Making Good ImpressionsAppnext’s Best Practices for Ad Monetization

Contents 1. Interstitial Ads

2. Rewarded Video Ads

- Games

- Non Gaming Apps

3. Native Ads

- Offer Wall

- Banners

Choosing a monetization model that is best suited for your app impacts growth, revenue and user acquisition.

So, how do you generate a revenue stream without compromising the quality and user experience of your app?

In this guide, we discuss commonapp monetization strategies and

how to identify the best ones for you.

Interstitial Ad Units01

Interstitial ads are optimized to cover the entire screen of any device. They are integrated via an SDK, which identifies apps users installed and will only recommend those that the user would love to discover and try.

Appnext partners state interstitial ads among the top-performing ad formats due to their optimized layout that presents both a featured app video trailer and other apps users may be interested in.

About Interstitial Ads

Interstitial mobile ads, also known as full-page ads, are one of the most popular ad units today. Although they are considered a more aggressive monetization approach than others, the ads do generate some of the highest results.

Enhance User Experience To maximize your monetization goals without compromising

user experience, we recommend triggering interstitial ads when there is a natural break in the user's flow.

TIP- Ideally, the best triggering point is after the user completes a desired action or between pages/sessions within your app.

Check Loading Times Make sure to load the interstitial ad a sufficient time before

showing it to the user (highly recommended for publishers who utilize Appnext via mediation platforms).

TIP- A required download or any other action with a long process time that usually doesn’t involve user interaction can be a great opportunity to grab users’ attention by showing them an interstitial.

Interstitial Best Practices

Perform A/B Testing Always A/B test a few different scenarios: location, timing,

and frequency. Then keep only what works.

Choose an Ad Format: Static or Video? If your user base is located in countries with low network

connectivity, Appnext will know to serve the best ad type (video or static) based on the user’s bandwidth.

Interstitial Best Practices

02 Rewarded Video

About Rewarded Video

Rewarded video ads are ads that offer users rewards such as virtual goods, currency, or lives in exchange for watching a video. The ads are integrated into the app’s storyboard, displayed on a full screen, and shown only when the user chooses to watch them.

Rewarded VideosGames Best Practices

Rewarded Videos work great with most types of games including Arcade, Cards, Casino, Adventure, Simulation, RPG , Action and more.

Implement the Rewarded Video in your game’s shop, here the user can get coins/game currency in exchange for watching the video. When users fail a level in your game, you can offer them the ability to watch a video and get another chance to play or earn game currency.

A/B test the type of rewards you are giving users. Explore different timings for your offers and see what works best.

Give rewards that are similar to your in-app purchases.

Show ads strategically. A bad way of using Rewarded Video will be to show a user the video (after he lost a game for example), without asking him if he wants to watch it. This will result in a bad user experience and eventually lower ad revenue.

Users who receive a reward for watching a video are more engaged and open to viewing ads and installing apps. Since users are motivated to complete the video session, advertisers value the rewarded video inventory (something to keep in mind, as advertisers, will eventually pay higher rates for this traffic).

Gateway To Monetize Players Via IAPs.Users who are willing to engage with rewarded ads are also morelikely to perform other in-app actions like making purchases.

Rewarded VideosNon-Gaming Best Practices

Higher User EngagementProvides the ability to engage and return users to your app by getting a positive reward for coming back ("Welcome back- here is 20 credits"), it encourages users to both visit your app more frequently and to engage with your premium features.

TIP- Having more visits per user will increase the time spent in your app, which will translate to higher Average Revenue Per Daily Active User (ARPDAU).

Rewarded VideosNon-Gaming Best Practices

Don’t Bombard Your Users By limiting the number of rewarded video ads per user (frequency capping), you encourage your users to visit your app more times a day, making it a great re-engagement and retention tool.

Include an Opt-in OptionMake sure your users have a choice to watch an ad in exchange for a reward. Think about how to incorporate rewards for your users.

Enhanced Retention RateAllowing the user to experience your top premium features free of charge will expose non-paying users, Increasing retention rate and revenue.

Increased Session Time Per Userby providing users with more credits to use your app, it will increase the average daily sessions per user, which will be translated to higher ARPU (Average revenue per user)

Native Ads03

Native ads are ads that mimic the look and format of the ads context. This type of ad has exploded in popularity and revenue, especially in mobile.

Native Ads Deliver! Using Native ads is a good way to set up and monetize your ad spaces effectively. Native ads match the visual design of the app they live in, enhancing the user experience.

According to results from more than 8,000 non-gaming apps monetized with Appnext, it was found that Native ads deliver higher conversion rates while dramatically increasing the time spent in-app when compared to those monetized via conventional ad units.

About Native Ads

INSTALL

Native Ads Best Practices

Create the Call-to-Action Button Green color buttons often increase the click-through rate. Use the button text suggested within the SDK such as “install now.” The button should stand out from the rest of the page, so it’s easy

for the user to find. Just because the ad is native, it doesn’t mean your button should be identical to the rest of the tabs.

TIP- One way to do this, is to have a contrast between your text and the color of the button.

Use Icons Strategically Icons that are visible and relevant can help encourage the user to

perform an action in the app, increasing conversion rate.

TIP- If you want users to install, a down arrow will do the work.For native video ads, you can use "watch now" or "play" icons.Use app store ratings and number of downloads to drive more userengagement (you can find it on Appnext’s ad response metadata).

Build Strong User RelationshipsFoster open and transparent relationships with your users by using a sponsored or ad disclosure.

Use Unlock ScreensWhen it comes to utility apps, you can use an unlock screen for maximizing revenues. Because of the high exposure, this ad type generates a high level of revenue. However, eCPM may be lower than other major placements.

Run In-feed AdsIf you want to use in-feed ads, we recommend including the app store rating score as well as the number of downloads. By incorporating the number of reviews and downloads, you are increasing your credibility, which increases ad engagement.

Appnext enables this by utilizing metadata (for more information visit our tools page).

Create a Unique Placement for Offer Wall Use a different tab on your app to contain the offer wall. The user initiates an action in order to encourage the user to arrive at the app-wall, sometimes a notification icon is presented on that tab of a certain image.

Offer a Wide Variety of Apps Use at least 10 apps, and do not store ads in the cache. Use Appnext real-time serving to offer the best-fitting app to

the end user during his or her unique real-time moments and interests. We know which apps the user has already installed and will not offer that same app again.

Use native ads as part of your existing offer wall on your app.If you don’t have an offer wall template available, consider creating one. Offer wall gives the user a place to stay updated with the newest, hottest apps out there. It can either be segmented by category (games, social, utilities, etc) or can simply be an endless list of apps he or she MUST install. An offer wall tends to generate higher revenues than regular native ads.

Offer Wall Best Practices

Offer Wall - If You Don’t Have It, Create It!

Banners Best Practices

Banners for Native Ads Compared to other ad units, banner ads can reach a much wider audience. Since They are usually located at the Top/Bottom of a page, users interact with the app without disrupting the user flow.

Choose the Banner PositionUse native ads to replace standard banners. Use the fix dimension property on your app to show native ads instead of standard banners.

Monitor Refresh TimeMake sure to provide sufficient time for each advert to be exposed to the user. We recommend setting your refresh time between 30-60 seconds.

Maximize Impression CountMaximizing impression count rather than maximizing clicks (CTR) tends to lower eCPM dramatically as it shortens the user’s exposure time on each ad. Therefore, try to optimize the click metric (CTR).

Banners Best Practices

If you use the same banner for a longer period per user, it will maximize your CTR and revenue from each user session. You just need to find the best time frame to show the same ad. It can also be applied in case you have scrollable pages.

Create Sufficient TimeFor apps with many screen views per visit, try to avoid loading a new advert for each screen to provide sufficient time for the advert message to be seen by the user.

Avoid Stat DiscrepanciesMake sure to report an impression only after the user has finished viewing the ad. In contrast to native ads, which should blend seamlessly in the app, banner ads should stand out and be much more prominent to catch the user’s eye. It is important for that reason, to use contrasting colors (even for the download button) to ensure it stands out and is more appealing to the user.

BannerIn-feed Offer Wall

Native Ads Implementations

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