New to ads, some basic questions

Getting Started Newbie Questions
#1

I’ve been reading the forums but the lingo is for more experienced developers than myself

  1. What’s the benefit of using multiple ad networks? Should I use one at a time first to see which ones work best? And if I try one ad network at a time to see which I like better, does the user need to update the app every time? Is there a way to circumvent this?

  2. Is it possible to see how much each ad network is paying before implementing their network into the app? Will that price usually remain the same for a period of time (1-3 months)?

  3. If a banner ad cycles ads every 30 seconds, does that count as 2 impressions in a minute? Can I choose to get paid per impression rather than click?

  4. Do full banner ads pay much higher than banner ads or video ads?

  5. What is a general guideline on what CPM is good and which is a ripoff. For example is $0.20 good?

Thanks for the help

#2
  1. There are a few advantages to using multiple networks. The obvious one is that you can see which ones end up paying you more money, and then weeding out the poor ones in an update. On top of that, no ad network can guarantee they will have an ad available for you 100% of the time. By using multiple networks, you can request an ad from one network, and then if it fails call another and so on.

The only way to circumvent having to update the app in order to change network is to implement a few at once, and have some server side code which determines which networks you want it to show. 

  1. Not really. You can get a rough idea (they’ll usually promote themselves by saying they have an average eCPM rate), but it’s by no means guaranteed. A big part of the revenue depends on the quality of the ads and how you implement them in your game. An ad that appears at an annoying time is unlikely to be clicked.

  2. Most networks pay per click. If they paid by impression you could just ramp up the number of ads per minute to make lots of money, but the advertisers would actually be getting less benefit so it wouldn’t make sense for them to do this. There are some networks out there that show brand ads (i.e. they show ads for films, companies etc rather than for other apps). These sometimes pay per impression, but I don’t believe there are any available for Corona yet unless you use Enterprise (I could be wrong though).

  3. Generally full screen ads pay better than banner ads, and video ads pay better again. Again this depends on the click through rate, so your milage may vary.

  4. Difficult to say as they go up and down a lot. Amazon Ads had a short promo last year where they guaranteed $6 ecpm, but that was a promotion so you wouldn’t get that rate now. I’d say $0.20 is low from my own experience, but then we never use banner ads so maybe they pay less. Corona supports Vungle video ads, and they pay pretty well in our experience (don’t know the figures off hand).

#3

Thanks for taking the time to clear that up for me! So taking your advice, I’ll implement a few ads and eventually weed out the ones not doing so well.

#4

No problem.

A big part of how successful ads will be in your app is down to where and how you use them. For instance if you can reward the user for watching an ad, they’ll be more likely to do that than if you just show them an ad with no warning.

Good luck!

#5
  1. There are a few advantages to using multiple networks. The obvious one is that you can see which ones end up paying you more money, and then weeding out the poor ones in an update. On top of that, no ad network can guarantee they will have an ad available for you 100% of the time. By using multiple networks, you can request an ad from one network, and then if it fails call another and so on.

The only way to circumvent having to update the app in order to change network is to implement a few at once, and have some server side code which determines which networks you want it to show. 

  1. Not really. You can get a rough idea (they’ll usually promote themselves by saying they have an average eCPM rate), but it’s by no means guaranteed. A big part of the revenue depends on the quality of the ads and how you implement them in your game. An ad that appears at an annoying time is unlikely to be clicked.

  2. Most networks pay per click. If they paid by impression you could just ramp up the number of ads per minute to make lots of money, but the advertisers would actually be getting less benefit so it wouldn’t make sense for them to do this. There are some networks out there that show brand ads (i.e. they show ads for films, companies etc rather than for other apps). These sometimes pay per impression, but I don’t believe there are any available for Corona yet unless you use Enterprise (I could be wrong though).

  3. Generally full screen ads pay better than banner ads, and video ads pay better again. Again this depends on the click through rate, so your milage may vary.

  4. Difficult to say as they go up and down a lot. Amazon Ads had a short promo last year where they guaranteed $6 ecpm, but that was a promotion so you wouldn’t get that rate now. I’d say $0.20 is low from my own experience, but then we never use banner ads so maybe they pay less. Corona supports Vungle video ads, and they pay pretty well in our experience (don’t know the figures off hand).

#6

Thanks for taking the time to clear that up for me! So taking your advice, I’ll implement a few ads and eventually weed out the ones not doing so well.

#7

No problem.

A big part of how successful ads will be in your app is down to where and how you use them. For instance if you can reward the user for watching an ad, they’ll be more likely to do that than if you just show them an ad with no warning.

Good luck!