We haven't covered it much before, but in-app ads are a huge and quite lucrative part of our industry. In-app ads are basically, as the name implies, a method of advertising in mobile apps, most often in demo versions of paid apps or games.
Today, we will briefly review the basic concepts of in-app ads, their differences from the “classic” traffic arbitrage, and other must-know information about them.
In-app ad formats
- Banners — same as on websites, but shrunk down and optimized for apps;
- Full banners — these completely cover the screen during in-app transitions;
- Rewarding ads — when a user gets an in-game/in-app bonus in return for watching an ad;
- Mini-games — when your ad has actual interactive gameplay;
- Native ads — these are embedded in the design of an application or game.
Rewarding ads are the most effective because they are beneficial to both sides of the process: the advertiser gets views and possible conversions, and the user gets a reward inside their app.
At the same time, banners are the least effective format due to the banner blindness of the modern user, as well as the irritation caused by an ad covering parts of the screen.
Mobile traffic sources
- Games — online or offline, these always have quite a bit of traffic;
- Shopping apps — since the user is already in the shopping mood anyway;
- Utilities — useful services that subconsciously evoke trust associations;
- Cabs and carsharing — everyone uses them, so the traffic is decent;
- Other — any types of apps that don’t fall under the categories above.
The majority of mobile traffic is concentrated in games, while apps from the "other" section are rarely of interest to advertisers. However, don’t ever underestimate them: they can bring very targeted traffic — for instance, if you advertise language courses in an educational app where people are already willing to learn something.
How do mobile offers work?
Depending on what you are promoting, the payment for the offer will vary. The two most common forms of payment are for installation (in the case of app promotion) or for subscription/payment for services (in the case of service promotion), but there are other options as well.
In-app ads: yes or no?
This direction of arbitrage has its advantages and downsides compared to the more “classic” approach with Facebook, Google, and the like. But the in-app ad market boasts a huge volume for a reason, so let's take a closer look.
Pros:
+ Low entry threshold — depending on the region, payouts can start as low as $0.01, so mobile offers are easy to pick up and cheap to test;
+ Simple scaling — most apps are available across a solid range of regions, so scaling once you discover a working approach is easy;
+ Stable income — due to the lack of banning and account issues, you can achieve predictable and stable income once you find the correct approach.
Cons:
- Long hold time — you may face a long hold while the quality of traffic is checked, especially if you promote other apps via in-app ads;
- Long whitelist generation — there are millions of apps on the market, and you will need time until you learn which ones generate quality traffic and make a whitelist.
Conclusion
In-app ads are good both at the start, due to their low entry threshold, and in the long run, due to their straightforward scaling. From a couple hundred bucks for the first test, you can quickly scale up to thousands of dollars — if you take into account the peculiarities of the mobile app market and learn to adapt on the go, that is.
Nevertheless, you will need time and patience to form a reliable whitelist, and the specifics of mobile arbitrage will not allow you to blindly transfer methods from other approaches and yield good results, so it’s not a “get in and get rich” situation.
Today, we will briefly review the basic concepts of in-app ads, their differences from the “classic” traffic arbitrage, and other must-know information about them.
In-app ad formats
- Banners — same as on websites, but shrunk down and optimized for apps;
- Full banners — these completely cover the screen during in-app transitions;
- Rewarding ads — when a user gets an in-game/in-app bonus in return for watching an ad;
- Mini-games — when your ad has actual interactive gameplay;
- Native ads — these are embedded in the design of an application or game.
Rewarding ads are the most effective because they are beneficial to both sides of the process: the advertiser gets views and possible conversions, and the user gets a reward inside their app.
At the same time, banners are the least effective format due to the banner blindness of the modern user, as well as the irritation caused by an ad covering parts of the screen.
Mobile traffic sources
- Games — online or offline, these always have quite a bit of traffic;
- Shopping apps — since the user is already in the shopping mood anyway;
- Utilities — useful services that subconsciously evoke trust associations;
- Cabs and carsharing — everyone uses them, so the traffic is decent;
- Other — any types of apps that don’t fall under the categories above.
The majority of mobile traffic is concentrated in games, while apps from the "other" section are rarely of interest to advertisers. However, don’t ever underestimate them: they can bring very targeted traffic — for instance, if you advertise language courses in an educational app where people are already willing to learn something.
How do mobile offers work?
Depending on what you are promoting, the payment for the offer will vary. The two most common forms of payment are for installation (in the case of app promotion) or for subscription/payment for services (in the case of service promotion), but there are other options as well.
In-app ads: yes or no?
This direction of arbitrage has its advantages and downsides compared to the more “classic” approach with Facebook, Google, and the like. But the in-app ad market boasts a huge volume for a reason, so let's take a closer look.
Pros:
+ Low entry threshold — depending on the region, payouts can start as low as $0.01, so mobile offers are easy to pick up and cheap to test;
+ Simple scaling — most apps are available across a solid range of regions, so scaling once you discover a working approach is easy;
+ Stable income — due to the lack of banning and account issues, you can achieve predictable and stable income once you find the correct approach.
Cons:
- Long hold time — you may face a long hold while the quality of traffic is checked, especially if you promote other apps via in-app ads;
- Long whitelist generation — there are millions of apps on the market, and you will need time until you learn which ones generate quality traffic and make a whitelist.
Conclusion
In-app ads are good both at the start, due to their low entry threshold, and in the long run, due to their straightforward scaling. From a couple hundred bucks for the first test, you can quickly scale up to thousands of dollars — if you take into account the peculiarities of the mobile app market and learn to adapt on the go, that is.
Nevertheless, you will need time and patience to form a reliable whitelist, and the specifics of mobile arbitrage will not allow you to blindly transfer methods from other approaches and yield good results, so it’s not a “get in and get rich” situation.