Corona's monetization strategy

Solar2D Monetization (in-app purchases, ads, etc.)
#1

The direction corona is taking with siphoning off ad impressions (5%) from developers leaves me with a few important questions:

  1.  Is admob one of the ad networks that corona is siphoning impressions from? If yes, when did that begin?

  2.  Which ad network does corona use when displaying their own ads?  

  3.  What types of ads (videos, static, etc.) are corona showing?

  4.  What category of ads are you showing for your 5% of ads?  

  5.  What level of transparency are you going to provide to ensure us that you’re only taking 5% of the ads?

  6.  With the new chartboost (which we were using with their now unsupported plugin) and adcolony plugins, how are we to know if you’re taking money off the top beyond the 5% of impressions?  Meaning as an example we should have gotten $2 ecpm but we end up with $1.50 ecpm and we have no way of knowing that occurred?  How are you tracking those impressions if they all go through you?

The main concern isn’t that you want 5% of the ad traffic its that you have total control over 5% of the ad impressions our apps make and that control means we may be showing ads to our customers which don’t represent our company or games and we have no control over that.

#2

Hi Rich. Let me try to answer these for you.

  1.  Is admob one of the ad networks that corona is siphoning impressions from? If yes, when did that begin?

A. We do not take any ads from AdMob.

  1.  Which ad network does corona use when displaying their own ads?

A. We use various partners to try and achieve a great fill rate while maximizing your eCPMs. These can change over time as we work to get the best value we can. I don’t have a specific list.

  1.  What types of ads (videos, static, etc.) are corona showing?

A. Corona Ads currently serves banner and interstitial ads.

  1.  What category of ads are you showing for your 5% of ads?

A. This is referring to Facebook Audience Network and AppLovin. For Facebook it’s interstitial ads  and banners. For AppLovin it’s rewarded video.

  1.  What level of transparency are you going to provide to ensure us that you’re only taking 5% of the ads?

A. I’ll see if I can find an answer for this, but the best thing is to look at your eCPM and compare it to your other networks. If you find one of our plugins isn’t providing you the value you expect, try one of our others. We have over 12 plugins to choose from and there are only four are we taking this kind of revenue share from.

  1.  With the new chartboost (which we were using with their now unsupported plugin) and adcolony plugins, how are we to know if you’re taking money off the top beyond the 5% of impressions?  Meaning as an example we should have gotten $2 ecpm but we end up with $1.50 ecpm and we have no way of knowing that occurred?  How are you tracking those impressions if they all go through you?

A. With Chartboost and AdColony the pool of ads serves us both. We really want you to get the best eCPMs you can.

Rob

#3

Thanks for the response but you haven’t addressed our concerns with regards to what ads you’re showing (in the fan and applovin case) nor are we seeing any of the tools in your chartboost setup that allows us to adjust what ads are shown to customers, how frequently videos are show, etc.  When we have our own accounts on any of these ad providers, we get control over what gets shown (the type of ads, whether they are videos or not, etc).  When you choose 5% of the ads to go to your own provider, you decide for us what our own customers get to see.  We’ve found that too many video ads make our customers angry and discourage play so we try to limit them.  With your model we don’t get that control.  Is this something you’ve considered and are working on a solution for?

#4

With FAN and Applovin we pretty much have to show the same ad your app is requesting. It would be strange for us to show an interstitial in  your app if you’re requesting a banner ad.

The question about tools for Chartbeat setup is one I’m trying to get an answer for.  I have heard an answer, but I want to get specific and verify it before I advertise it here.

Rob

#5

I understand it will be an interstitial but will it be a fan ad as well?  What categories do you exclude (we always exclude gambling for example)?  Will it always be a video? How will we know when you’ll choose do display one of your ads versus one of ours?  Those are the things we’re referring to when we say we have no control over what you show our customers

#6

Rich I know for the applovin plugin you can send your setting and they will honor those settings for the 5% or at least that is how it was when I tested it. Sort of inconvenient to send an e-mail but it does work for now.

#7
#8

If you are using the FAN plugin, all ads will be FAN ads. We don’t have anything behind the scenes that would inject a Vendor B ad in it’s place. That would be visible to your app. We can only show what you request.

As far as controlling categories of ads, for both FAN and AppLovin, you manage that via their portal. But that’s for your 19 ads. If you want to keep our 20th ad from using categories you want or don’t want, you simply email ads@coronalabs.com and let them know of any changes you make in your FAN or AppLovin portal that we need to match. We want to show the same things you want to show, so keeping us in sync will make that happen.

As far as when we choose to show our ad vs. yours, that’s an algorithm that I don’t have access to and I don’t know how it works, but over the long run, it works out to the percentages we have set. We are not cherry-picking the best ads for us. If we did that would reflect in your eCPM. We want you to be successful.

Rob

#9

Hi Rich. Let me try to answer these for you.

  1.  Is admob one of the ad networks that corona is siphoning impressions from? If yes, when did that begin?

A. We do not take any ads from AdMob.

  1.  Which ad network does corona use when displaying their own ads?

A. We use various partners to try and achieve a great fill rate while maximizing your eCPMs. These can change over time as we work to get the best value we can. I don’t have a specific list.

  1.  What types of ads (videos, static, etc.) are corona showing?

A. Corona Ads currently serves banner and interstitial ads.

  1.  What category of ads are you showing for your 5% of ads?

A. This is referring to Facebook Audience Network and AppLovin. For Facebook it’s interstitial ads  and banners. For AppLovin it’s rewarded video.

  1.  What level of transparency are you going to provide to ensure us that you’re only taking 5% of the ads?

A. I’ll see if I can find an answer for this, but the best thing is to look at your eCPM and compare it to your other networks. If you find one of our plugins isn’t providing you the value you expect, try one of our others. We have over 12 plugins to choose from and there are only four are we taking this kind of revenue share from.

  1.  With the new chartboost (which we were using with their now unsupported plugin) and adcolony plugins, how are we to know if you’re taking money off the top beyond the 5% of impressions?  Meaning as an example we should have gotten $2 ecpm but we end up with $1.50 ecpm and we have no way of knowing that occurred?  How are you tracking those impressions if they all go through you?

A. With Chartboost and AdColony the pool of ads serves us both. We really want you to get the best eCPMs you can.

Rob

#10

Thanks for the response but you haven’t addressed our concerns with regards to what ads you’re showing (in the fan and applovin case) nor are we seeing any of the tools in your chartboost setup that allows us to adjust what ads are shown to customers, how frequently videos are show, etc.  When we have our own accounts on any of these ad providers, we get control over what gets shown (the type of ads, whether they are videos or not, etc).  When you choose 5% of the ads to go to your own provider, you decide for us what our own customers get to see.  We’ve found that too many video ads make our customers angry and discourage play so we try to limit them.  With your model we don’t get that control.  Is this something you’ve considered and are working on a solution for?

#11

With FAN and Applovin we pretty much have to show the same ad your app is requesting. It would be strange for us to show an interstitial in  your app if you’re requesting a banner ad.

The question about tools for Chartbeat setup is one I’m trying to get an answer for.  I have heard an answer, but I want to get specific and verify it before I advertise it here.

Rob

#12

I understand it will be an interstitial but will it be a fan ad as well?  What categories do you exclude (we always exclude gambling for example)?  Will it always be a video? How will we know when you’ll choose do display one of your ads versus one of ours?  Those are the things we’re referring to when we say we have no control over what you show our customers

#13

Rich I know for the applovin plugin you can send your setting and they will honor those settings for the 5% or at least that is how it was when I tested it. Sort of inconvenient to send an e-mail but it does work for now.

#14
#15

If you are using the FAN plugin, all ads will be FAN ads. We don’t have anything behind the scenes that would inject a Vendor B ad in it’s place. That would be visible to your app. We can only show what you request.

As far as controlling categories of ads, for both FAN and AppLovin, you manage that via their portal. But that’s for your 19 ads. If you want to keep our 20th ad from using categories you want or don’t want, you simply email ads@coronalabs.com and let them know of any changes you make in your FAN or AppLovin portal that we need to match. We want to show the same things you want to show, so keeping us in sync will make that happen.

As far as when we choose to show our ad vs. yours, that’s an algorithm that I don’t have access to and I don’t know how it works, but over the long run, it works out to the percentages we have set. We are not cherry-picking the best ads for us. If we did that would reflect in your eCPM. We want you to be successful.

Rob