In-app advertising is one way of recouping the cost of developing the app and making a profit. If a free application becomes popular among users, then introducing advertising will allow you to earn money based on views.
That way, everyone wins:
The popularity of in-app advertising can be attributed to the following advantages:
Despite all the advantages, this type of marketing also has its drawbacks. The mobile app market has long been divided among, for example, social media, instant messengers, popular brands, and companies. This is where advertising can have the widest coverage. Advertising in unpopular apps would be ineffective.
There are several formats for in-app ads:
1. Banners are ad units at the bottom or top of the screen. They can be configured to update periodically. Due to their simple integration, banners are best suited for short-term ad campaigns. Costs for this kind of advertising are low, making it an attractive option for most advertisers.
2. Native advertising is the least invasive type of in-app advertising. The ad content fits organically into the app itself, conforming to its design as much as possible. Advertising looks like part of the interface because it is considered the most informative and rarely causes a negative reaction from the user. In online stores, the banner just looks like another product, and on social media it looks like an ordinary post. Native advertising has to account for the app’s interface and design, which requires more effort than just placing a banner.
3. Interstitial is a full-screen ad that covers the app’s interface. It includes static images, videos, and animated content that appears after the user has performed a certain action (such as completing a level in a game or when switching between screens).
This format allows you to place more information about the product compared to banners or native advertising. The disadvantage is that interstitial advertising is one of the most intrusive types of in-app ads.
4. Rewarded Video is another full screen video ad option. In this case, the user receives a reward for viewing. The key difference with Rewarded Video is that the user themselves turns on the commercial. Accordingly, they must know in advance that they will receive a reward for doing so.
5. Playable Ads is the most difficult, but also the most original type of in-app advertising that allows the user to interact with the content. For example, the user is invited to play a mini-game.
Playable Ads have a high level of engagement and are able to tell the user in detail about the product, but at a high cost.
There are advertising platforms built specifically for mobile applications. They’re called mobile advertising platforms.
AdMob can easily embed the required properties in any user application and then generate reports to track earnings. AdMob also maximizes revenue by getting certain data on eligible customers and achieving more in-app purchases. AdMob features include cross-platform compatibility, fast payments, and visualized flow reporting.
The utility’s mission is to optimize the mobile user experience with the best applications and personalized ads. Flurry has the largest app data set in terms of usage, which means it has the highest ad revenue. It has more than 700 million smartphones and tablets worldwide, making it very promising and reliable.
ADColony allows multiple ad formats to be displayed with a single SDK that can be sent to a wide range of smartphone apps. Another feature is its fast playback speed for video apps (in about 0.1 seconds), with vivid high-definition video. The user doesn’t even notice loading time.
Unity Ads is a video advertising service that generates ad revenue without interfering with your app experience. Unity Ads is designed to look like video ads are part of a game or app.
The world's largest gaming and cross-promotion advertising network. Developers can use cross promotion and contract with each other directly. With tools like Chartboost Video, this creates endless monetization opportunities.
Millennial Media is one of the leading mobile advertising networks and employs a mobile-first approach. Millennial Media offers unique targeting options, mMedia for developers to self-advertise, ads from third-party networks, and sales campaigns to targeted customers.
One of the most advanced game monetization apps. It can easily operate on a variety of platforms and create programs that are relatively easy to install. The range of ad formats is endless, and there is a monetization tool for business apps.
Learn more about how do free apps make money.