What Are Mobile Ad Networks?
Ad networks are a tool for advertisers to acquire new customers and publishers to monetize their traffic through ad revenue.
- Ad networks connect advertisers and publishers to simplify the purchase of ad inventory across diverse networks
- Companies use multiple ad networks to reach a broad range of users
- Diversify your ad mix and maximize revenue by using various ad networks within your mediation
How Do Mobile Ad Networks Work?
Ad networks help app publishers effectively monetize their user base. To achieve this, a publisher informs an ad network that ad space is available and shares its requirements to fill the ad space. These requirements could be a floor price (or minimum acceptable bid) for the space and the type of available ad space. Whether it’s a video, banner, or playable.
From the advertiser’s perspective, ad networks are necessary tools to grow their app’s user base. When the ad network is notified that ad space is available, advertisers then enter a bidding war, in which they bid to win the space. The publisher’s app then displays the ad with the highest bid from the highest-bidding ad network.
Advertising networks tend to offer various targeting capabilities (some more niche than others) and support a variety of different ad formats. These formats include banner ads, native ads, and video ads.

Why Are Ad Networks Needed?
The online advertising network is an intermediary for those who have unsold ads and those who publish ads. In addition, they handle the technical and commercial aspects of ad selling and ad placement.
A key benefit from both an advertiser and publisher perspective is that both parties save time and money by working with mobile ad networks. That, and ad networks handle the technical and commercial aspects of producing and selling ads. They enable integrations for the supply side and transactions between both parties.
Why Publishers Need Them
- It helps publishers secure buyers for unsold ad space
- It unlocks additional ad inventory to ensure a high fill rate
- By using various ad networks within your mediation, you diversify your ad mix to maximize revenue
Why Advertisers Need Them
- It is an additional opportunity for advertisers to reach users
- Ad networks help advertisers find inventory that fits their audience and budget
- Advertisers can optimize their reach, campaign placement, user engagement, and installs by serving their ads to their target demographic
How Do I Choose the Best Ad Networks?
You should really do your homework before selecting the ideal advertising networks for you. You won’t struggle to find indexes online, which rank the best mobile ad networks out there, based on various factors, such as best ad networks for Android or iOS, highest-retention ad networks, and best ad networks for vertical and region.
Here’s a list of the ad network rankings we think you should take a look at:
- AppsFlyer Index
- Singular ROI Index
- Business of Apps Top Mobile Ad Networks
- Adjust Partner Benchmark Report
In reality, the gold-standard way to find a suitable ad network for you is to run a test with various ad networks to see which networks tick the most boxes and perform best.
Conclusion
In short, by identifying a suitable ad network for your company based on the criteria listed above, you will be (not one) but several steps closer to reaching a wider – ideally, higher-quality – range of users for your app or generating revenue with your available ad space.
FAQS
Advertising networks aggregate ad space supply from publishers and developers and match it with advertiser demand.
Working with an ad network saves you time and money as both an advertiser and publisher. For instance, ad networks mean that publishers don’t have to negotiate with each individual advertiser when it comes to their ad spaces. Not only that – ad networks ensure that technical and commercial matters are taken care of, such as enabling integrations for the supply side, as well as transactions between parties.
Video ad networks allow publishers to connect with thousands of buyers for video ad impressions. Some video ad networks also provide publishers with the technology needed to run, report, and optimize video ad campaigns.
The most significant difference between these two is that the ad network holds the ads for the publisher and sells them to the advertisers. In an ad exchange, the process is digital, and the intermediary may not be present.
Moreover, ads purchased on mobile ad networks are paid by measuring clicks, whereas an ad purchased on an ad exchange is purchased through auction ad formats. The auction may save money on the ad purchase, but bidding wars may drive up the price of the ad.