mobile game monetization. This article will help you understand what ad networks are, how they perform and what is their significance in the process of mobile app monetization.

What is an Ad Network?

An Advertising Network or Mobile Ad Network acts as an agent between the ad inventory and the publisher. An Ad Network manages multiple ads within the ad inventory to later serve them to the publisher’s app when required.

In mobile game monetization, Ad Networks play a vital role in maintaining the fill rate and boosting in-app revenue for the publisher.
Fill rate is the number of ad impressions received per the number of ad requests generated. This means that the fill rate highly depends on the Ad Network’s performance and activeness.

The Role and Importance of Ad Networks in Mobile Game Monetization

In generic terms, an Ad Network acts like a cupboard where you set up your clothes and access them until you need them. An Ad Network during the Mobile Game Monetization process acts similarly. It gets active once an ad call is generated from the game publisher’s side, after which it matches the request with the available inventory. What does this really mean?

An ad call or request carries essential information such as the ad format required and the placement details. At times an ad call also carries demographic insights so that a localized ad is fetched. The Ad Network sends back an ad to the game publisher only after matching it with the format, placement and other requirements.

Besides, Ad Networks enable the advertisers to enjoy the best slot for publishing their ads. Few among the top ad networks facilitate advertisers with features such as Appographic targeting. Appographics help advertisers find the perfect audience for their app/ brand being advertised.

Common Business Models Offered By Ad Networks
Ad Networks efficiently manage ad inventory for mobile game monetization. Therefore, when we are talking about monetization how we cannot spill beans on the business models. The business models refer to the KPIs – key performance indicator on the basis of which an advertiser is charged. To date, 5 business models are offered to the advertisers by the Ad Networks. These include:

CPM – Cost per Mile
Cost per mile as the name suggests, an advertiser is charged every time his or her ad is displayed a thousand times.

CPC – Cost per Click
As per the Cost per click model, an advertiser is only charged whenever a click is made on his or her ad.

CPI – Cost per Install
Cost per install model becomes active whenever an app is installed via an ad being shown. As per this, the advertiser is charged per installation.

CPA – Cost per Action
Cost per action is a more advanced and refined form of CPI. However, an advertiser in this case is only charged when a specific action takes place.

CPV – Cost per View
Cost per view model is to facilitate advertisers that opt to choose video ad campaigns. An advertiser in this case is charged according to the number of views his or her video ad receives.

Ad Networks play a critical role today in establishing and implementing a fruitful monetization strategy for publishers and mobile advertising campaigns for advertisers.

If you are a publisher you must know what to consider before choosing an Ad Network while monetizing. This includes a good fill rate, powerful analytics support, ad relevance, good word of mouth, and regular updates. The role of ad networks in mobile game/app monetization has significant importance for both the advertiser and publisher.

Conclusion

An Ad Network essentially acts as a bridge between the advertiser and the publisher. By making ads easily available, mobile ad networks have relatively made the publisher’s life easy for monetization. From serving the perfect ads in real-time and maintaining fill rate, an ad network’s role is highly dominant.