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Top Publishers Rely on Video Ads for Mobile Monetization

Posted Feb 12, 2020

How do publishers of the world’s top apps monetize and engage their users in a meaningful way that is effective & respects the user experience? To find out, AdColony surveyed today’s top-grossing app developers, and the results of the AdColony Mobile Publishing Survey are now available. The mobile publishers included gaming and non-gaming app developers and averaged at least 3M monthly average users (MAU).

Survey Highlights:

Publishers rely on video ads and in-app purchases (IAP) to monetize their mobile games.
With so many methods available to earn revenue, a high majority of respondents (89%) said they used various types of video ads in their games. A significant number of publishers (68%) also rely on IAP to monetize while 35% said they used display ads. The recent launches of game subscription services like Google Play Pass and Apple Arcade made little impact on respondents’ monetization efforts as only 2% stated that they used subscriptions for revenue.

Video Ads Draw the Most Excitement for Publishers
Publishers were asked which monetization methods were they most excited for. Video ads drew the most excitement by far with 51% of respondents choosing those methods. When asked about specific methods, the top three were interstitial video, interstitial display, and playable ads.

Rewarded Video Ads Are Considered the Most Effective
Publishers may use a variety of monetization methods but which of those do they also believe to be effective? According to the results, respondents gave the highest average ratings to rewarded video ads (4.6) and interstitial video ads (3.7). Interstitial display ads barely beat out IAP with ratings of 3.5 and 3.4, respectively, despite more publishers saying they use IAP (+33%) over display ads. 

Publishers Say Ads Account for 63% of Total Revenue On Average
The real test of monetization effectiveness is the revenue it brings in. The Mobile Publishing Survey asked respondents to estimate the breakdown of their revenue and ads (video, display, native) on average accounted for 63% of total revenue. Since the previous version of this survey, this total has gone up by 8%. The top revenue sources are video ads (35%), display ads (21%), and IAP (18%). In 2017, publishers claimed that IAP accounted for 39% of revenue which means a 21% drop since that edition of the survey. 

When looking at gaming versus non-gaming apps, both types still receive a majority of their revenue from advertising. Ad monetization provided 63% of revenue for mobile games, while publishers of non-gaming apps reported that ad integrations supply 66% of their total revenue. Revenue from display ads makes up 29% of total revenue, 13% more than gaming apps. Gaming apps also receive more of their earnings from IAP and eCommerce (+13%) than non-gaming apps.

About the Study
The AdColony Mobile Publishing Survey provides insights, benchmarks, and trends from the world’s top-grossing app developers.

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