On average, conversion rates for in-app purchases tend to range between 1% and 5%, but this can vary considerably depending on the industry, the quality of the application, the monetization strategy, among other factors.
Some studies suggest that iOS users tend to spend more money on apps and in-app purchases on average than Android users. In my case, I also have apps on iOS, and what is certain is that more is earned with ads on iOS than on Android. Earnings from ads are quite relative.
To create my latest game, I studied a puzzle game called Woodoku and implemented ads very similarly to how they do it. The result: with just 50 active users, I earned $26 in the last 30 days.
Here’s a recommendation: every time you’re about to show an interstitial (not a rewarded video), check if about 4 minutes haven’t passed since the last time you showed one. If 4 minutes have passed, show the interstitial.
Tip: try showing an interstitial every time your player wants to restart the level or use a certain booster, and so on… The ‘closed’ phase in AdMob is triggered when an interstitial, rewarded video, or app open is closed. Use this phase to reset a variable that keeps track of time: os.time(), and you’ll be able to check every time your code requests an ad if 4 minutes have passed. Do this as follows:
timeAdDisplayed = os.time()
Then, when you request an ad (interstitial or app open) you can do this:
if os.difftime( os.time(), timeAdDisplayed ) > 240 then
-- show the ad
end
