Signs Your Mobile App Needs a New Ad Monetization Solution

The app monetization landscape is a-changing.

Over 35 percent of publishers worldwide prefer monetizing with ads – and why wouldn’t they? Global ad revenues are set to surpass 140 billion US dollars by 2027. But with the ebbs and flows of revenue sources and evolving user behavior, publishers must maximize their earnings from every source and solution available to them. 

Here are five signs publishers need a new ad monetization solution – signs that they must diversify like their revenue depends on it (because it does).

1. Low or Declining Revenues

Sign number one that a current ad monetization solution is no longer effective is ongoing low, stagnating, or declining revenues. 

Fluctuating revenues are not unusual in mobile advertising. A new ad monetization solution can facilitate revenue growth and diversity without threatening cannibalization. Meaning that it will not eat into the impact of your current ad stack but instead add to it – with the right ad solution, revenue can increase by at least 20 percent. 

Remember: Incremental revenue is instrumental revenue. Blending ad monetization solutions into one robust strategy is preparing for whatever’s to come in the future of mobile advertising. You’d never put all your eggs in one basket for investments. In the same way, publishers should never depend on one or two revenue streams to help them reach their business goals. 

2. Higher Churn Than Expected

Don’t give users a reason to leave an app when you can give them reasons to stay. 

If users find an ad experience disruptive, irrelevant, or spammy, they’ll churn. It‘ll be harder to recover and re-engage them. User feedback and reviews will unveil UX issues – particularly if they’re caused by the current ad monetization setup.

This is a sign publishers need a new ad monetization solution that prioritizes a seamless and nonintrusive user experience. One that puts users first and doesn’t drive them away from an app with a bad ad experience.

Users know best when they want to interact with ads – and we know that most users (especially gamers) do want to interact with them. A user-initiated ad experience reduces churn and elevates in-app engagement. These are the quality users with high intent that publishers can monetize most effectively.

3. Limited Targeting Options

Ads don’t need to block the in-app experience; they can become the experience with the right targeting capabilities.

Users expect a seamless user flow. They also expect apps to deliver relevant, valuable ad content that won’t drive them away. Whether it’s ads for the right rewards, the right games, the right products. 

To increase both engagement and revenue metrics, publishers must strive for new ad monetization solutions that offer superior segmentation and sophisticated targeting options, such as mobile interest and demographic targeting.

Serve users irrelevant ads and they might well lose their trust and their interest in your brand. Serve them highly relevant ads and they’ll feel valued, validated, and more loyal to the brand.

It’s as simple as this: Greater ad relevance leads to better ad experiences, better engagement, and superior revenues.

4. Negative User Sentiment Toward Your Brand

You know the saying: reputation takes years to build and five minutes to be ruined.

First impressions are key – the same goes for the first ad impressions. If the quality of ads shown in a publisher’s app is poor, or if ads are misleading, this will translate into a negative impression of the publisher in question. 

Two-thirds of publishers consider brand safety a priority these days – and it’s not surprising. Users will be quick to pick up on an app’s poor quality or untrustworthiness. If there are enough skeptics, these apps will suffer from negative user brand sentiments and a drop in usage.

Publishers who want to prioritize brand safety should look for a new ad monetization solution that works with reputable ad networks and high-quality demand. Their users will as a result be confident that they’re interacting and engaging with a high-quality brand to whom they’ll remain loyal.

5. Low eCPMs or ARPDAUs

If an app’s eCPMs or ARPDAUs are consistently low, this is a clear sign that its current ad stack is not equipped to maximize returns. 

Imagine this. A mobile gaming publisher sees its ad revenue drop despite growing its user base. After some investigations, the publisher realizes its ad network’s eCPMs have been decreasing over the past months and are considered low for the vertical.

This eCPM drop could be happening for a list of reasons: 

• The ad solution lacks scalability and can’t efficiently handle higher demand when it needs to serve more ads.
• The solution offers limited ad inventory.
• The solution doesn’t capitalize on opportunities to generate incremental revenue or engage users regularly.
• The current ad mediation solution isn’t able to deliver high-paying campaigns with competitive bids. Advertisers may also not be willing to bid high for a publisher’s ad inventory.
• The solution cannibalizes another and prevents publishers from reaching their maximum revenue potential.

Publishers can enjoy a lift in eCPMs and ARPDAUs by integrating a new ad monetization solution. With this new source of revenue, many are then able to increase their ad spend on user acquisition and successfully grow their user base for even greater revenue potential.

What’s in a New Monetization Solution?

A monetization strategy shouldn’t just function, it should flourish. Meaning, publishers should look at blending ad monetization solutions that together deliver maximum revenue impact.

We’ll say it again: Diversify like your revenue depends on it (because it does). And diversify with solutions that counteract the negative signs above. The greater the revenue diversity the better – not just for overall earnings but for stronger resilience in the face of economic changes and shifts in user behavior. 

What’s in a new monetization solution? It’s an opportunity to

• address symptoms of a failing ad mon strategy
• generate incremental revenue from your monetization stack
• leverage unique solutions to maximize engagement from users