Rewarded Video Ads in Andromo
I've mentioned a few times, that I have a number of custom coded apps as well (in partnerships), and recently we tested Vungle ads.
We used Vungle to lock some of the content. 20% of the content is free, the rest needs to be unlocked. The users can unlock it by watching a video (you can set the desired duration, you can make the videos unskippable etc.).
Vungle was recommended to me many times. However, my primary concern was, that it will have a big impact on our ratings. After a week in, I can safely say, that the ratings remained the same, which was a BIG surprise (you can check the ratings by build version in the GP Dev Console). The key to that was probably because:
1) We didn't lock the content for the existing users (lot's of potential earnings lost, but happy users are more important on the long run).
2) The new users don't know that the content was once unlocked by default and they already saw the great user feedback and good ratings.
By implementing Vungle, we were able to massively increase our earnings. Our standard eCPM for banner + interstitial ads is around 0,70 USD (our main markets are Tier 3 countries - not by our choice, tho). Vungle's eCPM was $3 at lowest and $8 at highest. That's 4x to 11x higher eCPM! EDIT: We didn't replace banners and interstitials, we just added rewarded video ads on top of them.
We also choose Vungle because they cover most of the world. Other rewarded video ad networks cover mostly Tier 1 and sometimes Tier 2 countries. Vungle covers all of them.
I'm writing this and sharing my experience, because this could be an opportunity for Andromo as well. Unfortunately, I'm not a programmer, so I don't know how difficult it would be to implement Vungle in Andromo's framework, but it would be a massive bonus, for sure.
@lorne and @darryl, I'm tagging you guys, so you see this post.
I know you have your hands full with many other things, but please consider rewarded video ads for future. FAN already proved to be a great decision and a significant income booster! Vungle could be, too.
We used Vungle to lock some of the content. 20% of the content is free, the rest needs to be unlocked. The users can unlock it by watching a video (you can set the desired duration, you can make the videos unskippable etc.).
Vungle was recommended to me many times. However, my primary concern was, that it will have a big impact on our ratings. After a week in, I can safely say, that the ratings remained the same, which was a BIG surprise (you can check the ratings by build version in the GP Dev Console). The key to that was probably because:
1) We didn't lock the content for the existing users (lot's of potential earnings lost, but happy users are more important on the long run).
2) The new users don't know that the content was once unlocked by default and they already saw the great user feedback and good ratings.
By implementing Vungle, we were able to massively increase our earnings. Our standard eCPM for banner + interstitial ads is around 0,70 USD (our main markets are Tier 3 countries - not by our choice, tho). Vungle's eCPM was $3 at lowest and $8 at highest. That's 4x to 11x higher eCPM! EDIT: We didn't replace banners and interstitials, we just added rewarded video ads on top of them.
We also choose Vungle because they cover most of the world. Other rewarded video ad networks cover mostly Tier 1 and sometimes Tier 2 countries. Vungle covers all of them.
I'm writing this and sharing my experience, because this could be an opportunity for Andromo as well. Unfortunately, I'm not a programmer, so I don't know how difficult it would be to implement Vungle in Andromo's framework, but it would be a massive bonus, for sure.
@lorne and @darryl, I'm tagging you guys, so you see this post.
I know you have your hands full with many other things, but please consider rewarded video ads for future. FAN already proved to be a great decision and a significant income booster! Vungle could be, too.
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Lately I have also been thinking on how we could use Rewarded Videos in Andromo.
Let's say for apps with RSS News - you offer 10 RSS feeds, you ask them to view rewarded video to unlock 5 more.
It should be really profitable and without annoying the users.
However, I got no idea what happens with alternative stores. Does Vungle allow apps from other stores ( and would they pay if the majority of videos watched are from apks delivered to alternative stores?)
Also, since you are already knowledgeable about Vungle, could you post what their payment terms are as well?
Thanks
good to see you chime in.
What I had in mind was maybe a bit more simple to implement. We already have "Build this activity" and "Do not show banner ads in this activity" options. Andromo could add something like "Lock this activity with a rewarded video advertisement".
If you have 10 activities, for example, you could leave 3 activities free, and lock the other 7.
I've no idea about the alternative app stores, sorry. However, based on this recent thread (https://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/62216-will-vungle-still-work-on-android-devices-without-the-google-play-store-installed/), it works only on Google Play. Nevertheless, they have a blog article saying how important the Chinese markets are (https://vungle.com/blog/2015/10/09/what-to-know-about-chinas-top-3-app-stores/), so I guess they would not mention those, if Vungle wouldn't support them. It's best to ask their support.
About the payment terms - I only know what says here: https://support.vungle.com/hc/en-us/articles/203813080-What-are-my-options-for-how-and-when-to-get-paid-
We decided to use PayPal for now, Net 60.
EDIT: AdMob's Native Ads are also a big thing. Google had a private webinar for people in their Publisher Panel and there was a case study about an app that had 600% increase in earnings after implementing Native Ads. So that's a massive new ad model, too. We should be ready to test native ads in about a month.
Native ads are interesting indeed too, but based on what I have read, they are not as profitable as one might think when compared to banner ads. They just annoy the user less. However, I do not have personal experience.
The way you explain is exactly what I had in mind too - on how some activities could be locked. It just seems too good to ignore! But of course, it also means that aside integrating it as a feature, the Andromo team must test all rewarded ads networks to find one that is not buggy and can be trusted - remember how they need quite much time to test an ad network? This would add extra work to them (But I think it is worth it in the long run).
I've interacted with 4 different ad networks that offer rewarded video ads (all of them are long time and established players). The main difference between them is that Vungle has ad inventory for Tier 1, 2 and 3 markets. They were the only ones who could tell me: "Yes, we do cover Brazil, Turkey and India." That was such a relief to hear. All others didn't have any (or very limited) inventory for those countries, yet still wanted me to persuade to give them a go.
As far as the eCPM goes, it was all very similar. Once you're 1:1 with a sales rep via Skype, mail or phone, you can freely ask them for the numbers for a specific country and category, and they will tell you. However, probably the only real way to know is to test them.
Based on that, Vungle could be a suitable candidate for Andromo, if they consider rewarded video ads.
In my non andromo apps I use Heyzap reward video ads and they are performing quite well for me, but I don't have a large user base to tell you if it's worth in the long run. Thank you guys for all the insides and information sharing. Keep up the good work
Andromo is already great, but there's always room for improvement. What I like the most is that sometimes you can have a simple idea, make it happen relatively quickly with Andromo and boom, suddenly you're earning more than with a custom app, which took months to develop and cost hundreds or thousands of USD.
Our main custom app has cost 2.396,00 USD so far (graphics + translations), but I still have Andromo apps, which bring more money than this app.
Thanks for posting your experiences with Vungle and implementation suggestions. I've briefly looked at them in the past, but that was quite some time ago. We don't have time to investigate the details at this point, however we wouldn't be opposed to taking a closer look in the future to see how they work, the quality of their SDK, and how they could fit into our architecture. The same applies to AdMob Native ads.
It sounds good, thanks. A rewarded video ad network could be a very good addition to what's already available in Andromo. You guys already have THE best ad networks available, but this could be another big add-on.
For example, our global 7-day eCPM (for the custom app project that I've mentioned before) is currently at 0.66 USD while Vungle is at 4.26 USD. The best thing about it is that you don't have to replace or remove the existing ads, you just add these on top of everything.
I'll let you know how the native ads will pan out.
Thanks again.
I still use Fiverr from time to time, it's a good service, if you manage to find a good freelancer. We just have so much material that it adds up.
Oddly enough, Vungle does not show fill rates by countries, so there is no real way to know. There were even days when the eCPM was sub 1 USD. However, the 30 day eCPM averages are still higher than in AdMob (by around 200%).
I'll have to write to Vungle to get more info, but in the meantime, I'll shop around for a new rewarded video ads partner. I guess we'll need to try a few more.
Thanks for the update!
I want to try rewarded ads in an app but I surely cannot write an app from scratch so I am trying to find something I could reskin or something half-decent that I could have it developed for me.
Not only rewarded video, but also rewarded offerwalls are good. If I get the chance to really have some app with rewarded ads online, I will let you guys know.
Vungle's earnings are seriously deteriorated. It seems like Vungle won't work OK in our markets on the long run. If used via mediation and/or in better paying countries, it should be better, tho. A friend of mine, who has a seriously popular game (with 30-40K daily downloads) has shared a screenshot from Vungle, and his eCPM is far more consistent.
He also uses AppLovin, which performs better, than Vungle. So I've contacted them, shared our DAU and country stats, and they guaranteed much better eCPM.
I have also contacted Fyber, just because they are on AdMob's list of networks, which support mediation for rewarded video ads. Their rep suggested offerwalls instead of rewarded video ads. Again, I shared our data with him, and he sent very detailed projections in Excel. If we should get anywhere near to those projections, the earnings (with offerwall ads) should be almost 20x greater than with rewarded video ads.
We'll give them a go and I'll post the results.
This guide from Google was super helpful: https://services.google.com/fb/forms/admobnativeadsguide/
I hope we'll see natives in Andromo soon.
As for the offerwall ads - based on the initial tests, they'll easily beat the rewarded video ads.
After gaining some mileage with Offerwall Ads from Fyber (they also have a mediation partnership with Google), I can safely say, that they're WAY more profitable, than Rewarded Video Ads.
We're seeing 7-11x higher eCPM and earnings. In Tier 2/3 counties our eCPM is at 6 EUR, and we didn't even optimize the offers yet. That's insane.
We're more than happy with the results and the users don't seem mind these type of ads. It's super refreshing to see something that's so profitable and non-obtrusive for the users.
If you guys will test/add any new monetizing options, please consider Fyber and Offerwall Ads.
If anything other ad network will be added to Andromo, please consider Fyber. @darryl, you can ping me anytime, and I'll add you to my account, so you can check it our personally.
Yeah, it's rare that there's a positive surprise like that.
Fyber doesn't have SDK-less offerwall, unfortunately. If it had, I'd start to use it instantly in all my Andromo apps.
But I hope it finds its way in Andromo in future. I'll happily add anyone from the Andromo team to my account, so they can see it with their own eyes, before pulling the plug. It would be a superb add-on, for sure.
Thank you for your reply! Let's hope 2017 brings some good revenue to all of us.
Cheers!
I'm happy to share what I can.
I (I'll change to "I" from "we", even if it's a JV type of thing) use it on Android only. I have zero experience with iOS, unfortunately. I only know what I read and what I talk about with my friends.
You're right, they're CPA offers, hence the much better eCPM. But I'm monitoring ratings since the Fyber update and it didn't had any affect at all. I'm noticing that if the users really LOVE the app, you can get away with almost anything. I have more ads in the app(s) than the competitors and still higher ratings than most of them.
The apps with Fyber Ads get about 5-6K downloads per day. BUT, even if:
- the apps are custom made,
- have professional translations in 8 languages,
- I've spent thousands of dollars and 100+ hours on them,
- all the graphics are made by PRO's,
- the apps were featured by Google,
they're still weren't in the Top 5 money making apps for me. The top spots belong to apps that I made with Andromo and I spent a lot less money and time on them. But now that Fyber is added, these apps are probably going to take the top spots.That's why I'd love to see Fyber added to Andromo. It's a win-win for all of us.
Example of how I use them:
Activity 1
Activity 2
Activity 3
Native Ad
Activity 4
vs
Activity 1
Activity 2
Activity 3
Activity 4
-------------------
Banner Ad
The upper layout gives you 100-200% better CTR by default. After you customize the colors, fonts etc. to match the ads with your content, the CTR will be even higher.
It's something definitely worth exploring.
Does anyone know?